Texas is like that, a state of mind.
Cormac McCarthy is its bard.
One day he walks into a bar in Sligo and someone asks him, "Hey old man! What the hell do you do for a living?"
"I write books", he replies.
"What kind of books?"
"Cowboy books, hombre books".
Texas is like that, cowboy stories, hombre stories.
Lubbock is close to Amarillo which is close to Tucumcari which is close to Roswell which is close to Lubbock. Texas is like that, circular.
On September 5, 1947, in Lubbock, Texas, Norman Carl Odam was born.
The same year and in the same place, Joe Ely was also born, who one day confided to me that he saw a UFO while traveling on the interstate to Austin. While confessing, he was holding a banana in his right hand and Garcìa Lorca's Romancero Gitano in his left. Joe is like that. I adore him.
To be honest, nearby, a few years earlier, Charles Hardin Holley was also born. Buddy Holly to his friends. Then one day he took the wrong plane and left this world.
Texas is like that, it takes you off track.
I was saying. On September 5, 1947, in Lubbock, Texas, Norman Carl Odam was born, but no one seems to notice. Who could have imagined that this child with the distinctly dull look would soon become the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Little Norman grew up on Flint Avenue, in the southern part of the city, near the cotton fields. He went to church every Sunday, but when he reached school age he still couldn't speak properly (not that there's a connection between the two, at least I don't think so). He was sent to a recovery nursery school for the delayed. There he learned the Texan language. Every night he raised his nose to the starry sky. He watched it. He fell in love with it. He dreamed of going into space. Not to the Moon, but to Mars, the red planet. The very idea of visiting it led him to the conviction that one day he too would become famous. But to be popular, you need to be handsome and intelligent. Discarding this possibility, he began to play the guitar. He took the standard Cottonfields (there are the cotton fields near his home) and transformed it into Peach Orchard, the peach garden. Now he needed a name. We are in Texas, there are the cowboys. Then stardust for his astral passion and finally legendary, because he would surely become a legend. Legendary Stardust Cowboy.
"Later on, I was sitting in my backyard thinking about cowboys and stardust in outer space. I put them together and came up with Stardust Cowboy. After that I added legendary which means that I am a legend in my own time".
At the tender age of 14, to stand out from other singers, due to his Indian origins, he specialized in war cries and Shawnee calls and correctly executed the sounds of a few dozen jungle animals. He began to perform hoping to attract throngs of raging high school girls, but soon realized he appealed to a predominantly male audience. He did not lose heart. He studied the instrument with passion. He listened to Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash, and Buck Owens, but his favorite is Elvis. Elvis is the king. And he knows how to handle women. Norman loves blonde, long-haired girls with blue eyes and would like to kiss them all. The most beautiful thing in the universe, apart from the night sky.
"My favorite type of girl is a blue-eyed blond. I like blondes because I have blond hair. A blue-eyed blond is the most beautiful thing in the whole universe besides the stars in the night sky. If I had the opportunity, I would kiss every blue-eyed blond in the world".
The Cowboy plays. He plays everywhere. Tennis courts, parking lots, shacks for distilling moonshine whiskey. Boys throw him coins and candy, the girls eventually soften. Until one fine day, while performing "Last Kiss", a girl climbs on stage and gently strokes his hair. Here we are. Odam had become the most popular guy in the town. At this point, the big leap. After three months of long reflection, he decides to write a new, wild and delirious song. He titled it "Paralyzed", presented it to the radio, and it entered a local top ten. But the journey was still long. He found a job in a factory as a mechanical drill operator and dreamed of moving to Hollywood, the place where legend becomes flesh. There's always the usual worry though. Everyone has a girl, but not him. Not even a shred of a date. Only once did he get close. After walking miles in the rain, he arrived at the rendezvous. Unfortunately, Odam waits on the wrong side of the street. He misses out. And so off he went to Hollywood to play in all the clubs that wouldn't kick him out, he even wrote to Tiny Tim, after seeing him on the Johnny Carson Show. No response. When all seemed lost, here's the offer: a couple of gigs in New York. He leaves and crosses the States with $1.60 in his pocket. In three days, he lands at Mercury and releases "Paralyzed". He had promised God that if he ever allowed him to record a 45, he would make a gospel record... Well, dear Legendary Stardust Cowboy, you made it.
"A lot of times I prayed to God to help me record a record so that some day I can record Gospel records... God is my partner and he is on my side. It looks like that I will be able to record Gospel records, be on Johnny Carson, have my first date, and later on be in the Western movies".
This is the legend of the Stardust Cowboy as, more or less, you find it on the back of his second single "I Took a Trip". Since then, the myth of the Cowboy shows no sign of fading. Alex Chilton and the Cramps adore him. "Paralyzed" has become a classic. And that's even though he's as off-key as a cow tied with barbed wire and entirely lacking a sense of rhythm. But the highlight of his performances is always the jungle animal sounds and the lyrics which to call surreal is an understatement. We remember "Someone Stole the Yolk from My Egg" and "Mr. Songwriter" which goes like this... Mr. Songwriter write a song for me (repeat ad libitum). I refer you to the wonderful New Rose collection titled "Retro Rocket Back to Earth/The Legendary Stardust Cowboy Rides Again". If you want to contact the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, he is now a married man and his lyrics cost $1.
The Cowboy is like that, like Texas.
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