I don’t remember now how I stumbled upon this, but somehow YouTube’s algorithms ending up offering me this animated clip which I think is perfect. 2:24 in particular is a masterpiece of conveying body language with minimal animation. An arrogant swaggering punk who thinks that anyone who challenges him is a soon-to-be-dead fool.
Oh, bravo Mr. Wilbanks! I’d like to see other videos by him. I’ve always loved that song and really enjoyed his unusual artistic take on it.
“Well he mighta went on livin’ but he made one fatal slip…”
My brother received that album (“Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs”) for his third birthday from an uncle, and we played it over and over and over until we drove Mom crazy! Of course, being little kids we didn’t get the metaphor, so we never understood why an Arizona Ranger would carry around an iron…
I still have the 45 rpm single of “El Paso” (with picture sleeve) that I coerced my mom into buying for me when I was about 8 years old. It’s one of the best “story-song” records ever, and I’m sure my parents grew tired of hearing it! I found the album for $1 at a garage sale about 25 years old. It’s a classic.
I bought that album in 1959 when it came out and nearly wore it out. The guy had a way with a ballad. I also remember when “Singing The Blues” and “A White Sport Coat” were huge hits. Cripes, I’m old.
“Twenty men had tried to take him; twenty men had made a slip; twenty-one would be the ranger with the big iron on his hip…”
Now this may have to be a separate thread, but: if you’d won twenty to-the-death duels in single combat, whether gunfights or as a swordsman or an aerial ace, what could you presume your chances of winning against a random opponent on the 21st duel would be? Does one invoke a normal distribution for this estimate?
I’d assume success, but not take it for granted.
“It isn’t always being fast or even accurate that counts. It’s being willing. I found out early that most men, regardless of cause or need, aren’t willing. They blink an eye or draw a breath before they pull the trigger. I won’t.” John Bernard Books, The Shootist
With twenty successful fights, we know he’s willing, and has the skills.
Roger Wilbanks is not the only one to do a video of a Marty Robbins song.
Joking aside, I think my favorite Marty Robbins song is “A Hundred and Sixty Acres”.
Here’s a more lighthearted take on the song;
Living in Arizona I’m fond of that song, but the Arizona Rangers were active from 1901 to 1909, not your classic Wild West period.
Also, the ranger’s badge resembled the famous Texas Rangers’ 5-peso badge more than the ball-tipped stat badges the real ones used.
Reproduction. The real ones were numbered.
Hehehe, I love Marry Robbins, have since I was a kid. Nice video.
One nitpick with it, though: it’s really unlikely that Texas Red would have marked his victories on the steel barrel of his gun. That would have required some real work. The soft material of the grips would be a much more likely place to make them.
But with one and nineteen more there wouldn’t be enough grip left to get a hold of.
I saw the documentary with Huckleberry Hound about it.
Hehehehe, thank you, that was a good laugh.
If we can talk about other animated videos for classic songs in this thread, I’ve loved this animation for “Me and the Devil Blues” for years. One of the first things that made me really love YouTube, because I’m pretty sure I would have never seen it without them. His shadow seeming to pull him along is particularly great (yes, yes, shadows don’t do that).
“Big Iron” is one of the better songs from Fallout: New Vegas, in my opinion.
Shouldn’t Texas Red have red hair? I mean, it’s kind of red in certain lights, but it’s basically brown.
I love the fact that a town with population 150 has enough business for a full-time Notary Public.
Sure, the first ten times you hear it. Then it becomes just as tedious as the rest of them. Then it’s radio off.