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, Arthur Mathews and Neil Hannon (of the Divine Comedy), 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 contest to determine who goes to 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.
The song was released on CD as a B-side to The Divine Comedy's single "Gin Soaked Boy". The track lasts 1:23.
[edit] The song
The in-show history of the song is that Ted and Dougal secretly plagiarised the melody from the B-side of a record by the 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 using the extremely catchy tune with 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 chord (A minor) repeated throughout the entire song. The note only changes once, with that being at the very end of the song, which sees a pause to change the fingering position on the fret board, with Ted saying "Hang on, I can do this bit!". [1]
After making it through to the final stages of "A Song for Ireland", Ted hears the original tune 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 Eurovision, as it was costing them too much to stage each year, perhaps commenting on the fact that Ireland won the actual Eurovision Song Contest 3 consecutive times. Ted and Dougal end up getting no points in the Contest.
[edit] The video
The episode A Song For Europe is often regarded as one of the most popular episodes, appearing on the Best Of video. One of the most distinguishable moments in the episode is the famous "My Lovely Horse" music video. This is shown as part of a vivid dream that Dougal and Ted have in anticipation of their act. The video features obscure references to characteristic Eurovision sequences, such as footage of Ted and Dougal playing table tennis and playing with an inflatable ball in a swimming pool. The song includes obscure lines that refer to aspects of horse ownership such as "I want to shower you with sugar lumps ... and take you to the horse dentist" The climax of the clip features a typically 1970s disco-style burst of the horse's head surrounded by a background of multicoloured light, Ted wakes up in horror, crying "We have to lose that sax solo!" [2]
[edit] External links
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