By the late ’80s, Willie Nelson already had eight No. 1 singles, including his 1982 hit “Always on My Mind” and the 1984 duet with Julio Iglesias, “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before,” which both topped the Country chart. He also helped launch Farm Aid, and was well on his journey with the Highwaymen, among other milestones. After releasing an album of standard covers, What a Wonderful World in 1988—which reunited him with Iglesias on “Spanish Eyes”—a year later he released a new album of originals on A Horse Called Music.
The title track was originally written by Wayne Carson, who had previous hits co-writing the Box Tops’ hits “The Letter” and “Soul Deep,” and more for Ike and Tina Turner, Conway Twitty, Waylon Jennings, along with Nelson’s “Always on My Mind.”
Carson’s lyrics tell of an old cowboy returning to the countryside of memories and reliving his past life.
High on a mountain in western Montana
A silhouette moves ‘cross a cinnamon sky
Riding alone on a horse he called Music
With a song on his lips, and a tear in his eye
He dreams of a time and a lady that loved him
And how he would sing her sweet lullabies
But we don’t ever ask him
And he never talks about her
I guess it’s just better that we all let it slide
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And he sings “ooh” to the ladies
And ooh, he made some sigh
Then he rides away on a horse he called Music
With a pain in his heart and a tear in his eye
Now he rode the Music from Boston to Bozeman
For not too much money, but way too much ride
And those were the days when a horse he called Music
Could jump through the moon and fly across the sky
Now all that’s left is an old time-worn cowboy
With only his dreams of the days long gone bye
And trailin’ behind is a horse with no rider
A horse he called memories that she used to ride
[RELATED: The Story Behind the Debut Single Willie Nelson Wrote When He Was 12]
‘Heroes’
A Horse Named Music, which went to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Albums chart, featured another No. 1 for Nelson, “Nothing I Can Do About It Now,” and “There You Are,” which peaked at No. 8.
Nelson never thought the title track got the attention it deserved when it was originally released and revisited it on his 2012 album Heroes. “I still didn’t feel like it had the audience and the acceptance that I felt that song deserved,” said Nelson.
To help him rerecord the track, Nelson pulled in his son Lukas and old friend Merle Haggard. “I asked Merle, ‘Come sing on this,’” said Nelson, “and he did.”
Accompanying its rerelease, a partially sepia-toned music video plays like an old black and white film interspersed with footage of Nelson sitting with his guitar on his ranch and singing and riding horseback through Luck, Texas. The slow-moving video is broken up by scenes from Nelson’s 1986 Western Red Headed Stranger—based on his 1975 album of the same name—footage of Haggard, and more. Nelson is also seen sitting to watch an old black and white film featuring Gene Autry and Roy Rogers—and Rogers’ horse Trigger, the namesake of Nelson’s most beloved guitar.
“Honestly,” joked Nelson of the video, “I was looking for an excuse to ride my horse.”
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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