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about
I imagined a cowboy type as the hero, or anti-hero, of this tale. He’s not your typical Hollywood western cowboy though. I see him as having brown skin and in addition to the conventional cowboy accoutrements—cowboy shirt, leather boots—he also owns a pair of wings made out of petals from a lotus flower. The idea for the lotus flowers came to me when I was reading about the Hindu god, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, who is usually depicted standing on a lotus flower pedestal. The narrator in this song has obviously done something wrong, committed a crime with the intention of acquiring monetary wealth. Perhaps he’s even killed someone in the process, He knows that his pursuers are catching up to him and that he likely won’t escape. As he awaits capture, he thinks about his lover and how, if he could be with her now, he would play her song on the guitar and keep time on the drums at the same time—if he had enough hands, that is. The reference to having four hands in the lyric is also a link back to Lakshmi who has four arms. In the end, the most he can do with his hands is raise them in a gesture of submission when his captors arrive to take him away. And as they do, he continues to think about his lover, and in that way, surrenders not only to his captors, but to his love for her at the same time.
lyrics
In a one horse town with no horses around, in a Motel 6 by the highway I sit and wait for the daylight to return. Step outside light a smoke, throw the burning match up to the paper sky, sit and watch the fiery lights burn the sky to black ashes.
On a bed laid out everything a man needs for one last night on earth: leather boots and cowboy shirt and wings of lotus flower feathers. Some nights I curse these idle hands, ‘cause that woman still needs a song to fill the space when I am gone, to fill the space when I am gone.
If I had two hands to add to my two hands, I’d play guitar for you with two and I’d keep time with the other two hands, two hands, two hands too slow on the draw, letting go with two hands.
A man makes choices and sometimes the bad ones are the ones he makes the most. Next I’m standing at my post. Next I pull the trigger. That shot still burns my fingers as I reach for the daylight in the east, I raise my hands and go in peace.
credits
from Telegrams,
track released March 29, 2019
Composers: Tariq Hussain
Performers:
Tariq--vocals, guitar
Sam Davidson--keys/synths, woodwinds
Skye Brooks--drums
John Walsh--bass
JP Carter—trumpet
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