Black Horse and the Cherry Tree

This song IS simple, but it does have meaning. Just read the words and she lays it out. She says her heart is going to tell the story because her heart understands itself best. And the story goes, she came upon an urgent decision to make between a big black horse and a cherry tree. I agree that the horse stands for danger and love, and the cherry tree is practicality. It may have even literally been a lover who asked her to marry him. She chooses to be practical and soon after the decision, her heart started to ache, and she had to turn off her emotions (stopped it dead for a beat or two). But she cut the cord between her heart and the person she loves, can't get over it and regrets it. So, as she reviews this decision, she knows her heart wanted to stay with love, and realizes she has a whole in her body because her heart is not hers. And the world sees it through this song. Then, her heart says to her she is "not the one for me." In other words, her heart doesn't want to stay with her because she made the wrong decision. It's a decision that becomes a battle between her mind and her heart... and her heart chooses to ditch her (my heart's forsaken me) but the decision was made and she can't get back to the horse and the cherry tree again, but she is trying for her heart's sake. Moral: always follow your heart when it comes to love, cause your heart knows itself best.

K, so she's going along with her life, and suddenly, a choice appears. She has to choose between the Horse (evil, scary, but she kinda want's to pick him) or the cheery tree (peace, calmness, security) and she knows that the cheery tree is the right one, but she kinda wants the horse anyways. So she chooses the tree really decidedly, hoping that if she sounds sure to the rest of the world, she will be sure. So she moves on, but cannot forget the horse that she didn't choose. Her heart wanted the horse, but her mind knew the tree was the right choice, and she followed her mind. This cuased her to start thinking like this always (her heart stopped for a beat or two) and she stopped feeling things and always went with the logical desicion. She sent her heart back to the desicion, and let her heart do as it pleased, and it didn't return to her, meaning she tried to feel with her heart instead of her mind, and her heart just stayed at that same place, and dwelled on that mistake while her mind went on. Her mind keeps on telling her she made the right choice, but her heart is gone and she's empty.

About Beastianity??? Does you're friend have no imagination? I think it's about being pressured into losing your virginity by someone you dont want to be with "when the big black horse that looked this way, said hey lady, will you marry me? (woo-hoo,woo-hoo)

but i said no, no, no,no-no-no i said no, no, you're not the one for me" And also because Big Black Horse presents something slightly scary and i dunno whether its coincidence about the CHERRY tree and the fact that cherry tree rhymes with virginity...maybe im reading into it too much!

I see everyone has their head in the gutter or is thinking very concretely. The black horse and cherry tree symbolize evil and the loss of innocence. This is a a song about the Faustian bargain. Which path do you go down? Would you sell your soul for easy success? It's a sort of version of the crossroads theme. The first line lets us know we're not talking about the literal. She went to a place or state of mind where she was all alone and the devil was waiting for her there. She was scared andd her heart told her to walk away and she did, even though the dark side was making a tempting offer.

i'd lve to see the vid for this... i agree wit someone i read on page 1; its between right and wrong blacjk horse and the cherry tree. and she chooses the one thats is 'right' although its not exactly what she wanted. and she knows she took the 'right' decision but she cant help remembering the black horse, and now realises, maybe the cherry tree wasnt the best one, maybe she was just so afraid of the black horse she choose the cherry tree out of comfort and its stability; and now she regrets it, she regrets being afraid and going with the 'right'; choie in ther mind rather thn the one her heart wanted.

plus, black horse; wild free untamed. cherry tree; stable un moving sfae etc. maybe she picked the safe option, just becasue it was safe, and now she regrets being so scared, cos the black horse option was the oe she really wanted.

thoughts? xxxx

I once watched an interview (On the Channel 4 TV show ''Popworld'') where KT Tunstall said this song was about coming to a point in your life where you make a major decision. You can either choose the good side (The cherry tree) or the bad side (the black horse). Basically its a song about choosing between right and wrong.

i think that this song is not so much losing her virginity but i think it was about sleeping with someone and regretting it....its about her heart being weak and giving into the temptation of the big black horse (a man she didnt really want to be with)the lines: my heart had a problem in the early hours, so i stopped it dead for a beat or two (she was faced with the problem of the "black horses" advances so she stopped for a minute) "but i cut some cord" (she cut some slack if you like and went with it) "and i shouldnt have done it" "and it wont forgive me after all these years" (her heart wont forgive her for doing it also when it says "and i sent her back to the middle of nowhere to the big black horse and the cherry tree, now it wont come back cos its oh so happy, and ive got a hole for the world to see"....she had been hurt and used by this man which is symbolised by the big black horse and he wont come back be cause he used her!! thats my opnion of it anyway...i could be wrong!!

It seems to me that both the Black Horse AND the Cherry Tree represent the flip-sides of Passion. You are never more aware of your innocence (the cherry tree) then when you giving it up in the midst of Passion. The horse is the dark side, the cherry tree the flip side of experiencing Passion. She is afraid of the potent feelings and makes the prudent, 'right' choice, not to return. But as others have said, her heart yearns for passion, and denying herself Passion in life is like living without heart. I guess the only new thing I'm saying here is that the Black Horse and the Cherry Tree are two sides of the same thing. The light side and the dark side which in a yin-yang type of way, cannot exist without each other. Anyway, that's my take. Very Jungian. Could be applied to any strong hedonistic, compelling urge to immerse yourself in something passionate, but dangerous, because you cannot do so in moderation only.

KT Tunstall in an interview 2/Barnes and Noble:

. . . I was traveling in Greece as a teenager, and for those who haven't been to Greece, it's absolutely covered in olive groves -- stunted, gnarly little bonsai-type trees. And I was driving on a moped and a huge black stallion had pulled away from its stake and was just going nuts in this tiny, tiny, hobbit-like forest. It was just such a powerful image, this enormous beast let loose and going wild in a fairy-tale wood of tiny trees.

B&N.com: So what do those elements represent in the song? KT: The song itself is really about going through the process of making the first album. It was a very strange experience and a very steep learning curve. For the previous 10 or 15 years, I'd been completely my own boss -- when you play a gig, you just play your new song, the new song is always your favorite. And here I was having to make an album of stuff that's never gonna go away. I was being asked to make these huge decisions, so really the song is just about learning to listen to your guts again. There's actually very few times in our lives now when we have to do that. February 2006

Reading some of the other comments (and most importantly KT’s herself) it seems clear that the meaning of the song is about choice – about following your head or your heart.

The big black horse and the cherry tree represent somewhere in her past, a time and a place when she was happy, free, liberated and in control of her life. Back then she had the opportunity to stay free and carry on with this free flowing lifestyle where she could escape the pressures of modern life. But it scared her, was this she wanted for the rest of her life? What if the grass really is greener on the other side? What about her desire to succeed? – The thought of forsaking all this had to be weighed up against this idyllic paradise that she was tempted with……in the end the thought of giving everything up and settling down in this land of big black horses and cherry tree’s scared her that she had to over rule her heart and just “keep on walking…” despite the last minute temptations from horse “hey lady, will you marry me?” Not a literal invitation obviously but asking her to make a commitment and don’t leave this place behind

What’s ironic at this point and hints at the ultimate outcome of the decisions is that the song obviously is trying to give us a moral insight – that we should follow our heart more often than our head because it’s the one that knows whats best for you hence the line “well my heart knows me better than i know myself so i'm gonna let it do all the talking” but despite giving her heart the mic so to speak she continues to refer to it in the 3rd person therefore its still her head that takes control!

Anyway, the story continues that she leaves this simple idyllic life behind in pursuit of her career, of fame and fortune but her hearts not happy, anxiety attacks in the middle of the night tell her that all along her heart was right even though her head told her that that life was “not the one for me”. The pressure and expectation of her first album has made her heart cry even more for the time when it was free and happy….the problem is KT has made this choice, committed to this route of action and cant turn back now that she’s cut the cord...... “but i cut some cord, and i shouldn't have done that, and it won't forgive me after all these years”

She has no choice now – her emotions (her heart) are tearing her apart – she wants to go back to that big black horse and the cherry tree but she cant – contracts, commitments, expectations have all tied her up – not only does she not have the freedom any more but its gone so far that she doesn’t even have the choice any more – anonymity isn’t an option once this record is released, she will never be a nobody in the middle of nowhere again – she will always be KT Tunstall – the artist.

So she does the only thing she can do – she embraces her choice even further and kills off those emotions that were tearing her apart and sends it back to where its happy. The only problem being is that her heart was what was keeping her real, that was preventing her from slipping from a person to a commodity…..but now its gone and there’s no way its coming back! Both her heart and her big black horse and all they represent (freedom) have gone forever and have forsaken her.

Forever more she is KT Tunstall the artist and never again will she be that little girl on a moped fleeting through the olive groves of Greece. Should she have followed her heart? I suspect she would say yes, but then her head would kick in and say that life’s gone now and even though you have the scars “a hole for the world to see” just think of all the things you would have missed out on if you’d stayed and not chosen this path…………… Like 30 year old Marketeers bored in their office trying to decipher your songs on a Thursday afternoon……..I’m sure it was all worth it KT