About the song
Willie Nelson’s “A Horse Called Music” is a song that moves with the quiet grace of a sunset fading over a dusty plain. It is a song of reflection, loss, and the unshakable pull of memory—classic themes that Nelson, with his weathered voice and masterful storytelling, has spent a lifetime exploring. Originally written by Wayne Carson and first recorded by Nelson for his 1989 album A Horse Called Music, the song remains one of his most poignant and understated works, a ballad steeped in nostalgia and the gentle ache of time’s passage.
From the moment the song begins, its sparse instrumentation sets an almost cinematic scene: an aging cowboy, alone with his thoughts, saddles up a horse that exists only in memory. Nelson delivers the lines with a hushed reverence, his voice carrying a tremor of wistfulness, as if he himself is staring down the long road of the past. The melody drifts along like a slow-moving river—unhurried, reflective, and deeply evocative. The steel guitar sighs in the background, while the steady rhythm of an acoustic guitar gives the song the patient gait of an old horse plodding through a lonesome landscape.
Lyrically, “A Horse Called Music” is filled with imagery that recalls the open range, the fading light of evening, and the bittersweet remembrance of days gone by. The song tells the story of a rider who mounts up and sets off into the distance, but as the verses unfold, it becomes clear that this horse, this ride, is not of the present—it belongs to another time, another life. The horse called Music is not just an animal, but a symbol of a past that canters just out of reach, a ride the narrator can never take again except in his dreams.
Nelson’s interpretation of the song is particularly moving because of the weight of his own experiences. By the time he recorded it, he had already lived through decades of triumph and heartbreak—successes that had made him a legend and personal losses that had carved deep lines into his soul. His voice, with its unmistakable mixture of warmth and weariness, makes the song feel personal, as if he is confiding in the listener over a quiet campfire.
Though never one of Nelson’s biggest commercial hits, “A Horse Called Music” has remained a favorite among his more introspective fans. It perfectly encapsulates his ability to blend country, folk, and the blues into something uniquely his own—a song that feels both timeless and deeply human.
In later years, Nelson revisited the song in a duet with Merle Haggard, another master of country storytelling. Their combined voices—both aged, both carrying the weight of countless miles—added even more depth to an already hauntingly beautiful song. But whether performed alone or shared between kindred spirits, “A Horse Called Music” stands as a testament to Nelson’s singular gift: the ability to take a simple melody, a few spare words, and turn them into something profound, something that lingers long after the last note fades into the night.
Video
Lyrics
High on a mountain in western Montana
A silhouette moves ‘cross a cinnamon sky
Riding alone on a horse he called Music
With a song on his lips, and a tear in his eye
He dreams of a time, and a lady that loved him
And how he would sing her sweet lullabies
But we don’t ever ask him
And he never talks about her
I guess it’s just better that we all let it slide
And he sings “ooh” to the ladies
And ooh, he made some sigh
Then he rides away on a horse he called Music
With a pain in his heart and a tear in his eye
Now he rode the Music from Boston to Bozeman
For not too much money, but way too much ride
And those were the days when a horse he called Music
Could jump through the moon and fly across the sky
Now all that’s left is an old time worn cowboy
With only his dreams of the days long gone bye
And trailin’ behind is a horse with no rider
A horse he called memories, that she used to ride
But he sang “ooh” to the ladies
And ooh, he damn near made some fall right down and die
Then he’d ride away on a horse he called Music
With a pain in his heart and a tear in his eye
High on a mountain in western Montana
Two crosses cut through a cinnamon sky
Markin’ a place where a horse he called Music
Lays with a cowboy there by his side
