How could I not come up with another cowboy song after David's plug?
This came to me as I remembered that the actor who played the Marlboro man in ads years ago died of lung cancer.
Marlboro Man
The Marlboro man wears boots that are worn
And jeans ripped at the knees
An old cowboy hat that's dusty and torn
He doesn't dress to please
He longs for the days when the ranchers ruled
And the cattle roamed the land
But it's all corporations now
And he's a hired hand.
His hand's a little shaky
As he strikes another match
And lights up one more cigarette
And rips off the nicotine patch
The doctors say they're killing him
But it's all part of his plan
He's not scared of dying
Cause he's the Marlboro man.
Chorus:
Fire me up another cowboy killer
Watch the ember burns so bright
I would rather do what I want to do
Than give up with out a fight.
His arms all skin and sinew
His face is pale and gaunt
He's become deaths pale rider
With miles left to haunt
His breath as dry as tumbleweeds
His heart as hard as stone
He rides off in a puff of smoke
And he rides and smokes alone.
Chorus:
K Reichert 9/24/2012
Falling in love is like learning to play the guitar; first you learn to follow the rules, then you learn to play with your heart.
Good use of cowboy imagery. You woven in a lot of classic phrases and told a coherent story. Looking forward to hearing it.
Hi Kathy,
Really great writing :mrgreen: The rhyme and rhythm of the words really flow nicely.
Suggestion: Consider replacing "the Marlboro Man" with "A Marlboro Man" in the title and song. Then it sounds more like a song about a wider group.....minor detail to take or leave.
I look forward to a listen :wink:
James
Good suggestion James; I'm also trying to get "marlboro country" in there as well.
Falling in love is like learning to play the guitar; first you learn to follow the rules, then you learn to play with your heart.
The lyric really has a nice rhythm, will easily translate to music. It is an interesting update/twist on the original ad concept.
I disagree with James' suggestion about changing the words to "a Marlboro man." I have a definite image of The Marlboro Man and I think that's what you're portraying here, not just some cowboy who smokes.
Ironic that at least one of the men who played the part on the commercials died of lung cancer.
The imagery in your lyrics is vivid.
Lines 1, 3 and 5 in the first verse are long and may be hard to squeeze into whatever music you come up with.
Renee
Have had this rolling around in my head for over a day, now. That's cool in and of itself.
First, a nit-picky thing - last line of the first verse, change "a" to "their" -
But it's all corporations now
And he's their hired hand
You wouldn't think using a personal pronoun could depersonalize someone or something even more, but in this case I think it does and that helps paint a bleaker picture. Just being "a" hired hand conveys a bit of freedom and it seems that your picture is trying to take that all from him.
Second, I'll echo Renee and say keep "the" Marlboro Man. Again, it puts a focus on the idea of single person which is a huge part of the mythos of the West, that the individual is what matters.
Now to the tricky part - I have to say I don't like the second half of the chorus:
Fire me up another cowboy killer
Watch the ember burns so bright
I would rather do what I want to do
Than give up with out a fight.
Mostly this is because in the song you don't really explore either the "doing what I want to do" or the "giving up without a fight" ideas.
As mentioned, I've had these lyrics running around in my head for a while now, and I keep thinking that the strongest lines in the entire song are the two at the end of the second verse:
He's not scared of dying
Cause he's the Marlboro man.
At the risk of going cliche, "the Marlboro Man" is your title and your hook and you could certainly stand to repeat it in the chorus. So I'd like to suggest expanding the chorus a bit (which you certainly can do since you only use it twice) to end with some version of these two lines, like this:
Fire up another cowboy killer
Watch the ember burns so bright
See the smoke roll down the canyons
And float away into the night
Take each breath beneath this star filled sky
As deeply as you can
He's not scared of dying
Cause he's the Marlboro man
This is, as always, just off the top of my head and can certainly be improved upon. But I do think it, or rather something better than it, will make the whole song a bit stronger.
Great to see you back again (and hopefully, to hear you back again, too!). Now if only we can come up with something that will inspire Vic, Nick or Bob!
Looking forward to more.
Peace
Thanks all. I've tweaked the lyrics to make them more singable. David, before even reading your comment, I had changed the chorus, but I do like a couple of your lines better. I may have to re- record! Here are corrected lyrics, and soundclick link:
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11913775
Marlboro Man
The Marlboro man wears boots that are worn
And jeans ripped at the knees
A cowboy hat that's old and torn
He doesn't dress to please
He longs for days when ranchers ruled
And the cattle roamed the land
But it's all corporations now
He's just the hired hand.
Fire me up another cowboy killer
Watch the ember burn so bright
I grew up in Marlboro country
Where men are men
And right is right
His hand's a little shaky
As he strikes another match
To lights up one more cigarette
And rip off the nicotine patch
They say that smoking's killing him
But they don't understand
He's not scared of dying
Cause he's the Marlboro man.
Fire me up another cowboy killer
Watch the ember burn so bright
I'll spend my days in Marlboro country
Where Philip Morris rules the night
His arms all skin and sinew
His face is pale and gaunt
He's become the pale rider
With miles left to haunt
His breath as dry as tumbleweeds
His lungs as hard as stone
He rides off in a puff of smoke
He rides and smokes alone.
Light me up another cowboy killer
Watch the ember burn so bright
See the smoke roll down the canyon
And float away into the night.
Fire me up another cowboy killer
Watch the ember glow so bright
I'll end my days in Marlboro country
Til I ride off into the fading light.
Copyright K Reichert
09/26/2012
Falling in love is like learning to play the guitar; first you learn to follow the rules, then you learn to play with your heart.
Great job, Kathy :mrgreen: Nice fit of music, lyrics and attitude.
