When I was growing up we used to watch a lot of the "Singing Cowboys" that were popular back in the 1920s and 1930s. Unlike most modern movies the Singing Cowboy movies were simple affairs. The good guys fought the bad guys and along the way they always found a way to overcome those dastardly bastards of the imaginary West. Now days those movies are called "simple," "naive," affairs that gloss over the imperial expansion of America and its destruction of Native civilizations.
Some people just can't have any fun without being shit heads about what everyone else loves. Anyway, I'm off to watch an old Tex Ritter film, Hittin' the Trail, with my son so I thought that I'd leave you cats with a great little playlist in the singing cowboy spirit.
Out in the west Texas town of El Pasoooo...!
ReplyDeleteGod I love that song!
DeleteI haven't listened to many of his songs, but I'll always have a soft spot for that one. I remember my dad playing it in the car when I was a kid.
DeleteI wasn't much into the singing cowboys when I was a kid, that came later in life, but I was a huge fan of John Wayne, Gunsmoke, Zorro & the Lone Ranger. I remember it must have been 2nd or 3rd grade before I stopped wearing cowboy boots as my casual/play shoes. True enough Westerns are a romanticized view of this country's history but it doesn't make them any less fun to watch. As for the folks who have to draw your attention to Westerns being romanticized, they tend to fall into one of two categories. Well-intentioned individuals who think they are educating you about something you already know or they are assholes. I'm inclined to give the first group a pass since a lot of us were fresh out of college once and wanted to enlighten anyone with a pulse whether they needed it or not. Why do you let these folks get under your skin? As an aside, my wife is also a Westerns fan. One gem that she tracked down a copy of so she could introduce me to was "The Terror of Tiny Town." It is a Western with an all Little Person cast. It is a fun watch.
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