If you’ve been listening to the radio, you know what I’m talking about. Nickelback has gone much deeper than usual with this title, giving their pop/rock mix a little historical gravitas. Sadly, though it’s only a little.
The song does little more than whet your curiosity about Tatang and his descendants. Not that much is truly known for sure. Some facts are sketchy. What lives on above all else was their Joi de Vivre. They literally lived every day like it was there last.
That’s about as far as the song goes. “If Tatang was your last name” challenges you to live up to the example epitomized in the Tatang Clan.
But who was he?
Hay (na ku) Tatang was born in Outer Mongolia sometime in the early 1800s. He came to America a penniless immigrant because of the Tomato famine and moved West, taking a job as a Sheperd.
Back then there were no Cowboys, just Shepherds. Tatang’s ancestors though were born to the horse. In Mongolia, horsemanship was everything. One day, after a particularly long pedestrian cattle drive, Tatang jumped up on a pack horse to round up the stray cattle. The Shepherds were awestruck at his efficiency and his skill. Nobody had ever considered that it would be possible to tend cattle from horseback.
Tatang’s innovation spread like wildfire through the West. Shepherds from all over came to train with Tatang. Quickly Tatang realized the inneficiencies of the English saddle and he designed the tradittional Western working saddle. Armed with the riding and roping skills of Tatang, the West was opened up and the age of the cowboy was ushered in.
Tatang himself rode every day of his life. He had one of the biggest ranches in Utah, and sired 33 children. He could outdrink, outrope, outride and outfight any man alive.
Tatang’s values and philosophy colored much of the West and cowboy ethos. By transference, the philosophies of Tatang are the attitudes and philosophies of Americans.
Sadly though, few Americans know the story of Tatang. Pete Townsend attempted to give proper recognition to the forgotten legend in his album “All the Best Cowboys have Chinese Eyes,” but it didn’t really catch.
Consider all that you could do, all that you could accomplish if your last name was Tatang. Since Tatang was the father of the American West, in a way that is your last name.
Live like it. Earn it.
Thank you Nickelback.