Horse With No Name - Limahl

Better To... Podcast with D. M. Needom

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Limahl stops by the show to discuss his latest release, how taking a chance with Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran helped his band get a record deal, coming out to his Mum, and so much more.

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“The original ‘70s track has been a favorite on my 'Evening' playlist for a long time,” says UK music topliner LIMAHL about his reimagining of the classic folk/rock hit “A Horse With No Name” that is released via Christopher Music on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. “The idea to reimagine it was always ticking away in the back of my mind.”
The song was first released in 1971 in the UK (1972 in the US). The original was composed and performed by folk rock trio America and topped Billboard’s Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts (it reached #3 on the UK Singles chart and was certified gold in 1972). Adapting the ‘70s musical aesthetics and injecting a bit of ‘90s electronica, Limahl’s updated version of the song carries a bit of a retro-futuristic quality that feels equally at home in 2025.
“The ‘90s have been enjoying a revival which prompted me to experiment with the drums/rhythms from that decade,” he explains. “Then the jerky, ‘Jupiter 8’ analogue synthesizer/sequencer was added with a filtering envelope, and it became an important personality in the track.” He also toyed with the iconic non-lexical “la la” vocal and updated it, incorporating it further into the song. Absent on the ‘70s original but included in this rendition is the ‘la la’ motif in the intro, the key-change on the last verse, and in the final chorus, the ‘la la’s' crisscrossing the main lyric with the melody. Saying that, almost as an afterthought, a guitar from standout musician Steve Cooper was added, and it became the "icing on the cake.”
The resulting track transforms the classic folk track with a mesmerizing and hypnotic synth-dominated swirl, making the song pop and click in ways that would have been unimaginable in the 1970s. The equally mesmerizing accompanying video bursts with surreal and psychedelic imagery, reflecting the song’s hallucinatory spirit.

Winning the hearts of millions of fans in the ‘80s as the lead singer of British band Kajagoogoo, Limahl enjoyed the instant celebrity of hitting the top of the charts with their debut single "Too Shy" (75million+ streams to date) which was followed by two more Top 20 hits "Ooh To Be Ah" and "Hang On Now" (all of which he co-wrote). Limahl struck out on his own and soon re-emerged in the charts again with his first solo single "Only For Love," That was quickly followed with the Giorgio Moroder–produced worldwide smash "Neverending Story" (151million+ streams to date)," the theme song from the hit film of the same name.
Website: http://www.limahl.com/

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