Almanac Music: Guns are the go in America

‘Down By The River’, one of Neil Young’s classic songs, contains the lines:

 

Down by the river
I shot my baby
Down by the river

 

In A Dreamer Of Pictures: Neil Young: The Man and his Music, author David Downing states that Young has said that the shooting is metaphorical and that the song was mainly about blowing a relationship. But, as Dowling claims, while the lines ‘This much madness is too much sorrow/It’s impossible to make it today’ make sense in relationship terms, they also seemed every bit as relevant to the political situation.

 

 

There are many guns in America and their use is horrifyingly indiscriminate.
And, regardless of the interpretation by the listener, a lot of guns are mentioned in American music.

 

 

A few examples.*

 

The War of Independence
We fired our guns and the British kept a-comin’
There wasn’t as many as there was a while ago
We fired once more and they began to runnin’
(‘Battle of New Orleans’ – Johnny Horton)

 

 

The Frontier Wars
Shelter me from the powder and the finger
Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger
(‘Powderfinger’ – Neil Young)

 

 

The Civil War
I killed a boy the other night
Who’d never even shaved
I don’t even know what I’m fightin’ for
I ain’t never owned a slave
(‘Ben McCulloch’ – Steve Earle)

 

 

The Wild West
… my Mama told me, “Son
Always be a good boy, don’t ever play with guns”
But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die
(‘Folsom Prison Blues’ – Johnny Cash)

 

Also ‘El Paso’ (Marty Robbins), ‘Don’t Take Your Guns to Town’ (Johnny Cash)
‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence’ (Gene Pitney), ‘Pancho and Lefty’ (Townes Van Zandt) etc

 

 

War Protest
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
(‘Ohio’ – Neil Young)

 

These mills they built the tanks and bombs
That won this country’s wars
We gave our sons to Korea and Vietnam
Now we’re wondering what they were dying for
(‘Youngstown‘ – Bruce Springsteen)

 

We got little kids with guns fighting inner city wars
——
We kill for oil, then we throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight, and we call that the sin
(‘Wasteland of the Free’ – Iris Dement)

 

 

Love Triangle
I’m gonna shoot my pistol, gonna shoot my gatling gun
I’m gonna shoot my pistol, gotta shoot my gatling gun
You made me love you, now your man have come
(’32-20‘ – Robert Johnson)

 

Hey Joe, I said, where you goin’ with that gun in your hand?
Oh, I’m goin’ down to shoot my old lady
You know I caught her messin’ ’round with another man, yeah
(‘Hey Joe‘ – Jimi Hendrix)

 

 

Civil Rights Riots
The fire wagon kept comin’
The snipers just wouldn’t let ’em put it out
Fire bomb bustin’ all around me
An’ soldiers was everywhere
(‘The Motor City is Burning’ – John Lee Hooker)

 

He went down to Oxford town
Guns and clubs followed him down
All because his face was brown
(‘Oxford Town’ – Bob Dylan)

 

 

Domestic Violence
I’m gonna be on this farm for my natural life
Well I’m a gonna be here for the rest of my life
And all I did was shoot my wife
(‘Parchman Farm’ – Mose Allison)

 

Seven shots ring out
Like the ocean’s pounding roar
…

There’s seven people dead
On a South Dakota farm
(‘Ballad of Hollis Brown’ – Bob Dylan)

 

And the gun that’s hangin’ on the kitchen wall, dear
Is like the road sign pointing straight to Satan’s cage
(‘Kiss The Children’ – Gram Parsons)

 

 

Urban/Gang Violence
Pistol shots ring out in the bar-room night
(‘Hurricane’ – Bob Dylan)

 

When I’m called off, I got a sawed off
Squeeze the trigger, and bodies are hauled off
(‘Straight Outta Compton’ – N.W.A)

 

Across the street a man pulled his nine
Everybody started to run
A shower of bullets rang out
Mistakenly my life was done, oh
(‘My Love Is With You’ – Stevie Wonder)

 

 

Bonnie and Clyde Violence
Sherry drove the pickup through the alley on the side
Where a lawman tackled Sonny and was reading him his rights
She stepped into the alley with a single shot .410
The road goes on forever and the party never ends
(‘The Road Goes On Forever’ – Robert Earl Keen)

 

Well the sheriff told Billy, “Boy, you’re bound to die
‘Cause this young lady’s gonna testify
That you done took her off against her will
And she told us about the robbery and the boy you killed”
(‘Billy and Bonnie’ – Steve Earle)

 

 

Gambling and Guns
“Gentleman’s of the jury, what do you think of that?
Stack O’ Lee killed Billy de Lyon about a five-dollar Stetson hat”
That bad man, oh, cruel Stack O’ Lee
(‘Stack o’ Lee’ – Mississippi John Hurt)

 

And so it goes.

 

* A perception of artist subjectivity may be detected

 

 

 

 

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