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For Charles Bronson Lyrics

Catch a lucky break, try to make it last
Rig a blanket curtain up between
the present and the past

Play my lucky numbers
for most of what they're worth
Lie about my age right down to my last day on this earth

Set your sights on good fortune
Concentrate
Pull back the hammer
Try to hold the gun straight

Hit the gym each night,
stay cool and seldom speak
Keep the heart of a champion
Never let them see you're weak

And whatever they say
on your page three mention
Focus on the parts that make you feel good
Be grateful for the attention

Set your sights on good fortune
Concentrate
Pull back the hammer
Try to hold the gun straight

Try to hold the gun straight
And true
And steady
Let the frame find you when the cameraman's ready

Work until I drop
Drift from place to place
Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania
scratched into my face

Set your sights on good fortune
Concentrate
Pull back the hammer
Try to hold the gun straight
Try to hold the gun straight
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Cover art for For Charles Bronson lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

It is definately about the Actor Charles Bronson. I also think it has to do about him as a person more than ay of the roles he played. Charles Bronson served in world war II where he was wounded and received the purple heart. I havent really looked into this but I think this song is about him struggling, as so many others did after the war, with post traumatic stress. especially since he was playing a tough guy in movies with alot of fighting and shooting, hence all the "never let them see your weak" and "try to hold the gun straight"

Cover art for For Charles Bronson lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

This is a song about being a man. Who is the manliest man of all time? (Hint: It isn't John Wayne.)

Cover art for For Charles Bronson lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

I think it's about Charles Bronson, the prisoner. Born Michael Gordon Peterson, he was referred to in the British press as the "most violent prisoner in Britain". Before he was imprisioned for armed robbery ("try to hold the gun straight") in 1974, he had a bare-knuckle boxing career in the East End of London.

He also wrote a book about working out in confined spaces ("Hit the gym each night, stay cool and seldom speak")

That does seem like a better fit with the lyrics. The catch is that the actor Charles Bronson is from Ehrenfeld, PA.

That's what I thought at first too, but I think the bit about Ehrenfeld, PA, the cameraman and "stay cool and seldom speak" fits better with the actor. It's vague though.

It's definitely about the actor Charles Bronson, specifically his role in the Death Wish films. He played a man whose wife and daughter are mugged, the wife dying and the daughter going into a coma. He buys a revolver and baits muggers into attacking him so he can shoot them, taking revenge on them and preventing others from experiencing grief like he did.

Cover art for For Charles Bronson lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

Actor Charles Bronson was born in Ehrenfeld. Big clue. There's usually one in their somewhere with John's songs - often in a placename. Another poignant, beautiful song, inviting an alternative perspective on a well known subject.

 
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