Spanish Ranch Cowboy California Girl......

Spanish Ranch Cowboy…..

I get asked about this song a lot. People always want to know, who was he? What happened? What made you write a song so honest? Didn’t you think that would embarrass someone?!

My answer to all of these is…

1.     No one

2.     Nothing

3.     Driving

4.     Writing habit (occupational hazard) & I really don’t think about that

In all honesty, this song was prompted by an idea.

An idea of what COULD have happened…if someone had done something….which they didn’t!

It always amazes me with how differently some songs can be written. Most of mine are, as you know, inspired by some event/story/life experience. This song was really exciting for me though, because it showed that I didn’t have to have something HAPPEN to write about it. I could have an idea, a longing, a hope or wish or an opinion…and then BAM! A song could appear!

I imagined and used certain things from my own life to make up a few component’s such as  “But I’ve climbed on a few now and I’ve tied a few down, and I really don’t need your silky sweet voice around anymore” (I won’t lie, that’s personally one of my most favorite song lines!)

Now, the part about the town girl….

I’m going to say something that is probably semi-controversial here. I wrote that line, because frankly I’ve just never understood how and why cowboys consistently complain about how their life is now depressing because their other-half doesn’t care for the cowboy’in lifestyle/living/moving/no money/remote housing/rats/dirty/laundry piles/ect when they have chosen someone who wants to change them from the life they love!

Some girls do really well in this new kind of life. Applying themselves and learning as well as loving everything about being a cowboy’s “girl”. I know lots of these kinds of gals, and admire and look up to them. However some expect the romantic life seen in movies and what they read in the super market novels you see while checking out at Wal-Mart.

But life ISN’T this way as a cowboy’s girl, and that’s just fine. This is part of the reason I think women can fall for a man in boots and hat so quickly sometimes, is that they are truly manly-men and REAL, which is scarce and refreshing in this day and age! But it can also be a bit of a shock to the system for some…and although I know it sounds funny, that is why I love this line. It says, if he had chosen the girl talking/singing to him-she would have been capable of doing what she wished this other girl could do. Living the kind of life she knows he lives, and doing the sorts of things that he cherishes and does everyday for a living.

Oops, looking back I guess this post turned out a little differently from my original intent. At the same time, it really does tell what was at the root of this song being written. The hurt and worry you feel for someone else who you care for, who is involved with someone you know loves a lifestyle the other cannot seem to understand or accept.

It is amazing all the different ways songs come to us. This time for me it came on a whim of an idea while driving down Interstate 5,  in the way of “Spanish Ranch Cowboy, California girl”.  

Spanish ranch cowboy, California girl

Words and Music by Adrian

Driving down interstate 5

Horses in the back

Thinking of you

And how we didn’t work out

I’ve been snatching day work here and there

You’re at the Spanish ranch

One hell of a buckaroo hand

So I’ve heard

Its been a few months

Its been a while

I figure its safe to see your smile and ask

How you’ve been

But these past few months have been hell on you some girl you loves

Been playing with your heart

If she weren’t from town id say she coulda roped it branded it and tore

It apart

We could have been a Spanish ranch cowboy

And a California girl

You’re a Spanish ranch man through and through

Seems like you claim that old stomping ground

Every time you need a place to belong

But I’ve climbed on a few now

And tied a few down

And I

Don’t really need your silky sweet voice anymore

We could have been a Spanish ranch cowboy

And a California girl

And I don’t look much

Anymore

And I don’t cover the miles

Like we said I would

But I hold

Onto

Memories

That might not be sweet to you

But they were dreams

For me

We could have been a Spanish ranch cowboy

And a California girl

A California girl

California girl

California girl

xoxo

~Adrian