Country music has been ripe for saddling up with all sorts of double-entendres and multi-layered meanings in its lyrics and presentation, and this old-school classic by Merle Haggard gets a wild re-reading with today’s terminology and meanings. This cowboy era is heavy on gay-coded moments and not-so-subtle irony, getting cheeky revamps and slutty new spins (as evidenced in a bare-assed post like this).
There ain’t no ridin’ bareback anymore
Ain’t no taking chances like before
You don’t agree with me you’re out the door
Honey, there ain’t no ridin’ bareback anymore
While the music and the tune is decidedly tongue-in-cheek, it also speaks to a deeper meaning of something more complex for the cowboy who finds himself growing older and, ideally, wiser. I read this as the lessons of life taking their toll on someone who once thrashed about wildly, throwing caution to the wind and riding without protection or deliberation – in other words, the cowboy who’s experienced his youth to its fullest, as the luckiest among us often do. If you can’t act young when you’re young, then you’ve missed out. Cowboys don’t usually miss out on their youth – but that kind of living does exact a price. You see it in the eyes of an older cowboy, you see it in the lines of his face or the measure of his gait. You see it in a smile that doesn’t come quite as readily as it once did – and when it does you detect the slightest pull of sadness.
Here our cowboy claims he’s still up to ridin’ every night, but it’s not going to be the same carefree bareback way it was before – those days are done, and if you’re looking for someone to take those kind of chances, he’s going to show you the door. I can appreciate everything about that – the notion that such brash living has gone by, as well as the idea of being so sure and certain of your own self that the wishes and whims of another aren’t going to change your mind or switch your stance. All are indicative of the cowboy life.
I’m still up to ridin’ every night
All you got to do is hold me tight
And I ain’t seen a saddle in so long
But I ain’t no ridin’ bareback anymore
There ain’t no ridin’ bareback anymore
Ain’t no taking chances like before
And if you don’t agree with me it’s out the door
Honey, there ain’t no ridin’ bareback anymore
