When people try to interpret songs, I think they tend to focus entirely on the lyrics and ignore what meaning the music and the the composition give it. Musically, the song is upbeat and fun, and McCrea's standard half-sung, half-spoken style lends the desired effect of an announcer calling a race. True, there are songs that juxtapose snappy melodies with disturbing lyrics, but this isn't one of them. The song is about a guy who showed up to a stock car race riding a horse. The guy never had a prayer to win the prize, which in this case is a woman. He's "reluctantly crouching" like a jockey--a jockey who's sitting next to race cars that are gunning their engines. Why's he reluctant? Because he doesn't want to compete. It sounds like he was forced to compete, like maybe this was his girl and now she's interested in others because he's lousy in bed. Maybe he repeatedly left her "all alone in her time of need" sans orgasm. I could be all wrong, but I've read the comments that it's about rape, and I hear nothing in the music or lyrics that supports that. They guy riding the horse is obviously tenacious, but what's wrong with that, so long as you don't cross the line in to criminal behavior?
When people try to interpret songs, I think they tend to focus entirely on the lyrics and ignore what meaning the music and the the composition give it. Musically, the song is upbeat and fun, and McCrea's standard half-sung, half-spoken style lends the desired effect of an announcer calling a race. True, there are songs that juxtapose snappy melodies with disturbing lyrics, but this isn't one of them. The song is about a guy who showed up to a stock car race riding a horse. The guy never had a prayer to win the prize, which in this case is a woman. He's "reluctantly crouching" like a jockey--a jockey who's sitting next to race cars that are gunning their engines. Why's he reluctant? Because he doesn't want to compete. It sounds like he was forced to compete, like maybe this was his girl and now she's interested in others because he's lousy in bed. Maybe he repeatedly left her "all alone in her time of need" sans orgasm. I could be all wrong, but I've read the comments that it's about rape, and I hear nothing in the music or lyrics that supports that. They guy riding the horse is obviously tenacious, but what's wrong with that, so long as you don't cross the line in to criminal behavior?