Song You Need to Know: A Thousand Horses, ‘A Song to Remember’

We’re all looking for some type of escapism right now, but what happens when you’re simply unable to forget your current nightmare? A Thousand Horses raise that uneasy question in their new single “A Song to Remember.” Less the roadhouse rock of the Nashville band’s rough-hewn live show and more bright Bon Jovi anthem, it’d be a contender for a country Song of the Summer — if only there were a summer.

That Catch-22 situation is at the heart of “A Song to Remember.” The narrator has found the perfect way to forget his ex; unfortunately it’s the same thing that consistently reminds him of her: a song. “I can’t decide if I miss you tonight or I’m glad that you’re gone,” the Horses’ Michael Hobby sings, underscoring his perpetual state of confusion whenever he hears the triggering melody. An ascending guitar solo raises the tension just to the point of breaking, but doesn’t allow for release.

“It’s about being stuck in the purgatory of heartache that follows after a break-up,” says Hobby, who cowrote the track with Christopher Stevens and the songwriting duo the Warren Brothers. “When you hear that special song it takes you right back to that place and all the memories that come along with it.”

The key phrase there is “all the memories,” which means the good, the bad, and the unnerving. On the surface, “A Song to Remember,” with its bell-clear production from Dave Cobb, may be a simple relationship breakup tune, but it could just as easily be about our ongoing limbo from everyday normalcy.

Find a playlist of all of our recent Songs You Need to Know selections on Spotify.