Christine Fellows (born 1968) is a Canadian folk-pop singer-songwriter from… Read Full Bio ↴Christine Fellows (born 1968) is a Canadian folk-pop singer-songwriter from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Born in Windsor, Ontario and raised in France and Kelowna, British Columbia, Fellows lived in Toronto, Vancouver, Guelph and Montreal before settling in Winnipeg in 1992.

In 1993, she formed her first group, Helen, with Barry Mirochnick, Paul James, and Chang. Helen broke up in 1995, and in 1996 Fellows teamed up with singer-songwriter Keri McTighe, Barry Mirochnick, Keith McLeod and Peggy Messing, to form Special Fancy. The group released one album, King Me.

In 2000 Fellows released her debut solo album, 2 Little Birds. This was followed by The Last One Standing in 2002, Paper Anniversary in 2005, and Nevertheless in 2007. These albums feature Leanne Zacharias (cello), Jason Tait (drums, vibraphone), Barry Mirochnick (drums, vocals), John K. Samson (vocals, guitar), Keith McLeod (mandolin), Monica Guenter (viola), Greg Smith (bass), Ed Reifel (percussion), and Cristina Zacharias (violin).

Fellows has performed with the Rheostatics, Veda Hille, The Mountain Goats, Kim Barlow, Old Man Luedecke, and The Weakerthans. She is married to The Weakerthans' lead singer, John K. Samson.

In 2006, Fellows and Samson recorded The Old House, an album intended only as a Christmas gift for friends and family, although they released two songs, "Taps Reversed" and "Good Salvage", for airplay on CBC Radio 3 in early 2007. Fellows and Samson also performed live on the network on March 17, 2007, to mark the final night of the network's terrestrial simulcast on CBC Radio 2.

Fellows also composes music for dance, film and television. She scored part of Clive Holden's Trains of Winnipeg film series, as well as collaborating with Tait and Samson on the associated album. In 2007, she wrote several songs for a dance piece by choreographer Susie Burpee; they were later included on her fourth solo album, Nevertheless, which was released on November 6, 2007.
Fellows has also toured as a member of The Pan-Canadian New Folk Ensemble with Kim Barlow and Old Man Luedecke.

Recently, she was artist-in-residence at Le Musee de Saint-Boniface Museum in Winnipeg (2009), and she has been writing songs for a new solo album, scheduled for release on Six Shooter Records in fall of 2010.

Cowboy
Christine Fellows Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Wears his chin down very low
Lower than I'll ever know
He's outside throwing his heart up in the snow
Been a long time coming and I guess it had to go

You see, he's just a cowboy
A spider in a jar
He should've been outside singing his song to the stars

Yippee-oh

Do you think we could drive all night 'til the sun comes around?
Stick our fingers in our ears and fall to the ground
If nobody's been listening, well I don't understand

What's a cowboy to do when he's got to be singing?
Yippee-oh

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Christine Fellows's "Cowboy" are open to interpretation, but one possible meaning is that the song is about a person, the Cowboy, who is struggling to express themselves and feeling trapped, confined. This is indicated by the first line, "wears his chin down very low", which suggests a sense of shame or guilt or possibly even physical pain. The next line, "lower than I'll ever know", distances the singer from the Cowboy, suggesting that their problems are not shared by the singer, and perhaps not fully understood.

The next lines, "he's outside throwing his heart up in the snow/been a long time coming and I guess it had to go", reinforce the idea of the Cowboy being trapped or stifled, but also indicate a sense of release, a letting go finally, even though it may be very difficult. This idea is contrasted with the line "he should've been outside singing his song to the stars", which suggests that the Cowboy's true voice has been suppressed, or perhaps simply ignored.

The final lines, "what's a cowboy to do when he's got to be singing/yippee-o", reinforce the idea of the Cowboy being constrained or marginalized, but also suggest a sense of joy or freedom that comes from singing or expressing oneself. The last line, "yippee-o", could be seen as a closing cheer, or a lament for the Cowboy's lost opportunities.

Line by Line Meaning

Wears his chin down very low
His demeanor is lonesome and low

Lower than I'll ever know
His sadness runs deeper than I can comprehend

He's outside throwing his heart up in the snow
He's expressing his emotions freely, even if it hurts him

Been a long time coming and I guess it had to go
It's been building up for a while and it was inevitable to come out

You see, he's just a cowboy
He's a simple man, living a simple life

A spider in a jar
He feels trapped, unable to fully express himself

He should've been outside singing his song to the stars
He should have been free to express himself and follow his dreams

Yippee-oh
An expression of joy or excitement

Do you think we could drive all night 'til the sun comes around?
Maybe we can escape our problems by driving away all night

Stick our fingers in our ears and fall to the ground
We can block out the world and its problems, and just give in to our emotions

If nobody's been listening, well I don't understand
If no one has heard his cries for help, he can't seem to comprehend it