Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek and Gerry Beckley were USAF brats, living with their families at a RAF Station near Bushey in 1970. In their final year at school they formed a band and started playing clubs and bars close by. They called themselves ‘America’ because they didn’t want locals to think they were British kids trying to sound American. Which, frankly, makes no sense. But their soft-rock, acoustic sound made perfect sense and found an immediate connection with audiences. And, before you could count the pimples on their faces, these three teenagers became rock stars.

Signed to Warner Brothers in the UK, they hit the jackpot with their second single ‘Desert Song’ –later re-named ‘A Horse With No Name’. It played over and over and over on the radio, thankfully managing to not cross the line into nausea-inducing zone inhabited by overplayed bumf like XXXX. After all, how can you not like a sing about a ‘horse with no name’? The mystery of it all was fascinating – why does the horse not have a name? Is it the horse ridden by the ‘man with no name’? And how do you get away with lyrics that go “The heat was hot” and “There were plants and birds and rocks and things”?  And is the song about taking heroin?

But get away with it they did! The song went straight to #1 and effectively templated the America sound forever – lush melodies, four soft acoustic-ish guitars playing perfectly in time,  harmonies….America were a perfect example of the California-rock sound that Eagles and CSNY were pioneering and they did catch the public imagination. They followed ‘Horse With No Name’ with ‘Ventura Highway’ and ‘Sister Golden Hair’. They kept making hits through the 70s, thanks in part to their amazing producer, who clearly knew a thing or two about producing hit songs. Their last hit was ‘You Can Do Magic’ in ’82 which I actually really like. It has that sense of wonder about falling in love for the first time – corny, but, so sweet! How about we make our own version of ‘maga’?  ?

You Can Do Magic