May 052007
Townswoman Crystal files the following report:
I was compelled to write about this truly awful song, Michael Martin Murphey’s “Wildfire”. I had never heard “Wildfire” until I happened to be listening to a segment on NPR about this. I must have been like 2 when this came out, and my mother had the good sense to shelter me from it. Was this really a hit in the ’70s? Was it because everyone was on drugs? This is like the “Old Yeller” of songs except that it’s not good at all. I kept thinking, Out of all of the songs in the world, NPR had to profile this one because of its “mystery?”
although young american girls have ALWAYS loved horses (they ARE beautiful, noble creatures, as i write this on KEN-tuck-ee-Dur-bee-day-eee), it seems to me that this was even more the case in the 70s. my sisters wanted a horse so bad…this song played right into their desires. i remember once, after church, “wildfire” came on in the car. this was at the height of the “why can’t we have a horse?” campaign my sisters were waging. my dad reflexively went to change the station because WFIL was not his station. and my sister changed it back and glared at him….
a very compelling moment.
gentleman that he is, my dad smiled and let her glare.
we went to the mall and my sisters bought that single and punished my dad with it all summer.
OK. Apocrypha or not? Didn’t they have a huge contest to name the “Horse With No Name”? I thought I remembered that. The Horse With No Name was a big hit, and “Wildfire” was the follow up. Is this a sub-urban myth?
I heard the NPR story also. What scared me was how many lyrics I remembered from hearing it on AM radio a zillion times.
Gen Slocum – “Horse with No Name” is by America and “Wildfire” is by Michael Martin Murphey
You know what’s cool? I’m on a train from Trenton heading up to Dartmouth College in Hanover NH (9 hours), and I got from work on of those broadband wireless cards from Verizon. Interjawn access is great!
They must have been hurtin’ for a song to feature this week. “Wildfire” is described by the host as “one of the most popular songs of the last 25 years.” Damn, it was a big hit when I was a kid, but I would think there have been at least 500 bigger hits since then.
I love Murphey’s “escaping hard times” meaning that fans have described to him. I was going through hard times back then, and that song was yet one more thing I wanted to escape from.
Yes, Crystal, I do think this song reflects what happens when drugs spread too far into society. This guy should have been satisfied with a glass of Cold Duck.