"Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" is a song by Scottish singer-songwriter

KT Tunstall Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall (born 23 June 1975) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained attention with a 2004 live solo performance of her song " Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on '' Later... with Jools Holland''. Th ...

from her 2004 debut album, ''

Eye to the Telescope ''Eye to the Telescope'' is the debut studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, originally released on 13 December 2004 and re-released 10 January 2005 by Relentless Records. On 19 July 2005, it was nominated for the 2005 Mercury ...

''. It is one of many songs that reuses the famous

Bo Diddley beat The Bo Diddley beat is a syncopated musical rhythm that is widely used in rock and roll and pop music. The beat is named after rhythm and blues musician Bo Diddley, who introduced and popularized the beat with his self-titled debut single, "Bo D ...

from the influential 1955 song of his own name. The track was released on 21 February 2005 as the lead single from the album, charting at 28 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

the same month. The following year, the single became a hit outside Europe, reaching No. 7 in Canada and No. 20 in the United States and New Zealand.

Song information

said of the song: Tunstall also said the song was inspired by one summer when she was travelling across Greece on a

moped A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. The term used to mean a similar vehicle except with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine. Mopeds typic ...

and saw a large black horse "going nuts" in an olive grove. She wrote the track years later after watching a concert by

Son of Dave Benjamin Darvill (born January 4, 1967), known by his stage name Son of Dave, is a Canadian musician and singer–songwriter, based in the United Kingdom. He was a member of Grammy award-nominated, Juno award-winning folk rock band Crash Test ...

, which inspired her to write a bluesy song. The lyric "my heart stops dead" refers to a

heart murmur Heart murmurs are unique heart sounds produced when blood flows across a heart valve or blood vessel. This occurs when turbulent blood flow creates a sound loud enough to hear with a stethoscope. Turbulent blood flow is not smooth. The sound di ...

she had as a baby. She said, "I got into this fantasy that my heart felt betrayed and had decided to stop working. The song is about having to dig incredibly deep to find out who you wanna be." The song is usually performed solo by Tunstall, the original artist, with the layered guitar and vocals constructed piece-by-piece by sampling the parts live, and using a

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unit to create the backing track. A performance of the song on '' Later... with Jools Holland'' (recorded before the release of ''

'') was an important break in Tunstall's career. The song won Tunstall an award for Best Single of 2005 in '' Q'', and it received a

2007 Grammy Award The 49th Annual Grammy Awards was a ceremony honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2005 and ending September 30, 2006 in the United States. The awards were handed out on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at the Staples C ...

nomination for "

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

". The album version was used as the opening theme song for the

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

drama '' Wild Roses''. The song was later redone by

Aly & AJ Aly & AJ are an American pop rock duo that consists of sisters Alyson (Aly) and Amanda Joy Michalka (AJ) and signed a recording contract with Hollywood Records in 2004. Their debut album, ''Into the Rush'', debuted at number 36 on the US ''Bil ...

for ''Pepsi Smash'', included on the Japanese only re-release of their second studio album ''

Insomniatic ''Insomniatic'' is the third studio album by American pop rock duo Aly & AJ, released on July 10, 2007 by Hollywood Records. The album features an electronic based sound, differing from their previous pop-rock and acoustic releases, that was acce ...

''. "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" was also used in advertisements for

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show ''

Pepper Dennis ''Pepper Dennis'' is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on The WB from April 4 to July 4, 2006. It was announced on May 17, 2006 that ''Pepper Dennis'' would not be one of the WB shows transferred to The CW. ''Pepper Dennis'' w ...

'' and the 2006 US Open. The song's video ranked No. 19 on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

's ''40 Greatest Videos of 2006.'' During the programme's airing, Tunstall stated that the day of the video shoot was the only time she had ever worn red lipstick.

Chart performance

In the United Kingdom, the single peaked at No. 28 in its first week and dropped out of the top 75 in three weeks. In the United States, "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" was initially in the bottom half of the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Only after

Katharine McPhee Katharine Hope McPhee (born March 25, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. In May 2006, she rose to fame as the runner-up on the fifth season of ''American Idol.'' Her eponymous debut album was released on RCA Records on Janua ...

sang the song on ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' (in the 5th season) as part of a ''Billboard'' charts-based song selection did the tune rise rapidly in popularity; it jumped 56 positions on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, going from No. 79 to No. 23, and then moving to No. 20, becoming Tunstall's first single (and only, to date) to appear on that chart's Top 20. McPhee would go on to sing the song again in her final performance show on 23 May 2006, finishing second to

Taylor Hicks Taylor Reuben Hicks (born October 7, 1976) is an American singer who won the fifth season of ''American Idol'' in May 2006. Hicks got his start as a professional musician in his late teens and performed around the Southeastern United States fo ...

Track listings

UK and European CD single # "Black Horse & the Cherry Tree" # "One Day" (live) UK 7-inch single :A. "Black Horse & the Cherry Tree" – 2:51 :B. "Barbie" – 2:23 Australian CD single # "Black Horse & the Cherry Tree" # "One Day" (live) # "Barbie" # "Black Horse & the Cherry Tree" (instrumental)

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the ''Eye to the Telescope'' album booklet. Studios * Mixed at Metrophonic (London, England) * Mastered at 360 Mastering (London, England) Personnel * KT Tunstall – writing, vocals, guitar, bass, percussion *

Luke Bullen Luke Bullen (born 9 February 1973 in Norwich, England) is an English drummer and percussionist. Bullen studied at London drum school Drumtech and joined the band Addict in 1995; the band was signed to V2 Records in 1996. Bullen left Addict in 200 ...

– percussion * Andy Green – production * Steve Osborne – original vocal recording * Ren Swan – mixing * Bruno Ellingham – engineering * Graham Deas – engineering assistance * Dick Beetham – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2004 songs 2005 singles Aly & AJ songs KT Tunstall songs Music videos directed by Sophie Muller Relentless Records singles Songs about horses Songs about trees Songs written by KT Tunstall Television drama theme songs Virgin Records singles