Single:
A Horse With No Name entered the Australian singles chart* on 13 March 1972 and peaked at #2. The song was #25 on the Top 100 of 1972.
Album:
The song is on America which entered the Australian albums chart* on 10 April 1972 and peaked at #3.
Songwriter:
Dewey Bunnell
Producer:
Ian Samwell
Record label of Australian release:
Warner Bros
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
Wikipedia:
Writer Dewey Bunnell says he remembered his childhood travels through the Arizona and New Mexico desert when his family lived at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Bunnell has explained that A Horse with No Name was “a metaphor for a vehicle to get away from life’s confusion into a quiet, peaceful place”.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Horse_with_No_Name
American Songwriter:
Dewey Bunnell: “I didn’t question the song. I felt like it suddenly appeared, like waking up in a dream. It was a dream of being on a horse and realising that I don’t even know the name of this horse. And there was serious heat. I remember getting sunburned severely as a kid and it was on a beach. It wasn’t in the desert. But I guess in my mind’s eye, I was thinking, ‘I’m on this horse, I’m going somewhere, who knows where? I don’t know the name of the horse. Maybe I didn’t even have a hat on.’”
Read more: americansongwriter.com/behind-the-song-horse-with-no-name/
Lyrics:
On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz
And the sky with no clouds
The heat was hot and the ground was dry
But the air was full of sound
Click for full lyrics
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
Find more songs to enjoy: Bang a Gong song finder
New to Bang a Gong? Click HERE to learn more about us.