Possibly one of the most intense songs on the album, I have attatched to it my own formulation of what i think Spencer Krug's getting at in with these, at times, "harsh" words about horses and angels. Firstly, I'd like to point out the contrast he's making between the european culture, exemplified in his visit to madrid where he could have been stripped down to a "horseman", a primal being devoid of western ideals. Westernites fled such a culture with "his cock in his hand." Although he seems to hold the european ideals of self expression to heart "if you ride over there they'll put bows in your hair". At the end of the piece, and by far one of the most exhillirating moments of the album, he screams, "if i was a horse I would throw up the reins," noting his inablity to be fixed in any particular cultural frame of thought, but rather buck off any stereotypes assosciated with a particular land. "you gotta ride me to a pasture" he closes, "on a ride to kiss all the wings."

I am thoroughly impressed, assessingaccess. That is an amazing, accurate, coherent, and correct interpritation. Thank you very much.

"You gotta ride me to a pasture
on a ride to kiss all the wings."

There's no way that's what he says, but I can't afford to go CD shopping and it's really frustrating. It sounds something like "such withered wings" or something along those lines, but I don't know. Someone pleaseplease post the real lyrics if they own the CD.

i just saw them and someone asked him what this song meant
he said it's about sluts in spain

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lol well thats that, from the man himself.

First, I'm pretty sure it's "crouch like a leopard" and "trample the shepard, love." Crouch makes much more sense, and I'm almost positive in listening to it.

But yeah, I'd say that's a pretty good interpretation, though I always felt like he was trying to convince a lover or a female friend not to move to Spain, because he's seen how the women there are treated (i.e. the prostitution and "sluts in Spain"). He compares women to horses (stay with me here...), which explains all the allusions to breaking and taming horses, like strapping them up with reigns and putting bows in their hair, expecting them to be docile and obedient. But Krug knows that this woman is wild and beautiful, and he loves her too much to allow this person to go to Spain and risk being tamed, so he tells her how if he were in her position, he'd resist those who try to restrain him by throwing up the reigns, crouching like a leopard (waiting to strike...) and then trampling shepards. Pretty awesome image. Easily my favorite song on the album.

Softdelicious are you refering to the firt unitartian in philly. That was me who asked him lol i thought it had to do with men in spain having big dicks before i asked him.

Here's an interview with Sunset Rubdown members (except Spencer Krug wasn't in it for whatever reason) in regard to this song.

CMG: I would like to do a sort of “round table” on this, have it going as a group e-mail interview that any one of you can jump in on/contribute to at any time, and we’ll go song-by-song, snake-by-snake. The first thing I’d like everyone to do is mention your favourite animal as appears in a Sunset Rubdown lyric, which song it’s in, and why you like or are intrigued by that particular animal.

Michael: My favorite would be the horse references from “The Men are Called Horsemen There.” They seem to describe male sexuality as something to be restrained and tamed by a lover, but also something men may struggle with and feel guilty about. Seems kinda clear in the lyric “If I were a horse, I’d throw up the reins if I were you,” as if to say, “you misunderstand me, see... we understand each other.” Like that saying, “We’re the same you and me, we’re the same don’t you see?” But he’s also talking about men in Spain, and whatever cultural differences exist, and the only things I know about Spanish men come from Don Quixote, Picasso, and Gaudy, and they were all mad visionaries like Spencer. So he could be saying something like, “I ain’t no horseman [meaning oversexed]; you’ve never seen horsemen. I’ve been to Spain! In Spain they’re horsemen! And they thought I was one too, but I’m not, they got me wrong, I’m just this dumb kid from Penticton [or wherever Spencer is from in BC] and I was drunk and nervous and seduced, and maybe thought I could be a horse, but I’m hardly a pony!”

We don’t really ask Spencer to explain his lyrics. Maybe this song is just about genitalia and racial stereotyping, as if having sex with a man (who happens to be Spanish) who has a huge horse cock would be way too painful and they should get off that ride... maybe find a pony instead, or just a dirty little dog.

Jordan: Wow, that was a really graphic analysis Mike.

CMG: Michael totally turned this x-rated; all I wanted to know was whether the song was about cowboys or gay cowboys. Michael - where do you get the Spain bit from? I must have missed that.

Michael: In the beginning of the song Spencer sings, “So you need me to say that I’m sorry / That someone undressed me as professed to me / In Spain with their eyes.”

One other thing I like about the song is how it switches characters. The verse that starts “the Casanova ran...”; this is the voice of the camera, to use a film analogy. It describes the characters and the scene, and the song is elevated from a personal confession to something more literary.

CMG: “I am no horseman / and you are no angel.” Who is the non-angel?

Michael: The character being apologized to. I take this expression as a way of giving a human face to the (sometimes) divine expectations of love. The point being that honesty is better than trying to be perfect in an imperfect world.

Just an aside... in Spanish - therefore in Spain - the word caballero is equvilent to our word for gentleman. Caballero also means horseman. That may have been part of the "it never occured to me/That the men are called horsemen there."

There's obviously a lot more to it, but this certainly is a good starting point for this conceit Spencer has drawn out.

Ok, the guy who posted before me is on to something, what I think is the key to this song. “Caballero” means gentleman but also horseman, and I think those are two extremes; on the one hand, there’s the polite, well-intentioned, restrained, does the right thing gentleman; on the other hand, there’s the primal, elemental, impulsive horseman. What follows is entirely conjecture, obviously, but to me this song is about a man (Spencer Krug?) who is involved with a woman who in some way—maybe even through taunting— makes him feel insecure about his masculinity or his level of sexual aggression or whatever, and then this guy goes to Spain (I think Spencer might have gone there with Daniel Bejar or something), perhaps as an expression of the boldness he’s made to feel he lacks, or perhaps even at the suggestion of this person. And while he’s there, he is seduced or gives in to the “horseman” thing—only, he’s saying here, he’s not a gentleman, fine, he was with these Spanish floozies, but he’s also not a horseman, he doesn’t really have it in him to just “throw up the reins” and go all out, give in completely. “The Casanova ran/toward the eastern lands/his cock was in his hand” seems to refer pretty clearly to sexual humiliation, which is what I think this song is about, but also about sexual revenge—this girl probably throws the episode in the guy’s face, but she’s no angel, and this Spanish situation was a crazy one: when someone says “fuck me,” someone else says “ok.” I think a lot of the songs on the new cd circle around this point, too, lots of references to virgins, stallions, and stand-ins, for example, and actors, pretenders and bravado. And of course, there’s no need to page Dr. Freud to interpret all the snake imagery on this cd.

I'll try to add on to what's been said as much as I can. Caballero means horsemen the same way knight, chevalier, cavalier etc. mean horsemen and there are many different connotations that go with the words.

Horsemen should be gentle and chivalrous but if one is 'cavalier' he is cock, arrogant, holier-than-thou etc. Just the same you have 'the men are called horsemen there' and the narrator's own confusion and identity crisis. He's not a horseman but does that mean he is cowardly or ungentlemanly or prudish? He says he's not a horsemen but constantly refers to himself as a horse (on horseshoes, if I was a horse) and as a sexual object.

I think this song questions not just sexual identity but identity in general. He's put on show and is fucked and his lover is fucking him which keeps him from withering evil ("trouble" whatever it is) but at the same time she's not an angel. At the same time his is apologizing for all his actions, things he was not sure about and feels guilty about. Everything to its own reluctance and contemplation

correction: cocky, not cock... I know this about sex but well it just doesn't fit.

This song has epic tension.

This song isn't really about sex, maybe just subtly. I think the main message is "I am no horseman and you are no angel", because it says that men and women have changed and so have relationships since the time of brave cavaliers (means bachelors and horsemen interchangeably in many languages) and innocent chaste princesses (angels). He is saying that today's relationships are not black and white, there is no brave man rescuing the innocent women in peril, most of the time.There are no storybook romances anymore of the Spanish, medievel, fairy-tale sort.Kind of depressing but true.I think this is the best song on the album.I think these guys are so original because they are so very nostalgic for the ancient past, far beyond their experience.I know I am.

"your hands on my back
your hands on my muscles
your weight on my back
it keeps me from trouble"


HAWTTTTT.

epic song.