Yet and still another discussion of the "worst songs of all time" mentioned Horse With No Name. I defend this song so often that I actually am posting a whole diary to link to in the future.
it is a masterpiece of simplicity. simple music, simple lyrics. simple point. but it does have one.
the young'uns have to remember this was the beginning of what was called then the "ecology movement". the song is about the fact that city dwellers don't connect to (or even really look at) the simple beauty of the natural world. all they know about the desert is the heat is hot and the ground is dry. but the desert is full of life.
the ocean is full of life too (he takes a nine day trip across the desert until he gets to the shore, which is similar to the desert in appearance and in being a neglected part of the natural world).
even the ground under the cities is full of life. but folks are blind to it.
if we get away from the pain of the cities (smog, unrest, etc.) and go on a pilgrimage to connect to the natural world, we will “remember our names” and find our true selves. everything, including our own lives, is more than what lies on the surface. we have to look closer and go deeper.
the wistful music expresses a longing for things to be different. the progression has only two chords (one of the few songs I can play on the guitar!). the dissonant second chord keeps pulling at you for some sort of resolution--the same way people felt about environmental issues back in the day.
the bongos are relentless--whatever this yearning is, it is not going away. it's just pulling and pulling at you until you go where it wants you to go. (in a stretch, the bongo sound could even be said to evoke the clip clop of riding a horse.)
the "melody" of the verses has only two notes, which some find boring and others hear as a triumph of simplicity, again evoking that haunting sense of incompleteness and a need for resolution.
the chorus introduces a higher voice each time around, dramatically building from unison to two-part to three-part harmony. building up to something…
i do realize how ridiculous this sounds in 2015 but everyone around me felt this way about the song in 1972.
of course I went to a "hippie school" where we thrived on this stuff so that could have something to with it. more than once I cut classes and sat under the trees with a guitar playing this and similar moody anthems of the time (Neil Young's Helpless and Cowgirl in the Sand come immediately to mind LOL).
i have a massive amount of work to do today. God only knows why I started my morning by defending this song. again. a lot of people really do hate it! but i have loved it for more than 40 years.
seriously, it is one of my very favorite songs and brings back wonderful memories of that era. every time i hear it i can't help but sing along with it.
in fact, i want to hear it right now
YouTube Video