Songs about Horses: Crazy Horses

From the cowboy songs of the old west to more recent rock and roll and pop, horses are featured frequently in music. This continuing series takes a look at some of those songs and the people who recorded them. 

In October, we started with songs about the Old West from Gene Autry. This time, we are completely changing genres and examining a rock song where horses were used as a symbol. And, ironically, of how a band known for their clean living and ethics had their song banned over a misunderstanding of that very symbolism.

Crazy Horses by The Osmonds

Written by Alan, Wayne, and Merrill Osmond, Crazy Horses showed that The Osmonds were more than a bubblegum or boy band group, and the song has had many covers by other rock bands since it was first released in 1972. Ozzie Osbourne is reported to have said it is one of his favorite rock songs of all.

Crazy Horses was a song about ecology and the environment. Jay Osmond (who sang lead), says that the phrase "crazy horses" is actually a reference to "...gas guzzling cars destroying the planet..." (The Guardian, January 23, 2017.)

If you didn't experience the 1970s, then you may not realize the extent pollution had gotten to. I remember going up to Gary and Chicago and getting headaches from the fumes coming from the factories, the particulate matter that fell constantly from the smokestacks, and the yellow-brown color of the sky due to all the pollution from the factories and the city. It was awful.

This photo is from Inner Mongolia, China (Google Images) but it illustrates how the skies looked back then    .

Ironically, South Africa banned sales of the song, claiming that the phrase  "crazy horses" was a reference to heroin. France, too, banned the song over the phrase, "smoking' up the sky," believing it was a reference to drugs.

Like Ozzie Osbourne, Crazy Horses is one of my favorite rock songs of all time. Take a listen and see what you think.

There's a message floatin' in the air.
Crazy horses ridin' everywhere.
It's a warning, it's in every tongue.
Gotta stop them crazy horses on the run.

What a show, there they go smokin' up the sky, yeah.
Crazy horses all got riders, and they're you and I.
Crazy horses (repeat 3 times)

Never stop and they never die.
They just keep on puffin' how they multiply.
Crazy horses, will they never halt?
If they keep on movin' then it's all our fault.

What a show, there they go smokin' up the sky, yeah.
Crazy horses all got riders, and they're you and I.
Crazy horses (repeat 3 times)

So take a good look around,
See what they've done, what they've done --
They've done--
They've done--
They've done--
They've done.

Crazy horses.

Source: Lyric Find

Songs About Horses: Back in the Saddle Again

From the cowboy songs of the old west to more recent rock and roll and pop, horses are featured frequently in music. I thought it might be fun to take a look at some of those songs and the people who recorded them. 

Gene Autry is a good musician to begin with and he is considered one of the most influential singers of country music. 

His signature song? Back in the Saddle Again.

Sing Me a Song of the Saddle is another horsey song recorded by Autry. (Check out the horses in this video!)

My mother taught me to sing Jingle Jangle Jingle when I was little. She loved to watch westerns on TV and no doubt heard this song there. We would sing this around the house together.

Did you know that Gene Autry was the original singer of one of the most famous Christmas songs of all?

He recorded Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer in June, 1949 and a year after the success of Rudolph, recorded what became another holiday classic, Frosty the Snowman.

Gene Autry recorded too many more horsey themed songs to post here but they are easy to find - just google his name and they will pop up right up.

I will be posting more blog posts about horse-themed songs across a variety of musical genres. I have made quite a list, so stay 'tooned!

Dad's Slides: The Wabash River - Horse Heaven

I grew up living on the Wabash River. We had nine acres of riverfront and woods.

Our home was up on the moraine (which is why we never worried about flood damage to our home) with the front pasture below it. That pasture would flood when the river rose, but we had a paddock and two other pastures where we could put the horses when the river was running high.

This picture was taken from the hill above the bluff. You can see some more of the front pasture, the highway that cut through our property, and the river pasture along with the Wabash River behind it. A third pasture and our paddock and barn is behind the pines on the left.

Having the river to ride around and explore was just the best, and Leslie and I spent a lot of time with our horses on its banks.

 This was back in the days when I could hop up bareback and ride with just a halter and lead rope!

Our herd loved that river grass. We had to be careful the first few weeks of spring when we opened the river pasture up for grazing as we didn't want them to colic or founder.

 Amy was so beautiful. Like Abby, she had a lot of sass and personality, but she was gentle and willing, too.

Since the river's channel was on the far side from us, the shallows were along our pasture. Leslie and I loved to ride in the shallows. The horses would paw and drink, and once, on a very hot day, Cee laid down with me for a roll! (Luckily I was riding bareback and just stepped off him when he went down.)

I love that river and have ever since I was a little girl. It is a symbol of Indiana and has inspired authors and poets. Johnny Cash wrote If it wasn't for the Wabash River  and also sang Wabash Cannonball. There's  Back Home Again in Indiana with its signature line "When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash," and the Indiana state song, On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away  

I know what that river looks like in the moonlight. With horses drinking from it, or two girls cantering along its banks. The Wabash was a little slice of heaven to me then as a young girl, and it remains near and dear to my heart today.