My Lovely Horse
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My Lovely Horse was a song featured in the hit comedy series Father Ted. It was written by Graham Linehan and Neil Hannon, and appeared in the episode A Song for Europe, in which Ted (Dermot Morgan) and Dougal (Ardal O'Hanlon) sing it for Ireland at the "Eurosong" contest, a parody of the Eurovision Song Contest.
According to the DVD commentary, the video is based on That's What Friends are For by The Swarbriggs, a genuine Irish Eurovision competitor in 1975.
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[edit] The song
The in-show history of the song is that Ted and Dougal secretly stole the melody from an obscure Norwegian band who came fifth in "A Song for Norway" in 1976. As everyone who was in any way involved with the original song had perished in a plane crash, Ted decided he could get away with simply stealing the extremely catchy tune for his new lyrics entitled My Lovely Horse. Ted and Dougal had previously only accompanied these lyrics with an out of tune guitar and an old Bontempi organ, and their original melody simply contained one single note repeated throughout the entire song.
After making it through to the final stages of "A Song for Ireland", Ted hears the original tunes being used as elevator music. Realising that the tune is in fact more widely known than they thought, Ted and Dougal have no option but to resort to "Plan B", namely playing the song in its original format. This leaves them humiliated, but doesn't stop them winning, due to the fact that the producers have rigged the contest. They have done this to ensure that Ireland will lose the next Eurosong, as it was costing them too much to stage each year. Ted and Dougal end up getting no points in the Contest.
[edit] The video
The entire episode of A Song For Europe has come to be regarded as one of the most popular episodes, partially due to the famous My Lovely Horse music video, which appears in a dream sequence. The video is cheesy and in some cases puzzling. Lines such as "I want to shower you with sugar lumps ... and bring you to the horse dentist" feature in the song along with totally unrelated footage featuring Ted and Dougal playing table tennis and playing with an inflatable ball in a swimming pool.
At the point where the video reaches a typically 1970s disco-style burst of the horse surrounded by a background of multicoloured light, Ted wakes up in horror, crying "We have to lose that sax solo!"
[edit] Lyrics
My lovely horse,
running through the field.
Where are you going
with your fetlocks blowing in the wind?
I want to shower you with sugar lumps,
and ride you over fences.
Polish your hooves every single day,
and bring you to the horse dentist.
My lovely horse,
you’re a pony no more.
Running around with a man on your back,
like a train in the night
like a train in the night...
[Saxophone solo]
[edit] External links
| Father Ted | |
|---|---|
| Characters | |
| Father Ted Crilly | Father Dougal McGuire | Father Jack Hackett | Mrs. Doyle Bishop Brennan | Minor Characters |
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| Major Cast and Crew | |
| Dermot Morgan Ardal O'Hanlon | Frank Kelly | Pauline McLynn Arthur Mathews | Graham Linehan Pat Shortt | Jim Norton | Graham Norton | Tony Guilfoyle |
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| Other Related Pages | |
| List of Father Ted episodes | Craggy Island | My Lovely Horse | Feck | |
