I don't have any startlingly revelatory interpretation for this song. In fact, I believe its meaning is -for Jane - surprisingly simple, obvious, and prosaic. In my opinion it's the low point of her greatest album, The Walking - perhaps the greatest album...!
The song is about the fairly commonplace notion of two people in a relationship (well, "getting together," anyway) and not really knowing one another ("she didn't get him" / "he ... didn't get her"). Jane really doesn't take it very far from there.
There is, however, one part of this song I love. When the man is trying to petition for the favor of the woman, he does so energetically. Jane emphasizes this by repeating his request three times with slight variations, indicating that he is at least pursuing his proposal without immediate abandonment. The slight variations indicate he's approaching the pursuit from every angle - at least every angle he can think of. What is funny about these variations is how minutely they actually vary his proposal - he doesn't seem be gifted with creativity! ("Let me be your Main Man / Let me be your Cowboy / Let me be your Boogaloo") Those are a hilarious, if frightening, set of pick up lines!
The woman in Jane's song clearly picks up on this unimaginative series of cliches, and thinks to herself:
He wants to be my Cowboy? Hmmm "... What does this make me"
The obvious answer, if she wanted to follow his lead with a sentimental stereotype would be to say: You wanna be my Cowboy? OK, I'll be your Cowgirl."
Jane's woman is having no part of that. After a moment of thought, she comes up with just as common a cliche, but one totally inappropriate in this circumstance:
"I see... then I'll be the Indian / then I'll be the Indian / then I'll be the Indian"
Here she is mocking his repeated overtures by repeating her answer an equal number of times. She is pointing out the lack of interesting diversity in his requests by including no variation at all in hers. But most of all, she is responding to a romantic request, "Let me be your cowboy" not with "then I will be your cowgirl" but with "then I'll be the Indian".
As if she had said, "You wanna play with me? I pick the game. How about 'Cowboys and Indians'?"
I doubt the man in the song understood or even heard this...
I don't have any startlingly revelatory interpretation for this song. In fact, I believe its meaning is -for Jane - surprisingly simple, obvious, and prosaic. In my opinion it's the low point of her greatest album, The Walking - perhaps the greatest album...!
The song is about the fairly commonplace notion of two people in a relationship (well, "getting together," anyway) and not really knowing one another ("she didn't get him" / "he ... didn't get her"). Jane really doesn't take it very far from there.
There is, however, one part of this song I love. When the man is trying to petition for the favor of the woman, he does so energetically. Jane emphasizes this by repeating his request three times with slight variations, indicating that he is at least pursuing his proposal without immediate abandonment. The slight variations indicate he's approaching the pursuit from every angle - at least every angle he can think of. What is funny about these variations is how minutely they actually vary his proposal - he doesn't seem be gifted with creativity! ("Let me be your Main Man / Let me be your Cowboy / Let me be your Boogaloo") Those are a hilarious, if frightening, set of pick up lines!
The woman in Jane's song clearly picks up on this unimaginative series of cliches, and thinks to herself:
He wants to be my Cowboy? Hmmm "... What does this make me"
The obvious answer, if she wanted to follow his lead with a sentimental stereotype would be to say: You wanna be my Cowboy? OK, I'll be your Cowgirl."
Jane's woman is having no part of that. After a moment of thought, she comes up with just as common a cliche, but one totally inappropriate in this circumstance:
"I see... then I'll be the Indian / then I'll be the Indian / then I'll be the Indian"
Here she is mocking his repeated overtures by repeating her answer an equal number of times. She is pointing out the lack of interesting diversity in his requests by including no variation at all in hers. But most of all, she is responding to a romantic request, "Let me be your cowboy" not with "then I will be your cowgirl" but with "then I'll be the Indian".
As if she had said, "You wanna play with me? I pick the game. How about 'Cowboys and Indians'?"
I doubt the man in the song understood or even heard this...