The whole "Horse = Heroin" thing really springs from a whole different equation...the one that says "the 1960's and 70's = drugs; musicians do drugs; people on drugs write things that sound strange; therefore, all 1960's and 70's songs with strange lyrics = songs about drugs! Q.E.D." (Q.E.D., in this case, meaning "Quoting Endless Dumbsh!t.")
However...there's another metaphorical horse that fits the lyrics of this song even better than the creaky old drug interpretation: the shaman's horse, which is another name for the sound of the drumbeat that carries the shaman into a trance state, into the otherworld on a visionary experience. Such a horse has no name because it isn't flesh and blood, it's a spirit horse made of sound.
To me the song is about a kind of vision quest in the desert...or else a mundane trip that (due to a little too much sunlight or too little water) became a visionary experience to the traveler, and caused a spiritual awakening.
The whole "Horse = Heroin" thing really springs from a whole different equation...the one that says "the 1960's and 70's = drugs; musicians do drugs; people on drugs write things that sound strange; therefore, all 1960's and 70's songs with strange lyrics = songs about drugs! Q.E.D." (Q.E.D., in this case, meaning "Quoting Endless Dumbsh!t.")
However...there's another metaphorical horse that fits the lyrics of this song even better than the creaky old drug interpretation: the shaman's horse, which is another name for the sound of the drumbeat that carries the shaman into a trance state, into the otherworld on a visionary experience. Such a horse has no name because it isn't flesh and blood, it's a spirit horse made of sound.
To me the song is about a kind of vision quest in the desert...or else a mundane trip that (due to a little too much sunlight or too little water) became a visionary experience to the traveler, and caused a spiritual awakening.