Lightning Bolt are known for their guerrilla-style live performances, where they typically play on the ground rather than a stage, with the crowd gathered around them. The band's sound is typically loud and aggressive, though the group cites composers Philip Glass and Sun Ra as compositional influences.
The band formed while Chippendale and Gibson attended the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, and Chippendale had heard about "a new kid who was a whiz on the bass guitar." The two formed Lightning Bolt, with Brian Chippendale on drums, Brian Gibson on bass guitar, and with Hisham Bharoocha on guitar and vocals joining the group after their first show. Bharoocha left the group in 1996 to continue with another RISD band that would eventually become Black Dice, and Chippendale took over vocal duties. The only officially-released music with Bharoocha was a track on the Repopulation Program compilation. For the first few years, Lightning Bolt was primarily an improvisational band, touring the United States for months at a time and "just playing". The concept of writing songs and recording an album didn't occur to the band until 1997, when Ben McOsker, founder of Load Records, approached the duo.
During these formative years, Chippendale and his freshman-year college roommate Matt Brinkman began to set up Fort Thunder, a disused warehouse space in the Olneyville district of Providence. The space eventually came to house a number of local avant-garde artists and musicians, including Brian Ralph as well as Lightning Bolt.
Dead Cowboy ‾ 亡き牧童
Lightning Bolt Lyrics
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He's gonna bathe in a river of blood
He wants to party till the wheels fall off
Six feet under ground
What the world needs
Is another dead cowboy
Throw him in an oil pit, six feet deep, six feet wide
We're gonna cook him till his ears fall off
What the world needs
Is another dead cowboy
The lyrics of Lightning Bolt's song Dead Cowboy - 亡き牧童 are nothing short of controversial and satirical. The song seems to be a direct attack on the policies of George Bush and the US's wars in Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East. The opening lines suggest the singer's desire to take George Bush to Afghanistan and have him bathe in a river of blood, highlighting the immense bloodshed and loss of life that these wars have caused.
The lyrics seem to be speaking to the frustrations of those who feel like they have no power to stop the wars or influence the government's policies. The phrase "What the world needs is another dead cowboy" carries a lot of weight, suggesting that the world is tired of the traditional cowboy archetype - the macho, gun-toting, heroic figure who dominates and destroys everything in his path. The cowboy represents the alpha male mentality and a form of toxic masculinity that has caused much harm and destruction throughout history.
In the context of the song, the cowboy could also be seen as a representation of American imperialism and dominance, and the singer's call for another dead cowboy could be interpreted as a desire to see that imperialistic power dismantled.
Line by Line Meaning
Take George Bush to Afghanistan
Bring George Bush to Afghanistan
He's gonna bathe in a river of blood
He will be surrounded by violence and warfare
He wants to party till the wheels fall off
He wants to indulge in reckless behavior until it leads to destruction
Six feet under ground
Dead and buried
What the world needs
The world requires
Is another dead cowboy
Another person in power who is corrupt and dangerous needs to be eliminated
Throw him in an oil pit, six feet deep, six feet wide
Place him in a grave of his own making, surrounded by the source of his greed and corruption
We're gonna cook him till his ears fall off
We will punish him severely for his actions and make him suffer the consequences of his choices
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
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