Unsung song of the unhung hangman is a song about heartbroken bankrupted loners and losers, cowpeople who lost their cow, lovers who lost their love. A show pony in an oversized jacket frolics up a snowy mountain, like Herzog’s demented penguin, goofily and tragically walking to its certain death. It carries a white horn referencing cornucopia, cuckolds, hearing-devices, Viking helmets, Texas trucks, etc. However, it is nothing but a McGuffin, an empty object for a boneless plot.This project is part of the writing of my next western musical.
I need deep grass and tone
I need fresh air and coal
Warm milk in a little bowl
A freshly combed mare
An oversized jacket
A rope and a bullet.
The mount I love has been eaten
By the desert in the South
By the desert in the North
My world is but one dune
Where cuckholds and cows meet.
I’ve seen eyes slit by thorns
I’ve seen trees eaten by goats
I’ve seen cheeks gored by horns
I’ve heard the wail of bulls and boats
Now I see an empty bed through plains and hills
An absent master in a bountiful county
For moisture is the essence of wetness
and wetness is the essence of beauty
The one I love is gone at sea.
Mother used to say: Son,
Your hat is your home,
Horse high, pig tight, bull strong
And don’t you squat with your spurs on
Every trail has some puddles
But always drink upstream
And when in doubt,
Let your horse figure it out
A closed mouth gathers no boots
You’re twice a man if you weep
Go for a swim and go for a scream
If it doesn’t scare the cows, who cares?
The pebble you gave me,
Mother, is forever stuck in my knee
I brushed a hundred strokes
On the purple mare,
She deserved a hundred more
Fiorucci made me hardcore
And I know there is more
Than sea, land, and decor
I’ve seen the shots in between
Widespread legs and dirty feet
Sweaty eyes and painted teeth
I took my cow to the sea
I cracked my whip at the sea
For my pain is aquatic
Like a metal pea in a soup of cress
I am an unhung hangman
Hit and missed a thousand times
Failed at dying, failed at living
Sea-born sob in my nose
No ring no noose
For my love is loose
For my cow is gone at sea
And my mount, my lady
Crumbles like a cookie
Long time no see, baby
God knows I love a good cookie
Visit the electric stable/karaoke here (installation in SIM barn, Reykjavik)
link to the project on SIM website here
music by Luca Francio
camera by Robin O'Shea
SIM residency Iceland
6 minutes
2023
Pauline Maure 