How Harry Styles unwittingly enlisted the cavalry for his cover of The Horses
Daryl Braithwaite raved about a sign from a young fan encouraging him to “show Harry how it’s done”.Credit:Daryl Braithwaite
“I played that a few times here and there,” Styles said of the song. “And every time you’re around an Australian, this happens.”
Styles then turned his back on the Perth crowd, pretended to hear the song, quickly turning his head in interest, and asked, “Is that Daryl Braithwaite?”
On Saturday, after a smashing rendition, he told Melbourne fans: “I can feel Australia running through my veins. I feel it.”
The horses was written by American singer Rickie Lee Jones and songwriter Walter Becker for Jones’ 1989 album, Flying cowboys. Braithwaite covered the song in 1991.
Hendry, the young fan who held up the Styles poster at Braithwaite’s concert, said “nothing beats the real thing”; however, he added that Styles’ version was fantastic.
Hendry was supposed to see Styles in Melbourne with his friends, but had to pull out because he wasn’t feeling well. Instead, he went to a local concert to see Braithwaite with his mother (an old Sherbet fan).
“Instead of 200 in a country club singing it with you, you have 60,000 people singing it with you, so it’s a different feeling,” said Hendry.
Before you hear Styles’ version of The horses Live on Saturday night, Braithwaite had said Styles was doing well based on what he’d seen of previous social media appearances.
“I think when we get people singing, sometimes they try to embellish the melody that’s really there,” Braithwaite told Ben Fordham on 2GB. “But Harry stuck to the shot and he did a great job.
“It sounded great and it looked great,” he said with a laugh as he rated the performance 8/10.
“He did a great job,” Braithwaite said of Styles’ performance of The Horses.
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