Known later as Michael Martin Murphey
Australian singles chart:
Wildfire entered the Kent Music Report on 2 June 1975 and peaked at #22.
Album:
The song is on Blue Sky – Night Thunder which entered the Kent Music Report album charts on 15 September 1975 and peaked at #97.
Songwriters:
Michael Murphey, Larry Cansler
Producer:
Bob Johnston
Record label of Australian release:
Epic
Live television performance of Wildfire by Michael Martin Murphey & the Rio Grande Band:
Wikipedia:
Wildfire was written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Michael Murphey before he added his middle name ‘Martin’ to his recorded work.
The lyrics are those of a homesteader telling the story of a young Nebraska woman said to have died searching for her escaped pony, “Wildfire”, during a blizzard. The homesteader finds himself in a similar situation, doomed in an early winter storm. A hoot owl has perched outside of his window for six days, and the homesteader believes the owl is a sign that the ghost of the young woman is calling for him. He hopes to join her (presumably in heaven) and spend eternity riding Wildfire with her, leaving the difficulties of earthly life behind.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildfire_(Michael_Martin_Murphey_song)
Lyrics:
She comes down from Yellow Mountain
On a dark, flat land she rides
On a pony she named Wildfire
With a whirlwind by her side
On a cold Nebraska night
Click for full lyrics
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
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