Western Swing - Digital Download
Western Swing.....I think of all Silencers songs like pieces of atmosphere, little movies. After I wrote the music to this song I realised that the melodic hook when played on guitar was very 'country' sounding. I love country music. There's often been traces of it in my best songs.
So when I started writing or imagining the lyrics I gave it a title....
Western Swing.
The first verse came out of nowhere....
Have you been to pray yet today?
There's no survivors
The Sheriff 's on his way
With a 45
I was here at home
Are you calling me a liar?
The images suggest a dark tale : however I don't want to go too deep into it because I think it's good that lyrics are mostly left to the imagination of the listener.
However I'd like to add this.... Westerns were required watching when I was a kid. I have a nostalgic bond with those films. In a normal episode of Wagon Train or Bonanza there would be dozens of shootings and the Gun was Law. It was entertainment.
Are there parallels or links between the history of the West, the Native American wars .. The birth of the USA.. and the easy access to Arms ? Undoubtedly....
I've been and played in the States many times and had fantastic experiences there but the business of selling lethal weapons, some of military standard seems very wrong and downright crazy. I feel lucky to live in Europe where arms are controlled.
So my song is nostalgic, ironic, dark : a mixture of fact and movie fiction : a homage to Hollywood, the history of how the West was Won..... and Lost (in fable and also in reality) and it also poses silent question marks about the future. Its not the first time I've written a song about this subject.
Bullets and Blue Eyes... A Letter from St Paul....
Western Swing
Have you been to pray yet today?
There's no survivors
The Sheriff's on his way
With a 45
I was here at home....
Are you calling me a liar?
Who put the fire to the earth
On the road to Reno?
The dust was never found
It just blew away
Blew into history
Another Calfornia mystery yeah
We'll meet again High above the clouds
We'll meet again High above the clouds
The Cowboy and the American
Do the Western Swing.
Well they laid down their arms
On Skeleton Canyon
But the preacher took his guns
And rode off to kill
He was on a mission
With a ton of ammunition yeah
We'll meet again High above the clouds
We'll meet again High above the clouds
The Cowboy and the American
Do the Western Swing
The Cowboy and the American
Make the Western swing
Remember the Alamo
Tonto and Geronimo
The Lone Star and the masked man
Billy Bonney and his fast left hand
The Sioux Nation and the Last Stand
................... Amen........................
Jimme O'Neill