“A Horse with No Name” – Single by America from the album America
B-side: “Everyone I Meet Is from California” / “Sandman”
Released: November 12, 1971 (UK) / January 19, 1972 (US)
Recorded: 1971
Studio Morgan Studios, London
Label: Warner Bros.
Songwriter: Dewey Bunnell
Producer: Ian Samwell
America was formed in England by sons of US servicemen who were stationed there. Lead singer Dewey Bunnell wrote “A Horse With No Name” when he was 19. Although the song is commonly misinterpreted about being on drugs, it is not: Bunnell based the images in the lyrics on things he saw while visiting the US.
“A Horse with No Name” is a song by the folk rock band America, written by Dewey Bunnell. It was the band’s first and most successful single, released in late 1971 in Europe and early 1972 in the United States, and topped the charts in Canada, Finland, and the United States.
Despite the song being banned by some US radio stations, most notably WHB in Kansas City, because of supposed drug references to heroin use (“horse” is a common slang term for heroin), the song ascended to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, and the album quickly reached platinum status. The song charted earlier in Ireland (reaching number 4), the Netherlands (reaching number 11) and the UK (reaching number 3, the band’s only Top 40 hit in the country) than it did in the United States.
The song’s resemblance to some of Neil Young’s work aroused some controversy. For example, in its review of “A Horse with No Name” Cash Box described America as “CSN&Y soundalikes.” “I know that virtually everyone, on first hearing, assumed it was Neil”, Bunnell said. “I never fully shied away from the fact that I was inspired by him. I think it’s in the structure of the song as much as in the tone of his voice. 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.” By coincidence, it was “A Horse with No Name” that replaced Young’s “Heart of Gold” at the number 1 spot on the US pop chart.
