A further visit to the paddock for another collection of ‘Horse’ related songs.
“Heavy Horses” is a song written by Ian Anderson and performed by his band Jethro Tull. The song was released on the 1978 album of the same name. Written as a tribute to horses, the song features folk rock elements that rebelled against the musical trends of the period. Released as an album track, “Heavy Horses” has since become a live staple for the band. It has since appeared on compilation albums and has generally seen positive reception from critics. “Heavy Horses” also represented an attempt by Anderson to go against the musical trends of the time, including punk and synth-pop. He discussed this further in an interview, saying, “On this occasion I was sticking to my feelings about the changing world. The music was very much pastoral and British. It must have seemed like deeply unfashionable folk rock at the time, coming as it did towards the end of the punk era, and just before the next big thing happened, which was synth pop.
“Horse Latitudes” is song by The Doors. Horse latitudes are ocean regions between 30° and 35° North latitude that tend to contain calm waters and light winds. The phrase came about because ships loaded with horses bound for America and the West Indies could get delayed so long that horses would die. 18th Century sailors would throw horses overboard when they sailed into these “horse latitudes” in order to lighten the load and conserve food and water. Jim Morrison wrote the poem that became the lyrics when he was in high school and saw a paperback cover of horses being thrown off a boat. Some of the odd sound effects were created by dropping a coke bottle in a garbage can, beating coconut shells on a tile floor, and having people scream in a studio.
“Horse to the Water” is a song written by George Harrison and his son Dhani. It was originally performed by Jools Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, featuring Harrison, on the album Small World, Big Band. Recorded in October 2001, the song is Harrison’s last performance on a record. Harrison only performed vocals on the track, as he was too weak from battling cancer to play guitar, and he died just over eight weeks later on 29 November. He listed the song’s publisher as “R.I.P. Music Ltd” instead of his usual music company Harrisongs. (In the liner notes of some versions of the CD, the credit is “Umlaut Corporation.”)
“Horses” is a song by Brian Fallon. Fallon found happiness when he married his second wife, an English girl. This love song is about the journey that he took to find his soulmate. Maybe it was planned when the angels spoke your name into existence. That our hearts would be entwinedAnd only time and life and a little distance. Until I could be with you. Having found the lov o wasted years“That encapsulates my life now,” Fallon told Kerrang. “My wife and I never discuss failures, because we’ve been through so many – and we’ve both torn into our individual and collective failures. You cannot fix anything but today. You can’t dwell on the past. You have to be in the present. I don’t care about what has already gone, because we do this all now.”
