Of all the figures in American history, surely the most iconic is ‘The Cowboy’. A significant branch of the burgeoning film industry was dedicated to making movies, ‘Westerns’, to tell his story.
Yet for the most part these ‘Cowboy and Indian’ romps did the cowboy a great disservice. The plots were predictable, the characters two dimensional at best. The cowboys seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to wipe out the indigenous population who were used exclusively as bullet-fodder. Film cowboys were always white. And, given the nature of a cowboy’s work it was odd that cattle didn’t seem to feature much. On the plus side, the scenery was great! Gulches, mesas, passes (where people were forever being ‘cut off’), rocks, dust, tumbleweed and sand.
But most mind-boggling of all were the ludicrously unnatural plants. There are, of course, no cacti native to the UK – and I’m certain that somewhere there’s a body of people who religiously believe that cacti are not, in fact, native to planet earth at all, and landed several millennia ago (probably in New Mexico) in a fleet of spaceships from whence they spread over the south west of the USA, and are, as we speak, quietly biding their time.
In truth, whilst some of the long drives undertaken by the cowboys may have crossed such arid terrain, it didn’t happen often. And rather than fronting-up to the native population, the cowboys would sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to avoid crossing paths with them, and where this couldn’t be avoided, there were often tacit agreements between the Nations and the cowboys that helped avoid any confrontations.
The drives sometimes took months and could cover literally thousands of miles with the cowboys spending endless hours in the saddle. It was a lonely, nomadic existence. They tended to be solitary, taciturn figures often on the run from a murky past. The money they received for a successful drive was usually spent, rarely judiciously, within days of the cattle arriving at their destination.
It would be fair to say, therefore, that the cowboy lifestyle wasn’t exactly conducive to long-term relationships. And yet, whilst he wasn’t particularly given to romance, the cowboy remains the most romantic figure in US history and continues to haunt the American psyche.
lyrics
They say that you’re pretty, and that you always dress in black
You’ve got a rifle at your shoulder and a monkey on your back
They say you’re meaner than winter, with the devil’s heart and mind
But all is fair in love and war as you cross each borderline.
And down in the valley she’s watching and waiting
A girl with a dream that she hopes will come true
On the sky-wide horizon, a cowboy is riding
Should he have told her he’s just passing through
They say you never ask questions, that you don’t have a name
They say you never feel pleasure and sure as hell you don’t feel pain
They say you hunt like an eagle, that you’re part Cherokee
But noone knows what you’re looking for on that road called destiny.
And down in the valley she’s watching and waiting
A girl with a dream that she hopes will come true
On the sky-wide horizon, a cowboy is riding
Should he have told her he’s just passing through
And somewhere on that journey,
A girl will take him by the hand.
But love is not a word you understand.
And somewhere on that journey,
A girl will take him by the hand.
But love is not a word...
This is comprised of former Frequency Drift’s Andreas Hack and guest Nerissa Schwarz, with Spires’ Paul Sadler and Wolfgang Osterman. Guitars, keys, drums and electric harp are the instruments in this otherworldly sounding outfit. There is a dark sound here, at once introspective and plaintive, bound together with soaring, evocative vocals. Superb progressive, cinematic rock with stellar players. Nickie Harte Kelly
Big, clanging psych-rock from this Arizona outfit fuses monk-like vocals with slow-winding guitars for songs that feel like strange hymns. Bandcamp New & Notable May 2, 2016
