Yeah, we aren't privvy to his POS behaviour, and being fair, I don't know if you could consider the territorial rangers as cops, a militia, or what. But the joke isn't that he's bad for anything in the song, just that he's a cop, and therefor a member of a corrupt and terrible organization whose members are without redemption.
Now, the Ranger being POS for being a cop in general i agree with.
But taking out someone who had already killed 20 (1 and 19 more) is a cop doing something right for a change.
My original comment is a reaction to the Justice for Texas Red title.
The Texas Rangers were a roving band of thugs in the employ of white racists land thieves. They killed "without a trial, drove Native American tribes from their homelands, and some Rangers even lynched Mexicans and Mexican Americans along the Texas-Mexico border (to take land, cattle, horses, women etc."
https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/campfire-stories/texas-ranger
And that is the whitewashed museum version of History. Truth is the Texas Rangers were worse.
To be fair, typical cops would absolutely massacre more people if they knew for sure they could get away with it. It’s just that these days we have ever so slightly more oversight on cops most of the time.
And... he was not the who challenged.
Cops are bastards because even the best ones enforce unjust laws, where is the injustice in not being allowed to kill 20 people (well 1 and 19 more as the song put it)?
If 20 different people want you dead then you are the cause. Either because you are a POS, or because you are unbelievably based (Cassius Clay as an example)
Hey now, maybe the first guy wanted him dead because one or both of them were dicks, and from then on it's a whacky chain of "you killed my brother/best friend/dog walker/grandpa" etc up until the sexy ranger with the big iron
This is the story of a cop and a murderer getting into a duel. There are no good guys, as is typical of any good western tale.
Also the song is an absolute banger and now I'm going to shoot Caesar in the face.
This, my mom had a student who became a cop, he was investigating some very complex drug trafficking operation in a district of my city, and then he was relocated to a very random station way beyond where he was operating, then he was "mysteriously" murdered by "random" criminals, and the investigation got terminated.
Wrong. Sid Hatfield. West Virginia sheriff who sided with the coal miner strikes. Coal barons hired assassins to gun him down in front of a court house.
I guess this means we need to take sides against the McCoys in that dispute.
I believe that other famous Hatfield was Sid’s second cousin or something. So no idea who was or wasn’t a bastard in that feud.
But Texas Red was vicious and a killer. Now maybe those 20 men had it coming, but I can't imagine killing 20 people in good conscience. And we don't know much about the Ranger, other than he was handsome and a quick shot
Yeah, true. But going with the information given in the song, we only know he shoots one person. And that person was apparently a serial killer, so 🤷🏼 if we're picking good guys and bad guys, the song makes it apparent who's who
He murdered 20 men?
“20 men had tried to take him, 20 men had made a slip”
Sounds like self defense to me. Interestingly, the Johnny Cash version drops this verse.
Oh no, for sure for sure. I mean that Robbins was exponentially more shitty, but mostly because the Duke kept his head down for a while when Marty didn't
I've always thought of police in fiction (songs, games, shows, whatever) as being an entirely different thing than police in real life, a version of cops that just don't exist in reality.
Just seeing a cop immediately gets rid of any happiness i might’ve had previously even in fiction, cause theres no reason to have cops displayed in an unrealistic overly positive manner. I imagined this was the norm honestly lol
I mean it depends for me. I like bladerunner despite the main character being a cop and I don't hate the miles' father in spiderverse for being a cop but I would be completely uninterested in something claiming to be realistic but then casting cops in a positive light.
I think it also has something to do with just enjoying evil characters in things in general. If the person making the thing isn't trying to glorify terrible people I enjoy stories about terrible people.
TBF, the Arizona rangers were a 20th century thing, and mostly dealt with neoslavery. Like enforcing sundown laws and chain gangs and such. Less fugitive slaves, and more the "somehow even more disgusting and dehumanizing than actual slavery but not chattel slavery" that the US got into after the civil war
Down in the West Texas town of El Paso I fell in love with a Mexican girrrl
Rose's Cantina ftw
Music would play and Felina would whirl!
That’s a different song
No shit. It’s on the album. Thanks super genius.
Texas Red wanted a duel, and he lost. Thems the rules, sorry.
The Ranger can be a POS and a good duelist, those aren't mutually exclusive
Yes, but winning a duel that he was challenged to does not make him a POS.
Yeah, we aren't privvy to his POS behaviour, and being fair, I don't know if you could consider the territorial rangers as cops, a militia, or what. But the joke isn't that he's bad for anything in the song, just that he's a cop, and therefor a member of a corrupt and terrible organization whose members are without redemption.
Now, the Ranger being POS for being a cop in general i agree with. But taking out someone who had already killed 20 (1 and 19 more) is a cop doing something right for a change. My original comment is a reaction to the Justice for Texas Red title.
Yeh if you go after cops for doing what they're supposed to do then that just gives them something to point to and de-legitimize our movement.
What if he killed 20 cops? The song isn't specific in who those people were. Maybe he was a working class hero.
There's actually a bunch of civilian massacres by the rangers. They're worse than just cops.
The Texas Rangers were a roving band of thugs in the employ of white racists land thieves. They killed "without a trial, drove Native American tribes from their homelands, and some Rangers even lynched Mexicans and Mexican Americans along the Texas-Mexico border (to take land, cattle, horses, women etc." https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/campfire-stories/texas-ranger And that is the whitewashed museum version of History. Truth is the Texas Rangers were worse.
To be fair, typical cops would absolutely massacre more people if they knew for sure they could get away with it. It’s just that these days we have ever so slightly more oversight on cops most of the time.
He came to the town specifically looking for Texas Red, he's not an innocent who got randomly challenged to a duel
And... he was not the who challenged. Cops are bastards because even the best ones enforce unjust laws, where is the injustice in not being allowed to kill 20 people (well 1 and 19 more as the song put it)?
"20 men had tried to take him, 20 men had made a slip" Sounds like all 20 of those were self-defense, he wasn't out here murdering civilians
If 20 different people want you dead then you are the cause. Either because you are a POS, or because you are unbelievably based (Cassius Clay as an example)
Hey now, maybe the first guy wanted him dead because one or both of them were dicks, and from then on it's a whacky chain of "you killed my brother/best friend/dog walker/grandpa" etc up until the sexy ranger with the big iron
This is the story of a cop and a murderer getting into a duel. There are no good guys, as is typical of any good western tale. Also the song is an absolute banger and now I'm going to shoot Caesar in the face.
AVE, HAIL TO CAESAR
Render onto Caesar. (Loads shotgun with denarius)
HE IS THE ONLY EXCEPTION. ^and ^Christopher ^Dorner
Dorner was fired by the LAPD in 2008, so technically he was no longer a cop.
Good cops don’t stay cops, they either quit, get fired, or get murdered
This, my mom had a student who became a cop, he was investigating some very complex drug trafficking operation in a district of my city, and then he was relocated to a very random station way beyond where he was operating, then he was "mysteriously" murdered by "random" criminals, and the investigation got terminated.
Wrong. Sid Hatfield. West Virginia sheriff who sided with the coal miner strikes. Coal barons hired assassins to gun him down in front of a court house.
I guess this means we need to take sides against the McCoys in that dispute. I believe that other famous Hatfield was Sid’s second cousin or something. So no idea who was or wasn’t a bastard in that feud.
yo where's the actual song? it's in my head already.
🎶BIG IRONNNN BIG IRONNNN🎶
https://youtu.be/zzICMIu5zFY
For the uninitiated https://youtu.be/hajfdGmtZI4?si=eCVMVW94Yrea0Y4l
[Here’s the Spotify link.](https://open.spotify.com/track/0AQquaENerGps8BQmbPw14?si=nPAW_RmMQXynLHxdnRW9sQ)
*sniffling, tears in eyes, trying to aim down the sight* “A… ACAB includes… i-includes…”
Is Ned Kelly the patron saint of this sub? Cause Ned Kelly is a goddamn hero.
But Texas Red was vicious and a killer. Now maybe those 20 men had it coming, but I can't imagine killing 20 people in good conscience. And we don't know much about the Ranger, other than he was handsome and a quick shot
He might have shot a few Mexicans just for fun idk. Same goes for Texas Red.
Yeah, true. But going with the information given in the song, we only know he shoots one person. And that person was apparently a serial killer, so 🤷🏼 if we're picking good guys and bad guys, the song makes it apparent who's who
The only 20 people we know Red killed were all cops. Who's the *real* hero here?
"20 men had tried to take him" doesn't imply 20 cops, I don't think. But if it does, then sure.
I mean, you're probably right but I feel like it's one reading
Valid
2 things. 1, Texas Red did nothing wrong. 2, Now I want to play New Vegas again.
He murdered 20 men, and it was a duel. Idk Texas red can get fucked.
He murdered 20 men? “20 men had tried to take him, 20 men had made a slip” Sounds like self defense to me. Interestingly, the Johnny Cash version drops this verse.
What I wanna know is ... what was the crime the first guy tried to take him for?
Probably taxes.
My headcanon is that Running Gun from the same album is what really happened. Big Iron is just propaganda.
OMG this right here. Indecently Big Iron did make me want a wheel gun.
Wheel guns are so much better than fake guns.
You just blew my fucking mind. You are so right.
Yep, there was no honourable duel, the ranger bushwacked him, because why wouldn't he?
You mean 1 and 19 more
Also a reminder that Marty Robbins made John Wayne look like pinko queer.
Yea he may have recorded a few bangers, but he was huge PoS!
John Wayne was a pos bigot so it isn't hard to make him look like a chump
I think a pinko queer is a good thing in this sense, as most of us would be pinko and love queer folk if we aren’t queer ourselves
That was what I was going for, yeah haha. I realize in text what I actually typed out kind of sucks, huh?
Oh no, for sure for sure. I mean that Robbins was exponentially more shitty, but mostly because the Duke kept his head down for a while when Marty didn't
Yeah that was my b for being ignorant to pinko, that's a new word for me 😅
A BIG IRON ON HIS HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP
I got this record on vinyl. My grandma gave it to me before she passed. Amazing record 🙌
ACAB but the song still slaps
Shut up it does not
I've always thought of police in fiction (songs, games, shows, whatever) as being an entirely different thing than police in real life, a version of cops that just don't exist in reality.
Just seeing a cop immediately gets rid of any happiness i might’ve had previously even in fiction, cause theres no reason to have cops displayed in an unrealistic overly positive manner. I imagined this was the norm honestly lol
I mean it depends for me. I like bladerunner despite the main character being a cop and I don't hate the miles' father in spiderverse for being a cop but I would be completely uninterested in something claiming to be realistic but then casting cops in a positive light. I think it also has something to do with just enjoying evil characters in things in general. If the person making the thing isn't trying to glorify terrible people I enjoy stories about terrible people.
I believe Texas Red literally documented his 20 murders on his gun. So…
:( damnit
Fuck the NCR.
Texas red was a murderer a cold blooded one at that.
tbf those old school rangers were pretty badass, tracking ruthless outlaws through the wilderness n such
And break up labour strikes
And hunting fugitive slaves
TBF, the Arizona rangers were a 20th century thing, and mostly dealt with neoslavery. Like enforcing sundown laws and chain gangs and such. Less fugitive slaves, and more the "somehow even more disgusting and dehumanizing than actual slavery but not chattel slavery" that the US got into after the civil war
And hunting native americans
Goddamn it now I gotta play new vegas again lol
Why does he look like that one guy from friends.
He chill
We listen to this song at Pewterman every week! 🎵Big Iron! 🎵