2026: The Year of the Horse (in Rock)

The Chinese calendar determines that their new year begins on February 17. 2026 signifies the year of the HORSE.  Rock and Roll has produced many equestrian-referenced songs, some metaphorical, others about our real animal friends. Here are 10 horse tracks to consider for the new year (giddy-up!):

10- “All the King’s Horses” – Dusty Springfield, 1971& 2015

Dusty Springfield completed the recording for her 3rd album, Faithful, in early 1971, but the effort was shelved for other projects. It would be another 44 years before the public would get to hear this work. In April of 2015, Faithful was released posthumously as Springfield’s final studio album (she passed in March 1999).

Included was the Abba-style gem “All the King’s Horses.” A wonderful slice of early 70’s, complete with Burt Bacharach instrumentation, its up-tempo beat runs counter to the sadness of this breaking-up song message:

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
You’ll never get me back together again
‘Cause I just fall apart each time I look at you, yes I do

9- “Four Horsemen” -The Clash, 1980

Although a filler track for London Calling, “Four Horsemen” conjures up everything that the Clash delivered in this era. The track has all the band’s touchstones: hardcore guitars, prominent feedback, self-aggrandizing lyrics (yes, they are the horsemen!), and a description of risky behaviors of life on the road (like picking up overserved hitchhikers).

8– “Bring on the Dancing Horses” – Echo & the Bunnymen, 1985

With its abstract romance lyrics and throbbing keyboard, “Bring on the Dancing Horses” is one of the quintessential examples of synth/dance structures so prominent in the mid-1980s. Specially written by Echo & the Bunnymen for the soundtrack of the iconic teen romantic comedy Pretty in Pink (1986), the tune is featured in the film’s record store scene when Blane (Andrew McCarthy) attempts to ask out Andie (Molly Ringwald), just before Duckie (Jon Cryer) sets off a disturbing alarm. The single hit 21 in the UK but failed to chart in the USA.

7- “Chasin’ Wild Horses” – Bruce Springsteen, 2019

Bruce’s musical dexterity was on display with the release of his Western Stars album, capturing the Southern California pop genre of the early 70s era. “Chasin’ Wild Horses” would emerge as one of the best of character-driven songs of the collection, complete with cinematic orchestrations and a dramatic arrangement. Springsteen falls back on his well-traveled theme of the loner attempting to find himself, with western geographical references centered in Montana.

6- “Heavy Horses” – Jethro Tull, 1978

Jethro Tull were both workhorses and a target of the punk movement as “the problem” as one of the establishment bands of the late 70’s. Nevertheless, this track contains one of the band’s best prog-rock structures, augmented by Dee (David) Palmer’s string arrangement.

Writer Ian Anderson was inspired by life on his recently purchased Buckinghamshire estate and his love for his four-legged friends. “I suppose (the song) is almost an equestrian Aqualung, in a way,” he said at the time. “Once powerful and majestic creatures find themselves on the scrap heap, forgotten by society and replaced by machines.” At the time, many critics jokingly questioned if he was talking about his band.

5- Horse with No Name – America, 1971

Songwriter Dewey Bunnell intended to describe the desert scene of a Salvador Dali painting, using “A Horse With No Name” as his metaphor for “a vehicle to get away from life’s confusion into a quiet, peaceful place.” But given that ‘horse” was also the early 70s slang for heroin, a handful of US radio stations banned it for supposed drug references. That may have contributed to the track’s meteoric rise to #1 on the American charts in early 1972, along with platinum status for the band’s first album.

When the track replaced Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” at the top of the US charts, the band was accused of purposely mimicking Young’s sound. To that, Bunnell has reflected, “I never fully shied away from the fact that I was inspired by him. It did hurt a little because we got some pretty bad backlash. I’ve always attributed it more to people protecting their own heroes more than attacking me.”

4- “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” – U2, 1991

U2 was riding high with their 1991 album Achtung Baby, having 4 successful singles reach the top of the music charts. The fifth and final single would emerge a year later with “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses.” Its roots began as a demo passed through the hands of three producers (Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno, and Jimmy Iovine) and deemed a reject by the band members. Eventually, the original demo fell into the lap of producer Steve Lillywhite.

With his fresh ears, Lillywhite successfully expressed its potential to the band. “They hated that song!” he shared years later, “I spent a month on it, and said ‘That’s your radio song there!’” The tune landed as #2 on Billboard’s mainstream pop charts by the end of 1992.

3- Broken Horses – Brandi Carlile, 2021

For Carlile’s 7th album, she ventured into a Nashville studio, surprising no one that she could give her music a country twist. She emerged with the pandemic-written album In These Silent Days. It was a blockbuster, scoring album of the year at the 2023 Grammy Awards. The lead single, “Broken Horses,” won Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance. She’s said that the lyrics reflected her need to “scream out” about deep-seated feelings from her past.

 2- Wild Horses- Rolling Stones, 1971

Surprisingly, the band’s original demo was not considered up to the band’s standards; “Wild Horses” was given to (and released by) the Flying Burrito Brothers. In the subsequent studio sessions that would develop into Sticky Fingers, the Stones took another stab at it. Keith Richards has said of the track, “If there is a classic way of Mick and me working together, this is it. I had the riff and chorus line, and Mick got stuck into the verses.”

For his part, Jagger has said, “Everyone always says this was written about Marianne [Faithfull, his one-time girlfriend], but I don’t think it was… that was all well over by then. But I was definitely very inside this piece emotionally.” 

1- Dark Horse – George Harrison, 1974

Having emerged as the apparent front runner of the post-Beatles success race, George Harrison took the name for the title track for his third album because it’s “The one nobody’s bothered to put any money on [to win]. That’s me, I guess.”) and subsequently the birth of his own record label.

Plagued by laryngitis, due to overwork and exhaustion (others speculated that it was overuse of cocaine), the critics pounced negatively, calling it “Dark Hoarse” to make the point. Over the years, “Dark Horse” has matured, earning many accolades as a great example of Harrison’s blend of sophisticated folk, jazz fusion, and pop, long considered one of his best post-Beatles tracks.

-Steve Valvano

Photo: Pixabay