Stephin Merritt can write the hell out of a song. Shit, the man wrote three volumes of love songs (69 in all) for The Magnetic Fields’ epic triple album, 69 Love Songs. This one just struck me as so simple and so poignant and so classic and the exact song a hipster cowboy would write if country music could be ironic and telling, nostalgic and rooted in all that is fun about music.
There’s also this fun wiki entry about the song:
http://69lovesongs.info/wiki/index.cgi?Papa_Was_A_Rodeo
I like your twisted point of view, Mike
I like your questioning eyebrows
You’ve made it pretty clear what you like
It’s only fair to tell you now
that I leave early in the morning
and I won’t be back till next year
I see that kiss-me pucker forming
but maybe you should plug it with a beer, ’cause
Papa was a rodeo
Mama was a rock’n’roll band
I could play guitar and rope a steer
before I learned to stand
Home was anywhere with diesel gas
Love was a trucker’s hand
Never stuck around long enough
for a one-night stand
Before you kiss me you should know
Papa was a rodeo
The light reflecting off the mirror ball
looks like a thousand swirling eyes
They make me think I shouldn’t be here at all
You know, every minute someone dies
What are we doing in this dive bar?
How can you live in a place like this?
Why don’t you just get into my car
And I’ll take you away
I’ll take that kiss now, but
Papa was a rodeo
Mama was a rock’n’roll band
I could play guitar and rope a steer
before I learned to stand
Home was anywhere with diesel gas
Love was a trucker’s hand
Never stuck around long enough
for a one-night stand
Before you kiss me you should know
Papa was a rodeo
And now it’s 55 years later
We’ve had the romance of the century
After all these years wrestling gators
I still feel like crying
When I think of what you said to me:
“Papa was a rodeo
Mama was a rock’n’roll band
I could play guitar and rope a steer
before I learned to stand
Home was anywhere with diesel gas
Love was a trucker’s hand
Never stuck around long enough
for a one-night stand
Before you kiss me you should know
Papa was a rodeo,”
What a coincidence
Your papa was a rodeo, too
