Songs and the City

Not just another boring country song: Tunes for twisted cowboys

The Sugarcubes
Calfone
Ween
Velvet Underground
Howe Gelb

The Rodeo is in full force, a bull's broken into the parking lot, cowboy hats are everywhere in town and this installment of Songs and the City celebrates the spirit gripping our city. There were actually quite a large number of relevant songs to choose from in my collection, but to keep things interesting I shied away from the typical country and western fare, opting instead for more obscure and slightly askew cowboy ditties.

Turn them up and ride 'em high!

"Cowboy (1970 Live Version)" by Randy Newman

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Could you get any further from the image of the iconic cowboy hero than on this classic downer? Never one to be predictable, Newman uses the portrait of a defeated cowboy to mourn the rampant development that's swallowing up the countryside, where "cold gray buildings," "steel and concrete" replace the "wind that once blew free" and "scatters dust to the sky."

It's an environmental lament of the highest order and one that's sadly still relevant today, more than 40 years since it was first recorded.

"Hey Cowboy" by Lee Hazlewood with Nina Lizell

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Taken from the 1970 album "Cowboy in Sweden," this classic duet is vintage Hazlewood, all syrupy strings, punchy horns and subversively humorous lyrics that send up the traditional cowboy archetype. You can hear the giddiness in Hazlewood and Lizell's voices, their flirty chemistry rivaling the better known work Hazlewood recorded with muse Nancy Sinatra. "You get that straight little Swedish girl?"

"Cowboy Boots" by Howe Gelb

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"Cowboy boots on cobblestone," deadpans Howe Gelb in this ode to homesickness, referring to the streets of Aarhus, Denmark, the city from where his wife hails and where he spends much of the year. The sentimentality is tempered by a reserved satisfaction that while he misses his hometown of Tucson, he's come to enjoy the pleasures of this foreign land: "No matter how much I miss the Copper State/Poca Cosa and their relleño plate/I’m doing good work here at any rate/I’m a satiated expatriate.”

"Cowboy" by The Sugarcubes

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Hearing a bunch of art-school Icelanders sing about a cowboy is priceless. I've spent some time in that beautiful country and I can tell you there's nary a cowboy to be found on the entire island. Sheepboys, perhaps, but not a bonafide rough and tumble cowboy.

While they do have a really cute breed of small horses, I'm afraid the boots of most rodeo cowboys would scrap the ground when they mount these pony-like steeds. Judging from the inane lyrics, these Icelanders do have a twisted imagination, which for a band boasting a young Bjork as one of its singers, is not too surprising.

"Lonesome Cowboy Bill" by The Velvet Underground

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There's something off about the Lower East Side's kings of über-cool singing a straightforward song about a rodeo cowboy. You'd at least expect the cowboy to be strung out on smack or trawling the dusty streets looking for a cowgirl of the night. But no, here you have Lou Reed and crew practically yodeling their way through this jaunty tale of a studly cowboy.

"Japanese Cowboy" by Ween

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Gene and Dean Ween are often pigeonholed as bratty cosmic goofballs with a voracious appetite for psychedelics, but a closer inspection of their catalog reveals immensely talented and highly versatile musicians who know their way around a song. That said, they're still demented, and "Japanese Cowboy" is proof positive of their skewed approach to pop music.

Surrounded by some of Nashville's best studio musicians (the Jordanaires, Buddy Spicher, Charlie McCoy, Hargus "Pig" Robbins, and Russ Hicks) Ween turn in a straight-up C&W winner. As they say in the song, "Like a Japanese cowboy or a brother on skates... something ain't right." Even so, when Ween brings the twang, this music lover is all ears.

"Porno Starlet vs. Rodeo Clown" by Califone

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Melding electronics and avant-garde soundscapes with traditional American blues and folk music, Califone explores the desperate existence of an aging prostitute on this compelling track from the band's full-length debut, "Roomsounds." The rodeo clown referenced in the title surely works on the small-town circuit, the glamour of the Reliant lights long since faded.

The bleakness of the music adds to the darkness of the lyrics and Tim Rutili's haggard delivery. "The porno starlet hovers in the eaves/watching her own body fake and writhe/Mascara around her cataract eyes, bruises on her knees/She goes home to a rodeo clown/pissing on his hands for luck/dragging from the balls of a bull/concussion barrel sings."

"Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other" by Willie Nelson

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Originally written and recorded by Ned Sublette in 1982, this cheeky country waltz turns the cowboy mythology on its head. Ever the master interpreter, Willie wisely plays it straight (no pun intended), ensuring it doesn't come across as a cheap gag. The lyrics are a study in clever satire, drawing parallels between cowboy stereotypes and gay culture ("What did you think those saddles and boots was about?") and shattering the exaggerated machismo of the cowboy archetype ("Well, a cowboy may brag about things that he does with his women/But the ones who brag loudest are the ones that are most likely queer.")

"Singing Cowboy" by Love

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The singing cowboy was an ubiquitous character in early Western films, first appearing on the silver screen in the 1930s with Ken Maynard and reaching mass popularity with Gene Autry. However, Love's Arthur Lee seems to have it in for one particular white-hatted Western hero of song in this blistering psychedelic workout from 1969, and he challenges the singing cowboy with an unusually aggressive lyrical attack: "So when you say goodbye/don't you cry/cos look out kid/I'm coming after you."

"Tune for Short Cowboys" by The Outlaws (produced by Joe Meek)

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For all you vertically-challenged cowboys out there, this song's for you!

Movie Review

How to Train Your Dragon remake puts a fresh twist on the original

Toothless and Mason Thames in How to Train Your Dragon

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Toothless and Mason Thames in How to Train Your Dragon.

Let’s get it out of the way right at the top: The new live-action How to Train Your Dragon, coming a mere 15 years after the original animated film, serves no real purpose other than to make more money for Universal Pictures and Dreamworks Pictures. However, unlike Disney’s approach toward remaking their animated movies, this attempt manages to succeed on its own merits instead of being a half-baked vessel for nostalgia.

As fans will remember, Hiccup (Mason Thames) lives in Berk, a town on a remote island populated by Vikings who constantly have to defend themselves against rampaging dragons. Hiccup’s dad, Stoick (Gerard Butler), is the community’s vaunted leader, with a legacy that seems impossible for Hiccup to measure up to, especially since he’s stuck in the armory alongside Gobber (Nick Frost).

But Hiccup has a knack for inventions, and his use of one new weapon during a dragon attack takes down a feared Night Fury. Finding the wounded dragon deep in the forest, Hiccup decides against killing it, leading to an unexpected bond between the two of them. Most of the film shows Hiccup trying to prove himself to his townspeople, including the fierce Astrid (Nico Parker), while also nursing the dragon he dubs Toothless back to health with the help of another one of his ingenious creations.

Written and directed by Dean DeBlois (who’s had the same roles on all four HTTYD films), the film is most notable for how engaging it is despite it retelling a story many already know and love. The biggest reason for this is a pivot away from telling a story mainly for kids toward one that feels like an extremely light version of Game of Thrones. Almost right away, there are real stakes for the people in the film, and the way DeBlois and his team stage the scenes, the danger can be felt by the audience.

This sense of “realness” comes through especially well in the scenes between Hiccup and Toothless. The design of Toothless is faithful to the original, but the CGI makes the dragon feel amazingly believable. And when they start flying, the film literally and metaphorically takes off. At multiple points, the camera seems to have trouble keeping them in frame, a smart move toward verisimilitude when the filmmakers clearly could have made it an overly smooth watching experience.

Even though it’s more serious than the original, the film still has plenty of fun to offer. Characters like Gobber (who replaces his two missing limbs with odd contraptions) and the ragtag group of teenagers who come to be in awe of Hiccup’s skills at taming dragons provide more than a few laughs. Hiccup isn’t quite as goofy as he was when voiced by Jay Baruchel, which turns out to be a good thing as his sense of purpose amps up the drama of the story.

Thames’ performance gets better and better as the film goes along, as Hiccup goes from town whipping boy toward hero. He really shines in the last act when he’s given a few scenes that show off his acting range. Parker is equally good, demonstrating the girl power needed for the role, but also the softness of a potential love interest. Butler, the only actor reprising their voice role, is a great presence who sells the outsized personality of Stoick.

Against the odds, this new version of How to Train Your Dragon is equal to the success of the first film, accomplishing the goal of making it feel like you’re watching the story for the first time. If live-action remakes are going to continue to come out, future filmmakers should study this film for how to respect both the history of the franchise and the audience paying good money to be entertained.

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How to Train Your Dragon opens in theaters on June 13.

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