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"A Horse with No Name" is a song by American folk rock trio America. Written by Dewey Bunnell, it was released on the Warner Bros. label, in late 1971 in Europe and early 1972 in the United States. The song was met with commercial success and topped charts in Canada, Finland, and the United States. [5] It reached number 3 in the UK singles chart.
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", while "Sandman" was inspired by his casual talks with returning Vietnam veterans. Afraid that they might be attacked and killed in their sleep, many of them chose to stay awake as long as possible ...
America is the debut studio album by America, released in January 1972.It was initially released without "A Horse with No Name", which was released as a single in Europe in late 1971 and in the US in January 1972.
America signed a recording contract with the British division of Warner Bros. Records and found success in 1972 with "A Horse with No Name." Beckley wrote and sang America's 1972 top-10 hit " I Need You " and its 1975 number-one hit " Sister Golden Hair ", as well as its top-20 followup " Daisy Jane ".
Bunnell recalled, "We went and played at Governor Jesse Ventura's inaugural out in Minneapolis. He asked us to — his wife is a horse lady, and she'd always loved 'A Horse with No Name', and he had adopted this name Ventura. So when he put together his cast of characters for his big inaugural celebration, he wanted us to come and play two ...
After several performances and a TV show, it was retitled "A Horse with No Name". The song became a major worldwide hit in early 1972. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA in March 1972. [3] America's debut album was released in the U.S. that same month, with the hit song added, and quickly went platinum.
The song was a top ten hit and spent 10 weeks in United States Billboard Hot 100 charts wherein it peaked at number 9. It was the band's second top ten single, following the success of their previous hit "A Horse with No Name".
The song's title and some of its lyrics refer to the Tin Woodman from The Wizard of Oz. [4] Songwriter Bunnell was quoted describing the parallel: "My favorite movie, I guess. I always loved it as a kid. Very obscure lyrics. Great grammar - 'Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man.' It's sort of a poetic license." [4]