Wednesday, March 25, 2009

'Cause there ain't no-one…

… for to give you no pain. Today in rock history, on this date in 1972, America hit #1 with "Horse With No Name". Well, this song is really an acquired taste. Sounding a lot like Neil Young with an adenoid problem, singer Dewey Bunnell said "I know that virtually everyone, on first hearing, assumed it was Neil. I never fully shied away from the fact that I was inspired by him. I think it's in the structure of the song as much as in the tone of his voice. It did hurt a little, because we got some pretty bad backlash. I've always attributed it more to people protecting their own heroes more than attacking me." The song was also attacked because of its banal lyrics, including "The heat was hot"; "There were plants, and birds, and rocks, and things"; and " 'Cause there ain't no-one for to give you no pain." Randy Newman once described it as a song "about a kid who thinks he's taken acid". Comedian Richard Jeni mocked the song's title. "You're in the desert," he said. "You got nothing else to do. Name the freakin' horse!" Well, love it or hate it, here it is one more time. Thanks to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Horse_with_No_Name and http://www.rockhall.com/notes/today-in-rock/ for the info, and keep on rockin’!

2 comments:

Who Am Us Anyway? said...

If ya like it, ya like it -- don't let anyone tell you you shouldn't!

Charlie_Mac said...

Well, I guess you could say that I tolerate it...