The Cold War of the Modern Day Cowboy

     The dynamic 1980’s hit “Modern Day Cowboy” by Tesla was a captivating and inspirational melody considered by many to be one of the top ten songs of the decade. Their song is still a pleasure to the ear, concocted with many deep, powerful, and enriching poetic devices. At the start of the song the similes “Cold as ice” and “Hard as stone” compares the facial complexion and presence of the cowboy as he enters town. This first analogy builds on the mood first cast by the initial setting being dark and stormy as “the thunder rolled” across the jet black skies. The mood is furthered into anger and hate as the song progresses as the cowboy walks into the room, proceeded by “another man who was bitter the same way.” The onomatopoeia bang bang is used to emphasis the atmosphere, as the cowboy featured “shoot’s ‘em up” in the no man’s land of the cowboy of the modern day. A metaphor is made comparing the USA and the USSR as two cowboys and with “their six guns to their sides” personifies this analogy. There are also several allusions made to the Cold War. “So here we are and we’ve come this far, but it’s only getting worse” is the first allusion to the Cold War as this song was written at the height of the war in 1986. This describes how the war has yet to yield bloodshed despite spanning over the last forty years, and was only then reaching its climax. The Berlin Wall was the symbolic barrier that separated the communist East and the Western world and the allusion is made to the famous artwork painted, in seeing “the message written on the wall.” The six guns at the sides of the cowboys symbolizes and alludes to the military might, power and precision that the nations’ wield and how they were readied for war, just as a loaded guns is. The sensational tune from the 1980’s that captured the essence of the drama and intensity of the Cold War was flavour-fully written with intriguing poetic devices.   

Stormy night under jet black skies, Billy pulls into town
The thunder rolled and the lightning bolts come crashin' to the ground
Cold as ice, hard as stone, as he walks into the room
With another man who was feeling the same way, all hell's breakin' loose
Bang bang, shoot 'em up, bang bang, blow you away
[Chorus:]
It's a showdown in the no man's land, for the cowboy of the modern day
Come sundown, don't be hangin' round, 'cos the cowboy'll blow you away
Al Capone and the Bad Boy Jones, on the wrong side of the law
Johnny D and his company, always first to the draw,
Gangster lean, feelin' so mean, try to take more than their share
'Cos all they saw was ruling it all, the scent of blood was in the air
[Chorus]
[Solo]
So here we are and we've come this far, but it's only getting worse
Foreign lands with their terrorist demands, only cause the good to hurt
The U.S.A., the U.S.S.R., with their six-guns to their side
I see the message, written on the wall, too much anger deep inside
Bang bang, shoot 'em up, bang bang, blow you away
[Chorus]
It's a showdown!