Wildfire...

I'm likely to catch some flack from some that read this first part, including my lovely wife, who grew up with horses.

But why are horses any more majestic or special than other members of the animal kingdom?  I think bison, deer, elk, and other animals are beautiful too, but also tasty... horse is on the menu in Europe, and I've tried it.  I wasn't any more impressed than with a mediocre steak. Maybe it was the preparation or the cut, I don't know. Whatever the reason, it's not something I crave.

If you're an omnivore, everything that moves about is a potential appetizer, entrée or side dish. (I'm not advocating cannibalism, so we're off the menu.)  The suffering of a cow or pig is no more or less than a horse being slaughtered.  If you really care about animals being butchered, become a vegetarian or vegan.


OK, that beginning tangent is not the purpose of this post, I will now attempt to focus my diatribe.

I analyze songs I like, to see what they mean to me, but also to hopefully ascertain what the singer or songwriter meant.  (I've posted some entries like that, and there will be more, along with my comments on events or whatever else I am inspired to write.)

I love Michael Martin Murphey's song Wildfire.

The song is beautiful, but extremely sad and dark.  In the opening, he says that "she" is coming down the mountain on a cold Nebraska night.

Then he gives the background.  "She" (his wife?) was lost in a blizzard when she chased her horse after it got away. She froze to death.

He planted by the dark of the moon, which is Old Farmer's Almanac guidance for when to plant root crops, such as potatoes, carrots, beets, etc.  But his crops failed.

Now he is starving to death.

(There's been a hoot owl howling outside my window now, 'bout six nights in a row.)

Owls are traditionally a harbinger of death, especially among Native American cultures.  Presumably, this is the seventh night when she is coming for him.  (The number "seven" repeats and has significance throughout many cultures, especially in The Bible.)

So he will be taken away and reunited with his wife.


According to Murphey, the song came to him in a dream, and even he can't say for certain what it is about. He mentions a legendary Native ghost horse that his grandfather told about in the Southwest, and Jesus riding a white horse when he returns as told in the Book of Revelation.

I don't think it is a song about ponies or horses... it is a song about ghosts and death.

And then some jackwad juxtaposes the song with images of pretty ponies.

But I guess any song can have its own meaning to the listener.  Perhaps I am just too literal to read between the lines.

But as long as the video exists on YouTube, here ya go, pretty ponies & all.

"Wildfire" video on YouTube

She comes down from Yellow Mountain

On a dark, flat land she rides

On a pony she named Wildfire

With a whirlwind by her side

On a cold Nebraska night

Oh, they say she died one winter

When there came a killing frost

And the pony she named Wildfire

Busted down it's stall

In a blizzard she was lost

She ran calling Wildfire

Calling Wildfire

Calling Wildfire

So by the dark of the moon I planted

But there came an early snow

Been a hoot-owl howling outside my window now

'Bout six nights in a row

She's coming for me, I know

And on Wildfire we're both gonna go

We'll be riding Wildfire

Riding Wildfire

Riding Wildfire

On Wildfire we're gonna ride

Gonna leave sodbustin' behind

Get the hard times right on out of our minds

Riding Wildfire