An
introduction to "Heavy Horses"
The album - released in
1978 - continued the themes explored on the previous
album with the same mixture of folk-influenced acoustic
pieces and heavy rock. Like "Songs From The
Wood", this album is full of folk imagery. Many of
the songs are about animals and the lyrics continue much
of the rustic tradition of its predecessor. The album is
a bit darker however, with more references to modern
civilization. The music too reflects this change: the
more traditional rock sounds of electric guitar and the
trap kit are more prominent.
Annotations
...And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps
This song appears
to be about cats:
"Savage bed-foot
warmer of purest feline ancestry"
and doesn't seem to celebrate nature as much as
it reminds us that dead and killing are parts of
nature:
"Eats but one in every ten, leaves
the others on the mat."
It may be the case that a pagan or
'nature-worshipper' would not view death in the
bleak, dreary manner in which most modern,
Western people do.
The line "Eats
but one in every ten, leaves the other on the
mat" is an obvious reference to
the habit of domestic cats to bring their kill to
the master as an offering. This is a very common
behavior of domesticated felines. Anyone who has
a cat that catches mice knows that the cat will
frequently leave the intact bodies of their prey
in a well trafficked area as a gift to show their
'love' for the humans that keep them. The front
door mat is the most common alter of offering, as
this is where the cat patiently waits for the
master to open the door and let them in to the
house.
* Bruce Rusk
Acres Wild
Acres Wild takes a
very earthy view of sex, based on a tradition I
discussed in the introduction of Songs From The
Wood. In the opening verse natural settings are
enumerated in which the narrator plans to have
sex. Than, in the second verse, the scenery
change from rural to urban:
"in
narrow side streets with shuttered windows,
crumbling chimneys" and brings us to the present day. The
narrator proceeds to enumerate places of
dilapidated civilization. He speaks of having sex
in "a
weary town".
Based on the pagan fertility beliefs discussed
before, the practice of having sex in these
places should make them alive and productive
again. Caswell asks himself: "Is it possible
that this song is about a kind of pagan ,
pre-Christian sexual rejuvenation of a crumbling
civilization?" We saw how this theme was the
main subject of Jack-In-The-Green.
In the chorus
lines the narrator calls his love "northern
father's western child".
It might be that this
cryptic line shows the gap that arose between old
tradition, where every human being had his/her
place in the cycle of nature, and modern life,
where so many feel lost and anonymous. In that
case the "western child" stands for
modern man and his life in the city who
experiences the alienation that springs from the
loss of traditions, that were so dear to the
previous generations ('the northern fathers').
Could it be, that these northern fathers refer to
Picts, Scots and other Celtic nations that
inhabited Scotland so long ago and - being
safeguarded for Roman civilization - could
preserve their traditions for so long?
* Jan Voorbij
In 'Acres Wild', I've always
thought "northern father's western
child" is simply Skye itself. The
northern father is Scotland, the comparatively
small Isle Of Skye being described as Scotland's
child.
* Neil R. Thomason
The Winged Isle is an old name for the Isle of Skye.
The black mountains refer to the Black Cuillins, the
eastern part of the Cuillin Hills on the Isle of
Skye.
* Jan Voorbij,
Judson Caswell
One Brown Mouse
The song is inspired by a poem of
Robert Burns: 'Ode To A Mouse'. Though the song
has a markedly urban setting, it fits the tone of
the album. Taking the Burns connection one step
further, the first three lines of 'To A Mouse'
are:
"Wee, sleekit,
cow'rin', tim'rous beastie
O what a panic's in thy
breastie!
Thou need na start awa
sae hasty,"
(see for the complete poem: The Official
Robert Burns Site)
In a recording for the BBC in 1975, Ian quoted
these lines and acknowledged that the third line
may have unconsciously inspired the line:
"... don't start away uneasy..." in
Aqualung.
*
Neil R. Thomason
Heavy Horses
The title track of
the album eulogizes in an almost loving way the
working horses of great Britain, who find
themselves no longer needed with the advent of
mechanized farm machinery:
"And there's no work to do: The
tractor is on its way".
The narrator presents himself as a man who wants
"to keep the old line going" as he is aware of the special
qualities and charm of these animals and that
they will be needed badly in the future:
"one day when the oil
barons have all dripped dry
and the nights are seen to draw colder".
People than will realize what the price is of
economic growth and once again will
"beg for your strength, your gentle
power,
your noble grace and your bearing."
The narrator believes the heavy horse will not
let us down:
"And you'll strain
once again to the sound of the gulls
in the wake of the deep plough, sharing".
"The Suffolk, the Clydesdale,
the Percheron vie with the Shire ...." These
are four breeds of heavy work and draft horses.
For specific information about these horses visit
the Breeds
Of Lifestock website of the Oklahoma State
University, Animal Sciences Dpt.
* Jan Voorbij
Alexander Glasgow
points out that Ian might have been inspired by a
poem of Edwin Muir when writing "Heavy
Horses": "I was listening to the lyrics for Heavy
Horses last night, and the theme of praising the
old technology when the new was seen to have been
nilhilistic or corrupt. I started thinking of a
poem by the Orcadian poet Edwin Muir. His poem
"Horses" tells of the aftermath of some
nuclear/chemical/generally apocalyptic war, and
the almost supernatural arrival of horses to save
the people and re-aquaint them with the reliable
old technology. There's a copy at http://www.rhizomatics.demon.co.uk/muir/. Have a read: in fact,
look at the entire site. The man was very close
to capturing something unquantifiable about the
atmosphere and quality of daylight this part of
Scotland".
* Alexander
Glasgow
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