(Composed and arranged by Reynold D. Philipsek copyright 1993 Zino-Rephi Music BMI)
All voices and instruments: Reynold
(Except steel guitar by Stymie Seamans)
Recording engineers:Stymie Seamans and Tom Garneau at Paisley Park Studios
Recorded November 1, 1992
Mastered by Bernie Grundman
In the tradition of Randy Newman and Loudon Wainwright, I tried my hand at some humor in a song.
In the past, people seemed to not get all of the references in this song. Specifically, the Gabby Hayes reference is perhaps too dated and arcane, but it is also my favorite bit. (Gabby Hayes was the grizzled sidekick to Roy Rogers in the cowboy films that I saw as a kid.)
Though the song may sound rather simplistic on first listen, there is quite a lot going on in the background with layered tracking and parts.
I wrote this song as a parody about aging, even though I was not even 40 at the time. There is also a hint of an “existential message” (“what the Hell does it mean?). I have always thought the universe has had far too few “existential” cowboy songs.
The “cowboy image” that was propagated during my childhood through dozens of television shows was one of the rugged and rough stoic. The idea of these old “stoics” gathering around the campfire in light-hearted joking, yet on some silent level are pondering the meaning of it all struck me as an interesting dichotomy. Plus, “painting a scene” is always an interesting challenge in a record production.
Personally, I really like this recording, and it turned out exactly as I envisioned it, which doesn’t always happen.
Stymie worked at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios at the time, and we recorded this and a few other tunes there. Needless to say, all three studios at Paisley Park were and are “state of the art.”
I have fond memories of our tracking this tune in Studio C on an autumn Sunday afternoon.
Headphones help with picking out the inner workings of this one.
Take care.
Be kind.
Reyn