# What's the "cowboy music" called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cowboy-music-called/355791 "2006-05-07T19:41:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cowboy-music-called/355791/1 "2006-05-07T19:41:33Z")
It’s nearly high noon. Two cowboys are facing eachother, hands hovering above their holsters. A tumbleweed blows by, and a familiar tune starts playing. But what is the name of it? Is it part of some larger piece, or does it just stand on its own with a few bars? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it can be heard in a recent commercial (for Mountain Dew, I think) where two guys are having a showdown in an amusement park. Also, at the beginning of the Vandal’s “Urban Struggle” aka I Want to be a Cowboy. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cowboy-music-called/355791/2 "2006-05-07T19:51:13Z")
I have never heard the Vandals song, but one piece of music that is very frequently used in gunfight-showdown scenes is from Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack score for **The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly**. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cowboy-music-called/355791/3 "2006-05-07T19:51:19Z")
Is it the theme to _The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly_ by Ennio Morricone? That’s what I think of when I think of dueling cowboys. [whistle whistle whis] whaa whaa whaa ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cowboy-music-called/355791/4 "2006-05-07T19:55:53Z")
_Rio,_ by Duran Duran. _ducks_ Seriously, another vote for GB&U. I’d have left it alone, except mobo’s description of the song was exactly the one I was going to use, if I couldn’t find somewhere I could confirm had a working clip of the song. (Which I didn’t.) ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cowboy-music-called/355791/5 "2006-05-07T20:00:59Z")
The tune at the beginning of _Urban Struggle_ (I want to be a cowboy) are from the theme to _The Good, the Bad and the Ugly_. You should watch it some time, it’s a hoot. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-cowboy-music-called/355791/6 "2006-05-07T21:41:20Z")
Perhaps the tune \* “60 seconds to what?” \* from the film _For A Few Dollars More._ The scene : a musical pocket watch plays its chimes. The two gunslingers will start shooting when the chimes stop. You can hear it [here](http://www.ptt.yu/korisnici/p/e/pencha/e-moto.htm) **WARNING** sound clip will play when the page loads.