Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)

Album

Buoys

Label

Warner Music Nashville

Genre

Country rap

Composer(s)

Big Kenny/John Rich

Entered Chart

Jul 31, 2004

Peak Date

Sep 4, 2004

Released

April 19, 2004

Recorded

2003

Catalog #

Warner Album Cut

The music video for the song was filmed in Nashville during the summer of 2004. Big & Rich, other members of the MuzikMafia, including Gretchen Wilson and Cowboy Troy, as well as dancers, marching bands, and other groups of people, parade on the Shelby Street Bridge in Nashville. It was directed by David Hogan. The video caused damage to the bridge including dents and scuff marks, which cost $23,000 in repairs.[1] One W

We're not quite sure how riding a cowboy can save a horse, but this one sure is fun, which is the whole point. In the song, Big Kenny and John Rich get braggadocious, singing about making a scene by riding a horse into town, driving the ladies wild in the process. It's all very tongue-in-cheek. Preacher's son John Rich told Billboard magazine with a laugh, "When your dad's a preacher and you have a song on the radio called 'Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy,' that makes for an interesting conversation." The music video has the duo celebrating with a huge parade on Nashville's Shelby Street Bridge. They're joined by dancers, marching bands, horses, and friends like Gretchen Wilson and Cowboy Troy. Country singer Sarah Darling also cameos as a mannequin. But it wasn't fun for everyone. "It was the shoot from hell," director David Hogan said in his Songfacts interview. "After I did Gretchen Wilson's video ("Redneck Woman"), Big & Rich wanted me to do the same. They had the same management and they wanted me to do their video. But the downside is they wanted to do it through that production company. So basically the production company people had it in for me, because they felt like, I guess, I stole it from their directors or whatever." Of Big & Rich, however, the director said: "They were real easy to work with, fun guys, and it was fun coming up with it and talking about it with them." According to the Metro Public Works, the shoot caused over $23,000 damage to the Shelby Street Bridge, mostly from the horses damaging the cement and the decorative paint. Hogan wonders if it was the semi-trucks that were too much for the pedestrian bridge: "We had to put the camera and the lights on the back of a semi truck trailer, and we would drive it around across the other bridge down river and then come around and circle and then start the parade again. That was the only way to do it... It's a walking bridge, and I'm sure it wasn't designed to hold a semi." This song got a boost when it was used in promos for ESPN's coverage of the 2004 World Series of Poker. This was used on The Office series finale in 2013. It plays during Angela's bachelorette party when the stripper does his routine.

Dumb-de-de-dumb, de-de-dumb-de-de-dumb, de-daa-daaaaa
Dumb-de-de-dumb, de-de-dumb-de-de-dumb, de-daa-daa-daa-daa-daaaa!

Well, I walk into the room
Passing out hundred dollar bills
And it kills, and it thrills, like the horns on my silverado grill
And I buy the bar double round the crown
And everybody's getting down
And this town, ain't never gonna be the same

'Cause I saddle up my horse
And I ride into the city
I make a lot of noise
'Cause the girls
They are so pretty
Riding up and down Broadway
On my old stud Leroy
And the girls say
Save a horse, ride a cowboy
Everybody says
Save a horse, ride a cowboy

Well I don't give a dang about nothing
I'm singing and bling-blinging
While the girls are drinking
Long necks down!
And I wouldn't trade ol' leroy
Or my Chevrolet for your Escalade
Or your freak parade
I'm the only John Wayne left in this town

When I saddle up my horse
And I ride into the city
I make a lot of noise
'Cause the girls
They are so pretty
Riding up and down Broadway
On my old stud Leroy
And the girls say
Save a horse, ride a cowboy.
Everybody says
Save a horse, ride a cowboy

I'm a thourough-bred
That's what she said
In the back of my truck bed
As I was gettin' buzzed on suds
Out on some back country road.
We where flying high
Fine as wine, having ourselves a big and rich time
And I was going, just about as far as she'd let me go.
But her evaluation
Of my cowboy reputation
Had me begging for salvation
All night long
So I took her out giggin frogs
Introduced her to my old bird dog
And sang her every Willie Nelson song I could think of

And we made love
And I saddled up my horse
And I ride into the city
I make a lot of noise
'Cause the girls
They are so pretty
Riding up and down Broadway
On my old stud Leroy
And the girls say
Save a horse, ride a cowboy
Everybody says
Save a horse, ride a cowboy

What? What?
Save a horse ride a cowboy
Everybody says
Save a horse ride a cowboy