I would like to ask an "indelicate" question related to a brief comment by Joe Scarborough.

[CTyankee]

Last week, right before break of one segment, Joe made a reference to the term "brown dirt cowboy." I had no idea what he was talking about and jotted it down to google.

I know now what the phrase means. But why would Joe throw that term into a political discussion that, as far as I can see, has no relevance to anything going on politically? If so, can I be let in on what it is?

I don't mean this to be a hate thread against Joe Scarborough. I just don't understand why he would use the term and would like to know if anyone has hints as to its relevance.

Thanks, folks.

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. But it's a GREAT album

[Clash City Rocker]

2. I've never heard the phrase except in the title to an Elton John album

[CTyankee]

4. If you google the album you find out its meaning.

I know Joe thinks of himself as very savvy on rock music (and himself as a rock musician) so I guess there is a mystique around Elton John's sexuality. But I failed to find any link to what he and his guests were discussion on that segment of the show.

[Clash City Rocker]

13. I know that Bernie Taupin, his lyricist, was the brown dirt cowboy

I guess Taupin came from a rural background, hence the name.

[CTyankee]

15. That would make sense. But the other meaning -- just the sexual part by itself -- doesn't make

sense. If Taupin came from humble, rural beginnings and is Elton's sex partner, then the reference makes some sense. But I don't know if the term existed before Elton used it.

[Clash City Rocker]

22. Hmm, I looked it up. I doubt it was a sexual reference

Check this out.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Brown%20Dirt%20Cowboy

There is a tendency when someone doesn’t understand rock lyrics to assume the reference is sexual or drug-related. Nixon formed a commission to investigate the lyrics to “Louie Louie” because he couldn’t understand it, and assumed there was something dirty about the words to the song. John Lennon fought against the assumption that “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was about LSD for years. I doubt the title was in any way sexual.

[Mike 03]

3. That's the title song from an Elton John album

"Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy"

If I recall correctly, he was talking about COVID-19 and using this lyric from the song to illustrate a point:

"From the end of the world to your town" (from the chorus of the song)

He was illustrating that people might think the virus would never touch them, but that it was now moving to every vicinity.

The lyrics of the song are autobiographical for both John and Bernie Taupin.

Bernie Taupin is Elton John's longtime lyricist.

Captain Fantastic is Elton John
Bernie Taupin is the Brown Dirt Cowboy.

Joe was just using that quote and saying where it came from.

[CTyankee]

6. Did John and Taupin contract AIDS?

[Mike 03]

7. Huh?

Weren't they talking about COVID-19?

[CTyankee]

10. Sorry, I thought this might be historical since the album was pre-Covid, right?

[Mike 03]

12. Yes. Mid seventies.

If I'm wrong about the context, I'll stand corrected.

I think the point of Bernie Taupin being the "brown dirt cowboy" is that he came from a less well-off family than Elton John and was engaged in physical labor. He's also often been in the background, as lyricists often are, compared to Elton John who is a superstar.

Most Elton John fans know Taupin is his lyricist, but in the Seventies maybe it wasn't common knowledge how important Taupin was.

Captain Fantastic, raised and regimented, hardly a hero
Just someone his mother might know
Very clearly a case for Corn Flakes and classics
"Two teas both with sugar please"
In the back of an alley

While little dirt cowboys turned brown in their saddles
Sweet chocolate biscuits and red rosy apples in summer
For it's hay make and "Hey mom, do the papers say anything good
Are there chances in life for little dirt cowboys
Should I make my way out of my home in the woods"

Brown Dirt Cowboy, still green and growing
City slick Captain
Fantastic the feedback
The honey, the hive could be holding
For there's weak winged young sparrows that starve in the winter
Broken young children on the wheels of the winners
And the sixty-eight summer festival wallflowers are…

It seems to be about the unlikeliness of these two artists coming together. It portrays Taupin as being shy, not having obvious prospects, and from a situation of deprivations, compared to Elton who is street smart and has grand artistic ambitions.

[CTyankee]

17. Thank you for that wonderful explanation!

It's well developed and quite richly poetic. I guess I should familiarize myself with the song.

[hlthe2b]

20. I truly believe those suggesting Taupin was referring to anything sexual are not only off base, but

probably too young to have followed Elton John and Bernie Taupin when that album came out.

I too am totally convinced it had no meaning other than Taupin's reference to his having grown up dirt poor.

[CTyankee]

21. I understand that now. But I thik the other explanation is what has "stuck" with other fans of

rock music of that era (and the one I know and is my source for this stuff thinks this is so).

[Hoyt]

5. Don't have answer, but Scarborough likes to throw out musical references, mostly 60/70s rock stuff.

[CTyankee]

8. Ah, thanks!

[pwb]

9. A working cowboy with dirt on them?

Not a person in a cowboy cut suit, fancy polished boots, and a hat without sweat?

[CTyankee]

11. That makes sense. Or double sense, if you want to see it as "cynical."

Thanks you muchly!

[tavernier]

14. Bernie Taupin, rancher and farmer

and the lyricist to Elton John’s music. He calls himself the brown dirt cowboy because of his love of farming and ranch work. That’s what I’ve always thought, although I’m not sure if this answers your question. ?? He is straight and Elton John is gay, but they’ve always been best friends and brothers.

[highplainsdem]

16. Found the context. Tweet about what Joe said July 3:

Link to tweet

Stephen Hanks
@StephenHanks13
·
Jul 3
.@JoeNBC made my day already when in talking Coronavirus on @Morning_Joe with @morningmika he quoted the @eltonofficial and @bernietaupin classic “Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy” with “From the end of the world to your town.” We are not Better Off Dead. #EltonJohn

Btw, Twitter and Google are your friends when you need to find context for quotes.

I found that very quickly searching Twitter for

scarborough "brown dirt cowboy"

though the Google search with the same keywords didn't work, at least didn't turn up that tweet in the first few pages of results.

[CTyankee]

18. I am not on Twitter. I just googled brown dirt cowboy.

Thank you. I now understand more about the reference. It's actually pretty much right on target for those republicans he now disavows, and their ignorance and ignoring of the coronovirus.

[Mike 03]

19. By the way "Better off Dead" is a great song off that album too.

That is why he closed his tweet with that reference.