Cowboy Movie Lyrics

Lyric discussion by MANT 

Cover art for Cowboy Movie lyrics by David Crosby

From allmusic: One of the most autobiographical songs to stem from the diaspora of CSN&Y, David Crosby's "Cowboy Movie" is the actual story of the (temporary) 1970 breakup of that very group. The individual members are all given aliases: Stephen Stills is Eli ("our fastest gunner/kinda mean & young, from the South"). Graham Nash is The Duke ("our dynamiter"), Neil Young is Young Billy, who has an almost psychic ability to predict trouble, and Crosby himself is Fat Albert, who becomes an interested and interesting bystander. The other main character is Raven, who represents Rita Coolidge, who in real life had affairs with Stills first, then Nash. This in itself caused the ill-feelings between Nash and Stills at the time, and caused the temporary fraction in the band. Raven is also referred to as "The Law" — but not in the legal sense, as Crosby explained in Dave Zimmer's Crosby, Stills & Nash, but the "law of averages of nature." All of this combines, as Zimmer relates, to create a "colorful look at human nature," and succeeds admirably.

"If I Could Only Remember My Name" is an album that we listened to and enjoyed back in 1971. Unlike many of the albums that I listened to back then, I still find it very intriguing.

The theme of "Cowboy Movie" and the music remind me of the Grateful Dead. Looking into it further, I discovered that the musicians are:

Crosby - electric guitar, vocal Jerry Garcia - electric guitar Phil Lesh - bass Mickey Hart - drums Bill Kreutzmann - tambourine

DUH... This is the Grateful Dead! Now I understand why it stands the test of time...

@MANT Fantastic explication. It's about 40 years I try to understand the meaning of this beatiful song. (Y)