Songs and the City
A horse is a horse, until he gets a song of course
Pine Valley Cosmonauts' "The Executioner's Last Songs"
"Jukebox" by Cat Power
Hank Williams
Cowboy Junkies
"When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes." — William Shakespeare from "Henry V"
A cowboy ain't a cowboy without a horse. And that's a fact. It's time to forget the rider for a change and pay tribute to the cowboy's best friend.
"A Horse in the Country" by Cowboy Junkies
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This love letter to the narrator's horse is really a song of regret, a rumination about the loss of passion in a fading marriage, the increasing humdrum of the daily routine, and the dreams of escaping it all .While "these cold fall mornings seem to bite just a little bit harder," our protagonist takes comfort in knowing her trusty horse is ready when she calls. "One day I'll saddle up and the two of us will ride away."
"Silver Stallion" by Cat Power
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Originally recorded by the Highwaymen in 1990, Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall) gives "Silver Stallion" the haunting treatment it deserves. Like the Cowboy Junkies song above, the horse represents freedom and limitless possibilities: "I'm gonna chase the sky forever/with the man, the stallion and the wind/The sun is gonna burn into a cinder/before we ever pass this way again."
"My Rifle My Pony and Me" by Rick Nelson and Dean Martin
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A duet by silky voiced teenage hearthrob Ricky Nelson and the King of Cool, Dean Martin, this gem from Howard Hawk's 1959 Western Rio Bravo perfectly embodies the independent spirit of the American cowboy: "Purple light in the canyon/that is where I long to be/With my three good companions/just my rifle, pony and me."
"That Buckin' Song" by Robert Earl Keen
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Not all horses are a cowboy's best friend, as evidenced by this rollicking Robert Earl Keen track. A horse named Bad Luck is destined to deliver nothing but trouble: "If ya got a bucker, don't ever buck around/that buckin' mother bucker'll buck ya on the ground."
"The Pale Horse and His Rider" by Hank Williams
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Speaking of trouble, a horse that's even scarier than Robert Earl Keen's "Bad Luck" is one that's pale and mounted with a rider named Death. As the fourth horse of the Apocalypse, he is followed closely by Hades, ready to "kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth."
Hank, in this posthumously released gospel cut from 1951, warns sinners to change their ways or prepare for the arrival of the evil steed. Unfortunately, old Hank would witness the pale horse riding by just a few years after recording this foreboding track.
"New Pony" by Bob Dylan
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Taken from the vastly overlooked 1978 album "Street Legal," "New Pony" is a wicked blues number that pulses with life. Seemingly a straightforward ode to the narrator's horse, the overt eroticism makes it pretty clear that the pony is merely a stand-in for some wicked lover: "Come over here pony, I, I wanna climb up one time on you/Well, you’re so bad and nasty/But I love you, yes I do."
"Horses" by The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
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A man getting ready to meet his maker on the gallows dreams of his freedom. As is a common theme on this list, that freedom is represented by the horse: "I'd be riding horses if they let me/Sleeping outside at night and not take fright/I would ride the range and never worry/I would disappear into the night."
"Chesnut Mare" by The Byrds
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The Byrds are best known for such jangly folk rock hits as "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and "Mr. Tambourine Man," but in my opinion the band really hit its stride when it veered into country rock territory in the late '60s. Written for a planned country rock musical, the song features Roger McGuinn's chiming 12-string Rickenbacker guitar and some stellar country-style picking from the vastly underrated Clarence White. Lyrically, the song tells of one man's attempt to tame a wild horse, a creature that's the ultimate embodiment of nature and freedom.
"Ballad of a Runaway Horse" by Emmylou Harris
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This Leonard Cohen-penned track is pure poetry, a beautiful song that expertly captures the connection between a woman and her beloved steed. As usual, Emmylou's crystalline voice takes center stage, wrenching every ounce of emotion out of Cohen's breathtaking words.
"Buckin' My Horse" by Sir Mix-A-Lot
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Umm, I have a feeling this song isn't really about a horse.
