Mustang Sally (song) Mustang Sally (song) "Mustang Sally" is a rhythm and blues (R&B) song written and first recorded by Mack Rice in 1965. It was released on the Blue Rock label (4014) in May 1965 with "Sir Mack Rice" as the artist. The song uses an AAB layout with a 24-bar structure. It gained greater popularity when Wilson Pickett covered it the following year on a single, a version that was also released on the 1966 album, "The Wicked Pickett". Also in 1966, John Lee Hooker recorded an entirely different song with a similar title — "Mustang Sally & GTO". According to
A Horse with No Name in Kansas City) because of supposed drug references to heroin use, the song ascended to number one on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100, and the album quickly reached platinum status. The song charted earlier in Ireland (reaching number 4), the Netherlands (reaching number 11) and the UK (reaching number 3, the band's only Top 40 hit in the country) than it did in the United States. The interpretation of the song as a drug reference comes from the fact that the word "horse" is a common slang term for heroin. The song's resemblance to some of Neil Young's work aroused