This is one of what Townes Van Zandt called his "poem songs," telling an oblique tale of regret and lost love. He was never a very popular artist, but had many admirers in the songwriting community, including Neil Young and Bob Dylan. He certainly knew his way around a lyric: If three and four was seven only where would that leave one and two? If love can be and still be lonely where does that leave me and you? Van Zandt died at 52 on New Year's Day, 1997 after years of drug and alcohol addiction.
A buckskin stallion is a horse of a particular color. Van Zandt sings here about taming one so he can ride away. In the last verse, he rhymes it with "galleon," which is a sailing ship used in the 16th and 17th Centuries.
Mudhoney and Jimmie Dale Gilmore teamed up to cover this song for a 1994 EP they recorded together.
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