(The) Harvey Danger Database


Cream and Bastards Rise album cover

Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo [live]

Release history

Alternate version of

Lyrics

Not another existential cowboy,
and no more California champagne.
Not another saddle tramp,
sick, sore, lonely and out of place,
cryin’ in his coffee ice cream, come on.

Edith cannot fix another engine,
nor paint another face on a rubber-can clown.
She takes another temp job,
but in her secret heart she rides.

Sad sweetheart of the rodeo,1
not an urban legend now.
Sad sweetheart of the rodeo.

Give it a rest, give it a rest,
give it a bad night’s sleep.
Norman says that you should take a Valium
or maybe something stronger,
‘cause he doesn’t understand
how you get so excited watching The Lusty Men.2

“The Marlboro Man died of cancer,
and he wasn’t a rocket scientist when he was healthy, ha ha ha.”
She took one last gulp of his soft city condescension,
and blasted off from his little launch pad to parts west.

Sad sweetheart of the rodeo,
not an urban legend now.
Sad sweetheart of the rodeo.
Lonesome Cowboy Bill,3 where are you?


  1. Cf. The Byrds’ 1968 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo

  2. A 1952 Western film directed by Nicholas Ray. 

  3. “Lonesome Cowboy Bill” is a Velvet Underground song on Loaded

Notes

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