Presidential debates usually take place in the fall, but not this year.
On Thursday, the two major candidates for the White House will square off in a live televised debate in Atlanta.
And although Joe Biden and Donald Trump are not the images that come to mind when one thinks of gun-slinging cowboys confronting each other in the Wild West, a song about outlaws is our choice for Sharp Notes Monday.
“Pancho and Lefty,” written by Townes Van Zandt and popularized by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, touches on some topics that are right at home today:
- Federal indictments: All the Federales say they could have had him any day.
- Immigration: Pancho met his match you know on the deserts down in Mexico.
- The challenges of aging: Lefty, he can’t sing the blues all night long like he used to.
Van Zandt’s descriptions of cowboys hardened by years of life on the road also seems appropriate for two men in the rough-and-tumble world of politics:
Living on the road my friend
Was gonna keep you free and clean
And now you wear your skin like iron
And your breath as hard as kerosene.
Come Thursday, we’ll learn which cowboy has the upper hand in 2024.
As part of our “Sharp Notes, Sharp Thoughts” music and social media project, we share a song every Monday to start your week.
View previous Sharp Notes Monday selections.
Categories: Jandoli Institute, Music and Social Justice, Sharp Notes Monday, Sharp Notes Sharp Thoughts
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