Imagine my surprise then when I dug out the official video on YouTube to find an almost spaghetti western approach to the story of the band, dressed as gunfighters, facing off against a group of boomerang wielding Amazonian women.
Just watch it for yourself and then try and put the various Tarrantino style out of sequence sections in order to get the full narrative. I love the black and white footage and locations - a trailer park and Las Vegas neon sign junkyard. A must buy on iTunes:
A little song about the demise of the cowboy, just before the fun of July 4th.
Through the progress of the railroad our occupation’s gone;
So we put ideas into words, our words into a song.
First comes the cowboy; he is pointed for the west;
Of all the pioneers I claim the cowboys are the best;
You will miss him on the round-up; it’s gone, his merry shout, -
The cowboy has left the country and the camp-fire has gone out.
There is the freighters, our companions; you’ve got to leave this land;
Can’t drag your loads for nothing through the gumbo and the sand.
The railroads are bound to beat you when you do your level best;
So give it up to the grangers and strike out for the west.
Bid them all adieu and give the merry shout -
The cowboy has left the country, and the camp-fire has gone out.
When I think of those good old days, my eyes with tears do fill;
When I think of the tin can by the fire and coyote on the hill.
I’ll tell you boys, in those days old-timers stood a show, -
Our pockets full of money, not a sorrow did we know.
But things have changed now; we are poorly clothed and fed.
Our wagons are all broken and our ponies ‘most all dead.
Soon we will leave this country; you’ll hear the angels shout,
“Oh, here they come to Heaven, the camp-fire has gone out.”
It’s possible that the words were written by Ben Arnold Connor, an old-time frontiersman and cowboy. He took credit for the song in his autobiography, Rekindling Campfires.
So 2009 was to be the year I finally learnt to play the guitar. What better accompaniment is there to evenings by the fire on cattle drives? Not that I get involved in many of those…
Looks good, but where can you find the others in the series? I’m guessing from the lack of info on the official Recording King website these models are probably an old product line.
The “Songs of the Wild West” songbook features more than 10 cowboy classics such as “The Cowboy’s Lament” and “The Old Chisholm Trail,” plus a handy chord chart and tuning guide.
I’m feeling tired today so I’m in the mood for some Johnny Cash to smooth the day away and what better song to listen to than one of the great man’s final recordings on the American IV: The Man Comes Around album, his cover of the Nine Inch Nails song ‘Hurt’.
The song won the Country Music Award for Single of the Year in 2003 and was voted Country Music Television’s top video for 2003.
If you haven’t seen the video before I’ve embedded a YouTube clip below - it’s a truly superb short movie about Cash’s life condensed into 4 minutes directed by Mark Romanek:
If, like me, you’re trying to learn the guitar I’d recommend ‘Easy Songs for Beginners # 24‘ on the Guitar Noise website which has chord progressions for the Hurt song and - if you have the voice - sing along with the lyrics below. Enjoy!
I hurt myself today
to see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
the only thing that’s real
the needle tears a hole
the old familiar sting
try to kill it all away
but I remember everything
what have I become?
my sweetest friend
everyone I know
goes away in the end
and you could have it all
my empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
upon my liar’s chair
full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
beneath the stains of time
the feelings disappear
you are someone else
I am still right here
what have I become?
my sweetest friend
everyone I know
goes away in the end
and you could have it all
my empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
if I could start again
a million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way
Been to the gym and spotted a mind-bending music video on the big screens - Eric Prydz’s Pjanoo. I’m no fan of house music but the Swedish DJ’s summer 2008 single apparently reached number 2 in the UK charts.
The reason for posting here under such an odd title is the video: it’s possibly the strangest homage to spaghetti westerns I’ve ever seen. I’ve distilled the narrative for you below:
A bound cowboy escaping with a sack full of dollars runs off a railroad track through the desert and stumbles across a deserted bar. Breaking in to the bar he hunts for water only for the dusty piano to start playing, ghost-like. Then two Lilliputian-sized Indians appear on tables dancing along to the tune. Finally the cowboy quenches his thirst and leaves the mini dancers all alone. The End.
Watch the video for yourself below. The production quality would have even the low budget Sergio Leone rolling in his grave!
