Black Horse and the Cherry Tree

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"Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"

Single by KT Tunstall
from the album Eye to the Telescope
Released	21 February 2005 (UK) 29 August 2005
Format	7", CD
Recorded	2004
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	2:51
Label	Relentless Records
Producer(s)	Steve Osborne
Chart positions
#20 (US, New Zealand) #28 (UK)
KT Tunstall UK singles chronology
"False Alarm" (2004)	"Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" (2005)	"Other Side of the World" (2005)
KT Tunstall US singles chronology
	"Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" (2006)	"Suddenly I See" (2006)

"Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" is a song by Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall and is featured on her debut album, Eye to the Telescope. It was released 21 February 2005 as the lead single from that album, charting at #28 in the UK Singles Chart (see 2005 in British music).

1 Song information
2 Track listings
3 Chart performance
- 3.1 Chart Positions
4 References

[edit] Song information

KT said of the song [1]:

“

"Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" is inspired by old blues, Nashville psycho hillbillies & hazy memories. It tells the story of finding yourself lost on your path, and a choice has to be made. It's about gambling, fate, listening to your heart, and having the strength to fight the darkness that's always willing to carry you off.

”

The song is usually performed solo by Tunstall, with the layered guitar and vocals constructed piece-by-piece by sampling the parts live, and using a digital delay unit to create the backing track. A performance of the song on Later with Jools Holland was an important break in Tunstall's career. The song won Tunstall an award for Best Single of 2005 in Q magazine, and it received a 2007 Grammy Award nomination for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance".^[1]

[edit] Track listings

"Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"
"Barbie"

"Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"
"One Day"

[edit] Chart performance

Initially, "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" was in the bottom half of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Only after the American Idol season 5 contestant, Katharine McPhee, sang the song on the show as part of a Billboard charts-based song selection did the tune rise rapidly in popularity; it jumped 56 positions on the U.S. Hot 100 chart, going from #79 to #23, and becoming Tunstall's first single (and only, to date) to appear on that chart's Top 20. McPhee would go on to sing the song again in her final performance show on May 23, 2006, finishing second to Taylor Hicks. During her first performance of the song on May 2, 2006, McPhee sang the song while barefoot on her knees, with box drum players near her on the stage, but on her second performance, she was not barefoot, nor did she stay on her knees as she had previously done. "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" was also used in advertisements for The WB show Pepper Dennis. The song's video ranked #19 on VH1's 40 Greatest Videos of 2006. During the program's airing, Tunstall stated that the day of the video shoot was the only time she had ever worn red lipstick.

[edit] Chart Positions

Note: These positions represent the time period after Katharine McPhee sang the song on American Idol.

Chart (2005/2006)	Peak position^[2]
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	20
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Tracks	12
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	22
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	4
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40	1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	15
U.S. Arc Weekly Top 40	11
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Charts	20
Official Chart Holland	80
Official Chart Italy	10
Official Chart Ireland	16
Official Chart France	23
Official Chart Austria	31
Official Chart Belgium	35
Official Chart Germany	51
Official Chart Switzerland	92
Official Chart UK	28