Sly & the Family Stone were an important and influential band from Vallejo,… Read Full Bio ↴Sly & the Family Stone were an important and influential band from Vallejo, California, United States. Active from 1966 until 1975, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia. Headed by singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, and containing several of his family members and friends, the band was the first major American rock band to have an integrated lineup in both race and gender.

Brothers Sly Stone and singer/guitarist Freddie Stone combined their bands (Sly & the Stoners and Freddie & the Stone Souls) at the end of 1966. Sly and Freddie Stone, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, drummer Gregg Errico, saxophonist Jerry Martini, and bassist Larry Graham completed the original lineup; Sly and Freddie's sister, singer/keyboardist Rose Stone, joined within a year. This collective recorded five Top 10 hits and four groundbreaking albums, which greatly influenced the sound of American pop music, soul, R&B, funk, and hip hop music. In the preface of his 1998 book For the Record: Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History, Joel Selvin sums up the importance of Sly & the Family Stone's influence on African American music by stating "there are two types of black music: black music before Sly Stone, and black music after Sly Stone". The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
During the early 1970s, the band switched to a grittier funk sound, which was as influential on the music industry as their earlier work. The band began to fall apart during this period because of drug abuse and ego clashes; consequently, the fortunes and reliability of the band deteriorated, leading to its dissolution in 1975. Sly Stone continued to record albums and tour with a new rotating lineup under the "Sly & the Family Stone" name from 1975 to 1983. In 1987, Sly Stone was arrested and sentenced for cocaine use, after which he went into effective retirement.

Cynthia Robinson - January 12, 1944 – November 23, 2015

Spaced Cowboy
Sly & The Family Stone Lyrics

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I can say it more than once
'Cause I'm thinking twice as fast, yodel-ayde-a
Everything I like is nice
That's why I try to have it twice, yodel-ayde-a

Well, once I saw a bore
Who was a social whore, yodel-ayde-a
And they said I had a limp

And then they tried to pass around a pimp, yodel-ayde-a

Was on my last leg
I couldn't even borrow my friend's extra peg at all, yodel-ayde-a

Once I turned red
And it looked funny in the head, yodel-ayde-a

Overall Meaning

The song "Spaced Cowboy" by Sly & The Family Stone is a psychedelic masterpiece that describes the fast-paced, drug-fueled lifestyle of the late 1960s. The lyrics are cryptic and surreal, full of wordplay and obscure references. The line "I can say it more than once, 'cause I'm thinking twice as fast" suggests that the singer's mind is racing with ideas and he's having trouble expressing himself clearly. He seeks pleasure in everything he likes and tries to have it twice. In the line "Once I saw a bore who was a social whore," the singer is likely referencing someone who is boring but pretends to be social to fit in with the culture of the time. The line "And they said I had a limp, and then they tried to pass around a pimp" suggests that the singer may have been mocked for being physically or socially awkward.

The following line "Was on my last leg, I couldn't even borrow my friend's extra peg at all" could be a reference to someone who is broke, has no one to turn to, and is unable to find support. Then it's followed by the line "Once I turned red, and it looked funny in the head," which could be a reference to the effects of LSD, a popular drug at the time, which could cause intense hallucinations that may have caused the singer's head and face to appear red. The song's lyrics are full of wordplay and cryptic references that make it difficult to pin down a specific meaning, but they evoke a sense of the free-spirited and hedonistic nature of the '60s.

Line by Line Meaning

I can say it more than once
I am confident in what I am saying

'Cause I'm thinking twice as fast, yodel-ayde-a
My mind is sharp and I am quick

Everything I like is nice
I have good taste and enjoy good things

That's why I try to have it twice, yodel-ayde-a
I want to have the things I enjoy as much as possible

Well, once I saw a bore
I observed a dull and uninteresting person

Who was a social whore, yodel-ayde-a
They were overly friendly and insincere

And they said I had a limp
They criticized and made fun of me

And then they tried to pass around a pimp, yodel-ayde-a
They attempted to manipulate and control me

Was on my last leg
I was struggling and close to giving up

I couldn't even borrow my friend's extra peg at all, yodel-ayde-a
I didn't have what I needed to keep going

Once I turned red
I was embarrassed and ashamed