This is a good one!
About four years ago, on the old, original version of Dr. Forrest's Cheeze Factory (which is now defunct...well, it's still there, but it's a pale husk of what it used to be), somebody posted a huge collection of versions of this amazing, classic song. You may have seen it, or you may have run into it on torrent sites; it's still going around.
Problem is, I discovered later, it is riddled with errors. Wrong years, wrong artists connected to the wrong songs, duplication, etc. Well! What I did originally was whittle down the two hundred or so into a disc's worth--and keeping the most interesting versions while doing so. Then I forgot about it, until recently.
Upon returning to the project, I did tons of research, and a little legwork. I discovered the very first recording was in fact Burl Ives in 1949, and not the Sons of the Pioneers as stated in the collection that had been posted. Besides giving it the usual Leaping Fox touch of tracking down even more new versions, as well as an interview with the actual songwriter (which is very interesting to hear!), I also gave it the Leaping Fox treatment, restoring and remastering any tracks that needed work.
So, what you have here is a fascinating disc, and what's amazing is how listenable it is--it's not like just listening to the same song 20 times, but you get to hear all sorts of interpretations (and in the case of Spike Jones and His City Slickers, a scathing parody) ranging from the sultry sounds of Peggy Lee, to the great Scatman Crothers, to techno! After the history of the song is presented, we stay in chronological order, but end with the second Burl Ives version. This may be my very favorite, recorded at the end of his life for one of those "various artists" albums that's impossible to find now.
Enjoy! Remember this link is good for 30 days. And yes, I'll repost it upon request!
LINK: Horses Snorting Fire
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