The Annotated "Horse with No Name"

Horse with no Name" by America has become one of my favorite songs as it describes in some way how I feel about things, and it has something to say about our present lifestyle, which may have to be discarded because of peak oil. I will present the lyrics and comment on them, then I will comment on the chords in the piece - they are interesting, too.

On the first part of the journey I was looking at all the life

Apparently the journey starts somewhere where things are fertile, and where there is enough rain. I imagine it to be some southern or Midwestern city, such as Kansas City, Mo.

There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rain
The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz

You don't see these things in a desert. The journey begins somewhere just outside the desert, where some of these things exist. Both animate and inanimate things are included, and some of these things do occur in a desert after all, such as sand and hills.

And the sky with no clouds

Represents a beautiful day, with blue skies, and happiness. But this also occurs frequently in a desert.

The heat was hot and the ground was dry

That's a redundancy. What would have happened if the heat had been cold? Now we are getting into the desert. These things don't exist, and maybe you miss them, but what do you care?

But the air was full of sound

Have you ever noticed the difference between a summer and a winter night? On a summer night, you hear bugs twittering, birds, and animals. On a winter night you don't hear anything. If the air was full of sound, we had not reached the desert yet.

I've been through the desert on a horse with no name

What is this horse with no name? And why doesn't it have a name? To me that is a difference between horses and cars. Back in the old days, for transportation you bought a horse. You named the horse and took good care of it. It was not only your method of transportation but your friend, and you had to be on good relations with it. Naming the horse gives some personal feeling to it. Not so with a car. Most people name their horses but not their cars. You hear that Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby but you hear that Tony Stewart won the Nascar 500. Tony Stewart was the driver, not the car, but Barbaro was the horse, not the jockey. So to me the fact that the horse had no name meant it was a car instead. The person is making his journey across the desert in a car. I imagine him crossing the Great Plains and then the southwestern Desert.

It felt good to be out of the rain

That's one good thing about the desert. It does not rain there (at least not much). Rain is inconvenient, dreary, and the symbol of sadness and depression. If you are in the desert, you don't get this. You get endless beautiful weather all the time and what clouds there are produce brilliant sunsets instead of dreary days.

In the desert you can remember your name

This passage is the source of a Mondegreen. I thought at first the lyrics were "In the desert you can't remember your name For there ain't no one for to give you no name." But that does not make sense. If you don't have a name, how can you forget it? You can't forget something that doesn't exist.

To me "can remember your name" means that you can pursue what you want without interference from anything or any person. You are all alone in the desert, and are wondering what is around and what is with this world, and you can think clearly about these things because the phone doesn't ring, your spouse doesn't yell at you, your boss doesn't bawl you out, no dogs threaten you and so forth. To me that is what "can remember your name" means.

'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain

This is just what I was talking about. And it emphasizes that it is people that give you the most pain in your life, what I call "Bottom 10s", from the practice of listing the top or bottom 10 of something - the ten worst people in your life. There are no Bottom 10s in the desert.

Also I would like to remark on the grammar. It is full of grammatical errors. Still this is the way people speak when they have feelings about things, such as Bottom 10s. That includes "ain't", "ain't no" (double negative), for (useless word), "give you no pain" (double negative again).

La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,la,la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,la,la

Filler. The singers let the tune show itself.

After two days in the desert sun
My skin began to turn red

Sunburn danger? Skin can turn red in an automobile, especially if it is a convertible. However, I don't think life-threatening stress is involved, even though the desert heat and non-availability of water can be dangerous.

After three days in the desert fun I was looking at a river bed

Of a river where water no longer flows. There are some interesting things about the desert. But this can be a metaphor for the past, for how things used to be. The current of those times have dried up and now only memories in a dried up river bed remain.

And the story it told of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead

There used to be civilizations in the desert, back when the climate was more favorable. This also says the past is dead and all you can live is the present.

You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,la,la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,la,la

After nine days I let the horse run free
'cause the desert had turned to sea

The traveler has reached the Pacific Coast, presumably in Southern California. Eventually the desert becomes fertile land again, then the wide expanse of the ocean. Apparently the traveler arrived somewhere where he can walk to get to plants, birds, rocks, things, sand, hills and rain, so he parks the car and leaves it. It then just sits there, unlike a horse, which would then experience a life of freedom.

There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rain

Southern California has these things.

The ocean is a desert with its life underground

A different kind of desert - a desert of water. Nothing but water is out there, and all the life is under the surface - fish, mollusks, and whales. Here, "underground" to me means "undersea".

And a perfect disguise above

Hey look at this! An anti-Mondegreen. In a Mondegreen, the singers intend one expression and you hear another. For example, Jimi Hendrix sings "''cuse me, while I kiss the sky", and we hear "'cuse me, while I kiss this guy.", mainly because it makes more sense.

In an anti-Mondegreen, the singer puts in the misunderstood phrase (or at least what you think you will misunderstand it as) and you are suppose to interpret it as the true phrase. In this case "disguise above" does not make sense. I think America means "the sky above", or "sky above". And that is what would exist out in the ocean - an unusually good (perfect) sky above the ocean.

Under the cities lies a heart made of ground
But the humans will give no love

A person who is cold and does not show any love is usually said to have a heart of iron or stone. Here the heart is of ground. They must mean underground things such as subways, basements and garages, and indoors at home or in an apartment complex. In a big city such as Los Angeles, people are not that friendly, and I think this is what this means. After a long journey, you would expect some gratitude. So did the person complete the journey? Or is he still in a desert, a love desert, because no one will relate to him?

You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,la,la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,la,la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,la,la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,la,la

An interesting song. It represents escape from Bottom 10s and other annoying things of life, in a lifestyle of complete freedom. Drive anywhere in the desert and have a clear mind to think things over. So therefore this song also represents our current lifestyle, based on the horse with no name . . . the automobile. Such a lifestyle can last only as long as the fuel for it does, and there are signs the fuel is running out. Does this mean we won't be able to drive in the desert anymore? We have to put up with Bottom 10s but we will have plants, birds, rocks, things, sand, hills, rain and flies.

This song also reminds me of solitary pilgrimages such as experienced by Buddha and Mohammad. You go out into the desert to clarify your relationships to the Ultimate.

The chords are interesting. There are only two chords, E minor and a strange chord for which names such as Dsusp6susp9 do not give it justice. The E minor chord is the easiest basic chord for the guitar. It is just two fingers on the second fret of the 2nd and 3rd strings (A and D, making them into B and E). To get the other what'sit chord, you split your fingers over so they hit the 1st and 4th strings at their second frets, yielding a chord consisting of F#, A, D, A, B and E. This makes "Horse with No Name" probably the easiest popular song to play on the guitar. It's the same Em and whatsit chords over and over again. The whatsit chord looks like a D chord but its bass note is an F#. To me the best name for this chord is the "whatsit" chord, or the "horse with no name" chord, or maybe it's like the horse in the song. The chord has no name. You see, I've been strumming the guitar on a chord with no name.