I started working at a famous racecourse last week which lead me to thinking – any songs about horse racing?
Songs about horse racing
by 69 Comments
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Musings on the byways of popular culture
Inevitable really, wasn’t it..?
More Thompson, named after a race horse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCeZKEwo6L0
Sandy’s ‘I’m a Dreamer’ mentions
I put a bet on with a bookie
For the race they put on over in Kentucky.
It’s lovely at this time of year, so they say,
And I’ve got to get away.
Jockey full of Bourbon, The Fix Is In….
…er….
Not Now John Macrirrick?
Jockey Full of Bourbon was the only one I came up with. (Didn’t’ see one, sadly)
Bottle of Smoke by The Pogues
Extensive research via Spotify shows various tracks called Horse Racing but not many I feel compelled to burden the site with!Putting up one with a tune to its mane,eh name…
There’s this too
Oh not forgetting this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApAptlFJkhM
Depends how you feel about cod country…
aaah yes that was my thought too. a great Melbourne cup winner
Take it away, Mr Brubeck
Oh good. was wondering if there was a decent version of this.
Aga Khan…
Aga. Aga Khan,
Aga Khan, let me rock you
Let me rock you Aga Khan…
This band as long since gone to the stud farm in the sky. Just don’t question their pedigree, chum…
(Race Horses – Pony)
If it all ends badly at the Grand National
How about one by a horse?
The B Side to his Do You Wanna Dance single from 1973…ladies and gentlemen, Mr Barry Blue.
…and from Act One of the classic musical Guys And Dolls, give it up for Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Benny Southstreet, and Rusty Charlie…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jzKG5WS1yMk
Famous American horse race namechecked, also the subject of an excellent Hunter S Thompson article.
Not a song but it is the Marx Brothers.
possibly not racing as such but:
and to lionk with the IKO IKO thread. Jockey Mo
Did you notice the tag on my OP? “If she wants a Hacken-a-bush, she’ll get a Hacken-a-bush!”
Not appeared here. Just seen Chico.
It’s Chico Time!
I meant Chico sorry, not the quote.
That’s ok
tend not to look at the tags.
Wild horses?
Not in moy feckin paddock, bejabers*
(*other offensive racial stereotyping is available )
Ol’ Tom Waits – “Jitterbug Boy”:
“I seen the Brooklyn Dodgers playing at Ebbets Field
Seen the Kentucky Derby too
It’s fast women, slow horses, unreliable sources…”
Hold Steady did one about a girl who could predict the winner – Chips Ahoy. And quite a good song it is too.
YouTube clip not provided. This place is having one of its periods of every fucken thread being a list of videos.
All right, you’ll just have to find Spike Jones murdering the William Tell Overture by yourself then. “And it’s Feetlebaum!”
I just stumbled across a track All the Tired Horses by Bob Dylan…I believe the modern vernacular to describe this utter nonsense is WTF…Anyone else have the misfortune to own this track…..?BTW I own about 20 Dylan albums,not this one thankfully…should also go in the woeful first track thread!
The version on Another Self Portrait is better. (FWIW I like both.)
I’m with Ms Breakfast
60 years ago boys
I rode for the diamond team
Sailing by, eight feet high
On horses quick as dreams
Slaid Cleaves “Quick As Dreams”
Inspired by the book and film ‘Seabiscuit’.
Horse racing as metaphor for the ups and downs of long term relationships, the beauty of love grown old, and the support between two people who rely on each other. Take it away, Richmond Fontaine!
Excellent avatar by the way. Very manly.
Thanks! Not me I’m afraid, it’s Nick Offerman from Parks and Recreation – a bit less predictable than one of the famous Will Smiths!
I know! I worship at the Church of Swanson.
Another Horsedreamers Blues by Counting Crows. Sorry can’t find a version with decent sound quality to post.
Song about someone who has the ability to predict the outcome of horse races
I like this song. I haven’t seen this video before and I burst out laughing at the verse about the account of the first fence
This is the killer – Andy Irvine’s ‘Plains of Kildare’, a relative of Martin Carthy’s ‘Skewbald’:
One of my favourite singles (by the Kevin Ayres / Kevin Coyne / etc bass player) . . . I can’t find it on YouTube or Spotify so here’s a photo for you to listen to:
I don’t think it’s about horse racing.
Jamaican Jockey. I ain’t googling that at work.
How about The Days Before Rock n Roll in which Van the Man mutters on about Lester Piggott losing a goldfish or something?
Elbow and Hawley, The Fix.
Can it be that no one has posted ‘Saddle Up And Ride Your Pony’?
The Hollies
The Holies
That Hollies clip reminds one how big the cabaret circuit was in Britain in the late 60s – it was a very lucrative world for acts and was often seen as the way for a pop career to progress/’grow up’ after a few hits. The bloke who sang in The Move, for instance, left at their peak to go into cabaret, while the likes of Tom Jones played endless seasons at Batley and the Talk of the Town.
Is it a song?
Well, it appears on an album which reached the lower reaches of the album chart
Derek & Clive – Horse Racing
(warning: may contain a couple of naughty words)
Pogues – Bottle Of Smoke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDAsxqXafWo
A song about three times Grand National winner Red Rum. A classic nags to riches story.
(It may be the song by Chaser released in 1975).
One about a racetrack
Gil Scott Heron – Racetrack In France
The wonderful Lew Lewis slaps his wad down…
Just read up about him on Wikipedia.,hadn’t come across him since a vague memory of being on the Stiff label,shame to read he had lots of issues over the past and hope he is still making a living playing music.
Making an all too rare appearance on the AW, Betty Grable with some advice for the ladies.
Back to Jamaican race courses. The Pioneers had a hit with this song about a rather unsuccessful local race horse.
When the poor best died during its 203rd race, Leslie Kong suggested they write a sequel.
They produced the wonderful Long shot kick de bucket, mentioend above by Hubert.
And you thought YouTubers were all yappy teenagers. Think again! This guy is out there.
Spike Jones – Beetle Bomb.
That was disturbing,back in the day we called such footage a Video Nasty…!Just gave it one viewing…..
Don’t you think horse racing has gone to the dogs of late?
Go the Fury!
Not about horse racing, but horses do get mentioned in this very creepy lullaby.
(Calexico – All The Pretty Horses)
Obviously not a song about horse racing but there are a couple of lines (indeed the opening lines) of ‘Going For The One’.
Incidentally, the reason a 13 year old first realised there was a musical existence outside of the mainstream, was whilst watching Grandstand on the BBC one Saturday afternoon, and there being a compilation piece on horseracing, with the soundtrack being the very same ‘Going For The One’.
Changed my life naturally!
The Race Is On, a race between Pride, Heartache, My Tears, My Heart, True Love and it looks like Heartache is the Winner.
Covered by Dave Edmunds with The Stray Cats, this is George Jones:
Have you ever seen the reins?
Favourite Shirt
Whip it!
Really Neighing Something
The band James called the track Sometimes (Lester Piggot) for some reason…?