DESCRIPTION:
I met Mike Beck in Austin, Texas, at the Mickey Newbury Gathering six or seven years ago. Mike is a master of many trades including songwriting, guitar and being a horse whisperer. I witnessed Mike Beck do a horse clinic at a farm in Norway, and he's got the magic touch with those animals. Mike learned horse whispering from the Dorrance brothers, Bill and Tom, who were advisors to the Robert Redford movie, "The Horse Whisperer". In Texas, Mike sang a song called "Patrick," about Bill Dorrance's horse. He said that he wanted to write a song about Bill, but just couldn't find a way to. Bill rarely ever says a word. So Mike decided to write a song about Bill's horse, Patrick. The voice in the song speaks from Patrick's point of view, and was Mike's way of thanking Bill for his teaching. Mike sang the song for Bill one night on the Dorrance ranch where Mike worked. Mike may need to remind me if I'm wrong, but as I remember Mike telling the story, Bill didn't say much more than, "Good..." after the song, and then nodded and pulled his cowboy hat a little lower across his eyes. I think Bill might have gotten up and gone in the house to bed after that, as if to say, "That's about it for today." The song is available on Mike's "Mariposa Wind" cd.

Some of the photographs in the video are my own, some were sent to me by Mike Beck, and a number of pictures were borrowed from a variety of websites, including the Dorrance site. The older gentleman pictured in the video is Bill Dorrance. Mike is seen on horseback in a few shots, and with his guitar in a photo taken on a hillside overlooking the Salinas Valley. Thanks, Mike, for a great song. Check out more of Mike's music at the website below.

Lyrics below. There might be a word or two wrong, but I'm pretty close. 'Reata' is a lasso, and also the name of Mike's record label. 'Manzanita is a small shrub or tree with edible berries, common to western North America..

PATRICK

My name is Patrick and I live in the mountains
Outside Salinas, way up in the sky

My name is Patrick and the man who rides me
He feels what I feel
He thinks what I think
His touch goes down to my feet

My name is Patrick and it's easy to run
I can stop on four feet
No cow can get by me

I'm straight up in the bridle
In my reins and reata (lasso)
The braid by the man I allow on my back
Whose touch goes down to my feet

Back in '57, the bridle class in Salinas
The great horses were there
And the men who rode 'em, too

I chased the wild cow
And I turned her on the fence
The people all cheered
And they all looked at me

My name is Patrick and I live in the mountains
Outside Salinas, way up in the sky

My name is Patrick and the man who rides me
He feels what I feel
He thinks what I think
And his touch goes down to my feet

When I'm turned out in the golden hills
I eat the sweetest grass
That grows under the oak trees
Where the fog drifts to the ground

My name is Patrick
And I sleep on the ridges
Where the wind off the ocean
Brings the scent of manzanita
And it blows through my mane

~Mike Beck : http://www.mikebeck.com

Note: If anyone objects to this video due to copyright infringement, please make contact and it will be removed.

DL