Corb Lund - Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier! (video)

I had the urge to make a video to go along with this song. Not just a slide show. The first use of horses in warfare occurred over 5,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of horses ridden in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons. By 1600 BC, improved harness and chariot designs made chariot warfare common throughout the Ancient Near East, and the earliest written training manual for war horses was a guide for training chariot horses written about 1350 BC. As formal cavalry tactics replaced the chariot, so did new training methods, and by 360 BC, the Greek cavalry officer Xenophon had written an extensive treatise on horsemanship. The effectiveness of horses in battle was also revolutionized by improvements in technology, including the invention of the saddle, the stirrup, and later, the horse collar. (lyrics) I’m a hussar, I’m a Hun, I’m a wretched Englishman Routing Bonaparte at Waterloo I’m a dragoon on a dun, I’m a Cossack on the run I’m a horse soldier, timeless, through and through I’m a horse soldier, eternal, through and through I’s with Custer and the 7th in ’76 or ’77 Scalped at Little Big Horn by the Sioux And the tears and devistation of a once proud warrior nation This I know ’cause I was riding with them too I drank mare’s blood on the run when I rode with the Great Khan On the frozen Mongol steppe when at his height I’s a White Guard, I’s a Red Guard, I’s the Tsar’s own palace horse guard When Romanov was murdered in the night I knew Salah al-Din and rode his swift Arabians Harassing doomed crusaders on their heavy drafts And yet I rode the Percheron against the circling Saracen And once again against myself was cast Well I’ve worn the Mounties crimson, if you’re silent and you listen You’ll know that it was with them that I stood When Mayerthorpe, she cried, as her four horsemen died Gunned down in scarlet, coldest blood [ From: ] I’s the firstest with the mostest when I fought for Bedford Forrest Suffered General Wilson’s Union raid Mine was not to reason why, mine was but to do and die At Crimea with the charging light brigade On hire from Swiss or Sweden, be me Christian, be me heathen The devil to the sabre I shall put With a crack flanking maneuver, I’m an uhlan alles uber Striking terror into regiment of foot I knew my days were numbered when o’er the trenches lumbered More modern machinations de la guerre No match for rapid fire or the steel birds of the sky With a final rear guard action I retreat No match for barbered wire or the armoured engines whine Reluctant I retire and take my leave Today I ride with special forces on those wily Afghan horses Dostum’s Northern Alliance give their thanks No matter defeat or victory, in battle it occurs to me That we may see a swelling in our ranks I’s with the Aussies at Beersheba took the wells so badly needed And with the Polish lancers charging German tanks Saw Ross’ mount shot down at Washingtown the night we burned the White House down And cursed the sack of York and sons of Yanks