"Always the cowboy, never the cow" 🐄

October 14, 2020 11:52 PM

I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby! is a fresh self-launched earworm and fun video by fledgling singer-songwriter (and self-proclaimed "Global Celebrity Teen Pop Sensation From Ireland") CMAT, who describes her musical style as "Dolly Parton meets Weird Al Yankovic, mixed with Katy Perry."

Becky Rogers at NME talks to Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson: CMAT: Dublin cowgirl turning shitposting into Americana bangers.

posted by taz (22 comments total)

Everyone in that video looks like they were having a lot of fun, and I like seeing that. The song is deceptively loopy, it seems to me - in that country way that blends a nod to tradition, wry wordplay, and a tough kernel of real heart.
posted by Caxton1476 at 4:31 AM on October 15, 2020 [3 favorites]

Well nigh 35 years since the last I Wanna Be A Cowboy
posted by Flashman at 6:24 AM on October 15, 2020 [4 favorites]

Well, that was unexpected! She has a great country voice, the song is solid, and the video is a blast. Very much a First Aid Kit vibe, with a little wink and a nod. I was expecting something more meme-y -- like Pen-pineapple-apple-pen or Friday. This is sincere and unironically good.

And she's not a one-hit wonder! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JeoggiUgLg
posted by skullhead at 7:18 AM on October 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

Gosh I wish I could find the lyrics to this. I don't know if this is a me problem or not but I could only understand about a third of it, but I liked it!
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:28 AM on October 15, 2020 [7 favorites]

Well nigh 35 years since the last I Wanna Be A Cowboy

Well there was Kid Rock in 1998. (Warning: it's a Kid Rock video.)

Cowboy
posted by Cris E at 7:45 AM on October 15, 2020 [2 favorites]

Flashman Thanks! I've heard that song thousands of times but I don't think I'd ever actually seen the video somehow. And god is that Lemmy?

Growing up in Canada my first association was to Mitsou - Bye Bye Mon Cowboy oddly enough.
posted by cirhosis at 7:54 AM on October 15, 2020 [4 favorites]

showbiz_liz, the lyrics were nowhere to be found ... but I finally located them on her facebook, in the form of jpgs. I've transcribed here as well as I can:

I can't go far without hitting the sea
I won't last long without a shop that i need
red bull from to get me through the day
and i feel bad cuz i didn't cry
when someone i grew up with died,
but i
break down every time i'm on the scales

always the cowboy, never the cow
I hate the way my life turned out
there ain't no ranch to roam inside my room
and I've got cotton wool for arms
I won't be much use on the farm so i'll
stay inside and watch him sing his
tune

I wanna be a cowboy baby
I wanna be a cowboy baby
spin round on the playground
oh i wanna be a cowboy baby
I wanna be a cowboy baby
alone
I don't need you to walk me home

My style icon is the wolverine
Between each finger lies the key
to getting home without a buckaroo
And i see rodents at the foot of my bed
in the morning light when the sun is red
and i don't know what that means but
it's coming true

Always the cowboy never the cow
I hate the way my life turned out
It goes faster every time that i go to sleep
And talk about adventurin'
I hope to god that this ain't it
And i just can't feel it cuz i've got nothing left

I wanna be a cowboy baby
I wanna be a cowboy baby
spin round on the playground
oh i wanna be a cowboy baby
I wanna be a cowboy baby
alone
I don't need you to walk me home

You ask me what i want to be
I answer you so truthfully
I wanna go to my first rodeo
what's that cracked up to be?
i wanna stop relying on men
who are bigger than me

I wanna be a cowboy baby
I wanna be a cowboy baby
spin round on the playground
oh i wanna be a cowboy baby
I wanna be a cowboy baby
alone
I don't need you to walk me home
posted by taz at 8:17 AM on October 15, 2020 [20 favorites]

I've transcribed here as well as I can:

THANK YOU and oh no I'm relating far too hard to this
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:46 AM on October 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

"Dolly Parton meets Weird Al Yankovic, mixed with Katy Perry."

This is impressively self-aware and surprisingly accurate.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 10:52 AM on October 15, 2020

As an Old, I really like the tune, the video is Art in a perfectly lovely modern way, the dirty hygge vibe is so much fun, and also boy do I feel seasick now. That camera work really makes its mark...
posted by I'mSoBlue at 11:07 AM on October 15, 2020

"dirty hygge vibe" is the perfect term. I now seek dirty hygge.
posted by taz at 11:47 AM on October 15, 2020 [2 favorites]

Hmm. I was a little annoyed, maybe I am too old for hipster kids in cowboy clothes?

Also no cowboy would use an English saddle, c'mon.

I do like her voice, actually, and she had a great 80s-ish hairdo happening.
posted by emjaybee at 11:55 AM on October 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

Omg, I used to work for the tiny little Colorado company that made that fringed coat she's wearing. I didn't sew but I may very well have put those snaps on it. Thank you for posting this!
posted by BoscosMom at 12:12 PM on October 15, 2020 [7 favorites]

I wanna be a cowboy baby
I wanna be a cowboy baby
spin round on the playground
oh i wanna be a cowboy baby
I wanna be a cowboy baby

This has got to be referencing one of my least favorite vines of all time
posted by FirstMateKate at 12:23 PM on October 15, 2020

Also I love this song country music never died, fight me
posted by FirstMateKate at 12:24 PM on October 15, 2020

re Vine, it is, FirstMateKate. From the article: "Openly a lot darker than her previous releases, the track explores the lack of freedom associated with being a woman but in typical CMAT fashion, she softens the blow with a reference to her favourite Vine; a guy spinning in a park saying about how much he wants to be a cowboy." I'm with you on not loving that Vine clip, but grateful that it helped spin up this song.
posted by taz at 12:31 PM on October 15, 2020

Also no cowboy would use an English saddle, c'mon.

Well that would seem to be the whole point, right? She's NOT a cowboy. The video is full of "cowboy" trappings that are about three levels of irony removed from actual cowboy culture - that's all she has access to.
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:38 PM on October 15, 2020 [8 favorites]

This is a great, but doesn't hold a candle to the Vandals "Urban Struggle" (I want to be a cowboy). Covering the suburban punks vs the suburban cowboys in Orange County circa 1982

You call me an Urban clone of course
A big deal if I'm afraid to ride a horse
With a broken nose and a fucked up knee
Maybe this Cowboy scene just ain't for me

Cowboy look is the one I sought
Can't change now cause the clothes are bought
To be a true cowboy was my fate
I can't help it if I was born late

Yee Haw, woo-woo, Yee Haw
posted by CostcoCultist at 2:05 PM on October 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

On a slightly related note, I have found some Europeans who are really into country music, I had a bus drive in the Netherlands whose favorite place to vists in the US was Nashville.

There is also the Flemish movie
Broken Circle Breakdown. which focuses on members of a bluegrass band. Warning very depressing
posted by CostcoCultist at 2:11 PM on October 15, 2020

i thought of this for some reason - maybe i should stop thinking

(they did better songs i swear - even with liqorice singing)
posted by pyramid termite at 3:30 PM on October 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

She's cool as hell. Got lots of jam, could be that just on her smiling songs of hooks and happiness and loads of friends with goodwill to show up and dance with her, and with that certainty of herself, could be that she'll keep glittering in the froth at the top of the wave as it comes on in. Dolly is a wonderful singer/songwriter/performer but lots of who she is comes from her absolute certainty of herself; I saw her once in Nashville, Grand Old Opry, she tripped as she walked out onstage, a huge wig came rolling off of her head, she walked over and picked it up and put it back on her head, laughed about it then sang her heart out.

~~~~~

Also no cowboy would use an English saddle, c'mon.

Well that would seem to be the whole point, right? She's NOT a cowboy. The video is full of "cowboy" trappings that are about three levels of irony removed from actual cowboy culture - that's all she has access to.
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:38 PM on October 15 [4 favorites +] [!]

1994 I visited a friend in London, he took me to this bar where everyone was wearing cap guns for christ sake, and wearing without a hint of irony the most ludicrous "cowboy" clothing I'd ever seen. I was awestruck. If they showed here in Austin some kind person would hustle them off the street and get them some real boots, jeans, a nice leather belt, a couple snap-button shirts, a nice hat. While the person was changing into their new gladrags the kind person would take the ridiculous clothing into the alley and burn it.
posted by dancestoblue at 5:35 PM on October 15, 2020 [2 favorites]

She sounds surprisingly Adele-ish here. (she may be going for that, I have no idea.)

I really like this song/video, and all the three I could find, thank you! I was not expecting what I found, here.
posted by 41swans at 6:34 AM on October 16, 2020