A second visit to the stables results in another fine collection of songs about ‘Horses’.
“Bring On the Dancing Horses” is a single by Echo & The Bunnymen which was released in October 1985. It was the only single from their 1985 compilation album Songs to Learn & Sing, and was recorded for the John Hughes film Pretty in Pink. It reached number 21 in the UK and number 15 in Ireland. Journalist Stewart Mason said that the layers of synths on the song and Ian McCulloch’s overdubbed vocals on the chorus add to the “psychedelic haze of the track”. Mason wrote: “Bring On the Dancing Horses has a dreamily catchy chorus and a nice melody.”
“Changing Horses” was written by Fanny’s keyboard player, Nicole Barclay. One is entitled to suspect it is not so much about changing horses as changing men, but it has a double entendre. In a candid interview decades later, she alluded to horses as “thousand-pound vibrators,” an old analogy. Produced by Richard Perry, “Changing Horses” was included on Fanny’s first album and released as a single with “Conversation With A Cop” on the B-side. The group was signed to Reprise Records and was one of the first all-female bands on a major label. They made five albums before splitting up in 1975.
“Crazy Horses” is a 1972 hit single by The Osmonds, the title track from the album of the same name. The song, the only hit record from the Osmonds to feature Jay Osmond as lead vocalist, reached number 14 on the US Billboard and number 2 in the Uk SIngles Chart. Jay Osmond said, “‘Crazy Horses’ was way ahead of its time. It’s a song about ecology and the environment: those ‘crazy horses, smoking up the sky’ are gas-guzzling cars, destroying the planet with their fumes. We shot the record sleeve in a junkyard, surrounded by big old cars.” The song has since been covered by numerous other performers.
“Dark Horse” is a song by American singer Katy Perry featuring American rapper Juicy J. It was originally released in September 2013, by Capitol Recrods as the first promotional single from Perry’s fourth studio album, ‘Prism’ (2013). Three months later, it was released as the third official single. It was conceived by Perry and Hudson during a writing session in Perry’s hometown of Santa Barbara, Calfornia, and Juicy J was later commissioned for a verse on the song. “Dark Horse” was a commercial success, charting at number one in Canada, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United States. It also reached the top ten in almost 20 countries, including New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Venezuela, as well as on the Digital Songs chart of Billboard magazine.
“Dark Horses” is a song written and recorded by the alternative rock band Switchfoot, and serves as the first single from their eighth studio album entitled Vice Verses. It was debuted on the band’s official website in July 2011 and serviced to radio in August. It peaked at No. 5 on Billboard Alternative Songs, tying “Meant to Live” for Switchfoot’s highest-charting single on that chart, and spent a total of 25 weeks on the tally. It was well received in the Christian radio scene as well, spending seven straight weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Rock songs chart.
