Romance of the Gun

[Deleted]

Here's a song I've been working on for 25 years. After a year or two of fiddling with lyrics, if the song ain't right, you should just probably chuck it. But this one won't let me leave it alone, for some reason. It started as a co-write with a fellow musician in Dallas named Ed Kohorst; the re-write, though, is solely my lyrics.

It is an experiment in sparse songwriting. I was entranced by Ryan Bingham's "Until I'm One With You" (used as the theme on "The Bridge") and the Handsome Family's "Far From Any Road" (used as the theme in "True Detective") and just how spare and economical and moody the lyrics are. Bingham accomplishes that in a song that is 66 words long, while Brett and Rennie Sparks' song does it in 120 words.

My entry is somewhere between -- 93 words. I've been staring at it so long I don't know if it tells a story any more. Any thoughts or insights are welcome, although I noticed my last posting of a song here drew nary a comment.

ROMANCE OF THE GUN
© 2014 by David Hanners

Panhandle wind blows through a man
Like a .44 drops you where you stand
He was cold as any wind that come
All because of the romance of the gun

Palo Duro runs dry even when it rains
No good for baptizing or washing away the stain
Devil leaves a mark, saints know it well
Only a sinner can tell you where the last angel fell

Floyd County cotton hangs up on barbed wire
Deputy pulled him over, tags were expired
Shimmery blacktop, FM 602
They spoke his epitaph, said he was 22



For comparison purposes, here is the original version Ed and I wrote, which is 223 words long:

In the still of the evening, beneath the sunset
On the South Plains of Texas, where land and sky met
Born of dust and poverty, he was very young
When he was seduced by the romance of the gun

Just 17 when he took down his first man
South side of Lubbock is where it all began
Wasn't Fort Knox, it was just a Circle K
When the clerk hesitated he blew his ass away

Panhandle wind blows right through a man
Like a .44 will drop you where you stand
He was twice as cold as any wind that come
He could blame it all on the romance of the gun

Palo Duro runs dry even when it rains
Ain't good for baptizing or washing away the stain
Devil leaves a mark, saints know it well
But only a sinner can tell you where the last angel fell

Once you take a life there's nothing left to lose
Next man to fall is yesterday's news
Killing don't mean nothin' to an outlaw on the run
Only thing that matters is the romance of the gun

In Floyd County, Texas, blowin' cotton hangs up on barbed wire
Deputy pulled him over 'cause his tags were expired
Story ends on Farm to Market 602
When they spoke his epitaph, they said he was 22

[Dub]

Interesting idea, David. I think there's enough there to draw the listener in. I'm not familiar with either of the movie themes you reference but your new version seems like a movie theme to me. Now you need to write the movie script and find a producer. Then everyone who's seen the movie, or even the trailer, will mentally expand the song into some version of the full story.

I've always liked ballads that leave important details to the listener's imagination. A song should never try to explain the composer to the listener. It should tell or remind the listener about something within the listener. Inviting the listener to imagine details is one way to do that. In some ways it reminds me of Ned Washington's lyrics for "The Ballad of High Noon" in that it outlines themes found in the film but isn't merely the plot line. The theme from "Goldfinger" is something like that too. And though it's sparser, your song invokes Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" as well.

I've never written a song and I have no credentials allowing me to make this suggestion… but what about:

He was cold as the coldest wind that whines
Romance of the gun had filled (or taken) his mind.

[Deleted]

Thanks, Dub. I'll take it under advisement. I do like the word "whines" (or maybe a creative synonym) and I'll have to play with it.

I should note that the theme used for "True Detective" had been around for a couple of years before T. Bone Burnett picked it for the HBO series. Bingham was hired to write music for "The Bridge" and came up with "Until I'm One With You," then released it in its own right. Here it is:


And here is The Handsome Family's song:

[Deleted]

So here's a re-write of the re-write of the first verse:

Wind off the Caprock cuts through a man
Like a .44 drops you where you stand
He was cold as any tempest comes
Cold as the romance of the gun

Or, I could make the first line "Tempest off the Caprock cuts through a man" and make the third line, "He was as cold as any wind that comes."

[Deleted]

Here's the latest rewrite. I realized that one of the things that bugged me about the song was that I was using imagery from winter ("He was as cold as any wind that comes....") and summer ("Palo Duro runs dry..." and "Shimmery blacktop, FM 602) and so I figured I'd put it in one season, namely summer. Besides, the romance of the gun burns hot, not cold. And as someone who served a two-and-a-half-year sentence working at the paper in Amarillo (Texas' windiest city) I can attest the winds in the summer can be blowtorch hot. They kind of prepared me for Kuwait. Almost.

And for those non-Texans out there, "FM" is shorthand for "Farm to Market," a system of numbered roadways throughout the state.

So here is the current version and again, any thoughts are welcome:

Wind off the Caprock cuts through a man
Like a .44 drops you where you stand
He was hot as any wind that comes
Burned like the romance of the gun

Palo Duro runs dry even when it rains
No good for baptizing or washing away the stain
Devil leaves a mark, saints know it well
Only a sinner can tell you where the last angel fell

Floyd County cotton hangs up on barbed wire
Deputy pulled him over, tags were expired
Heat waves off the blacktop of FM 602
Spoke his epitaph, said he was 22

[Deleted]

It's about time to post the song Do you have a video link? Lyrics are well written, nicely done

[Deleted]

I may record a video in a few days on my iPad and see if I can post itt o YouTube.