Thompson Lake Marina, Casco, Maine, United States.

📷 https://myearthcam.com/thompsonlake
🗺️ https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=52.31304&mlon=-114.10844#map=12/52.31304/-114.10844

#lake #lakes #outdoors #webcam

Hitzewelle endet im Juli: Jetzt +42 Grad, dann Unwetter und Temperaturrückgang

https://www.wetterprognose-wettervorhersage.de/wetter/juli/wetter-juli-2026/13659-hitzewelle-endet-im-juli-jetzt-43-grad-dann-unwetter-und-temperaturrueckgang.html

#Wetter #Wetterprognose #Wettervorhersage #Juni #Regen #Sturm #Frühling #Sommer #Sonne #fotografie #natur #naturfotografie #wandern #photography #nature #landscapephotography #naturepics #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #outdoors #hiking #sun #weather #rain #storm #spring #June

Auf dem Elsterperlenweg im Vogtland hat man tolle Ausblicke ins grüne Elstertal. Die Region, in der ich diese Woche gewandert bin, war neu für mich. Hat mir gut gefallen, auch die Stadt Greiz.

#vogtland #sachsen #thueringen #wandern #hiking #natur #nature #landschaft #landscape #outdoor #outdoors #fotografie #photography

Song Lyric Sunday – A Horse With No Name

Enjoying the outdoors and nature is the theme for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday. I have picked the song A Horse With No Name by one of my favorite 70s bands, America. Dewey Bunnel’s sweet, gentle voice is what originally drew me to this song and then the lyrics hooked me.

https://youtu.be/2OTc4ZOsSSI

The Song

America was formed in England by sons of US servicemen who were stationed there. Lead singer Dewey Bunnell wrote “A Horse With No Name” when he was 19. Although the song is commonly misinterpreted about being on drugs, it is not: Bunnell based the images in the lyrics on things he saw while visiting the US.
This was originally titled “Desert Song,” since Bunnell wrote it based on the desert scenery he encountered when his dad was stationed at an Air Force base in Santa Barbara County, California.

“The desert as a topic had been burning in my head after years in the UK,” Bunnell told Mojo magazine. “As kids, my brother and I had spent time in the desert – New Mexico, Arizona, southern California – catching snakes and lizards and poking around. I was also conjuring up another kind of weather, since England was notorious for being rainy.”
The song tells a rather abstruse tale about a trip though the desert. While the landscape is unforgiving, the singer also finds comfort in that scenario.

According to Dewey Bunnell, the “horse” represents a means of entering a place of tranquility, and this tranquil place was best represented by the desert, which sounded pretty good to him while he was stuck in rainy England.

As for why the horse had no name and why it went free after nine days, Bunnell doesn’t have any answers – it seems the various listener interpretations are far more colorful than any meaning he assigned to it.

The group’s self-titled debut album was released in the UK in late 1971, but didn’t contain this song. When they were contemplating a single, they considered “I Need You,” but decided to come up with a new song instead. The group went back to the studio and recorded “A Horse With No Name,” which Bunnell had written.

Released as a single in the UK, it shot to #3 in January 1972, prompting the group’s label, Warner Bros., to issue the single in the US and also release the album with the song included. On March 25, both the single and album hit #1 in the US; the song stayed at the top spot for three weeks, the album for five.

The album was recorded in London where the band was located. In February, when the song started climbing the charts in the US, the group embarked on a tour of the States, playing club shows before supporting the Everly Brothers as the opening act on their North American tour.

“I Need You” was released as the follow-up single, reaching #9 US. The group would become one of the most successful acts of the ’70s and score another US #1 hit with “Sister Golden Hair.”

Many people thought this was a Neil Young song when they heard it, and many rock critics pointed out the similarities. In a strange twist, “A Horse With No Name” replaced Young’s “Heart of Gold” at #1 in the US.

Dewey Bunnell explained that he was well aware that he sounded like Neil Young on this song, but claimed he wasn’t trying to imitate the singer. He told Rolling Stone in 1973: “I try to use a different voice so that I won’t be branded as a rip-off. It’s such a drag, though, to have to not sound like someone when you can’t help it in the first place.”

America remained active into the ’10s, typically playing about 100 shows a year. When Songfacts spoke with Gerry Beckley in 2016, he said: “I’m always asked, ‘What’s your favorite song?’ And I usually default to ‘Horse’ because the song itself represents the start of the journey. You know: ‘On the first part of the journey.’ It actually says it in the song. But that’s what it’s been – it’s been an unbelievable journey.”

“Horse” is slang for heroin, leading to myriad rumors (denied by the band) that the song is about drugs.

“I had no idea horse was a street name for heroin, and it got banned, like Kansas City Radio wouldn’t play it,” Bunnell told Mojo. “Maybe that helped create some other side bar of Darkness to the song. We dabbled in some of the drugs of the day, but never hard drugs.”

Dewey Bunnell played 6-string acoustic guitar on this track; his bandmate Gerry Beckley played 12-string acoustic, and the third member of the group, Dan Peek, played bass. Session musicians rounded out the instrumentation: Kim Haworth on drums and Ray Cooper on percussion.

The bad grammar in the song was intentional.

‘Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain

Burrell told Mojo: “The poor grammar in the lyrics was me inventing a character to sing the song, because I didn’t talk like ‘There ain’t no-one for to give you no pain.’ It just felt right.”

Over the years the song has been featured in multiple TV shows and movies and performed by a variety of artists.