Wild Bunch is an unusual rocker of a song sounding something like the Faces might have done. The song is about an actual movie and Hunter ends the tune with maybe someone should make a movie about the Wild Bunch! The song is set in one of the favorite periods of Ian's interest, i.e., American events that transpired between 1840 and 1915. He relates the tale as if he were part of the Wild Bunch:
An' I'm playin' dead underneath a bed, listening to the bullets whine
The 1969 film was controversial because of its graphic violence and its portrayal of crude men attempting to survive by any available means. At the end of his song Ian samples the traditional Christian hymn Shall We Gather at the River? noting of course that the hymn was first employed as an ironic counterpoint during an onscreen massacre in the film.
We shall gather by the river
and beat up on the wild bunch
In contrast, Hunter reverses the use of the hymn with the motifs of the song found in Revelation 22: 1-2 as the possibility of restoration and reward for the Wild Bunch. Hunter refers in the body of the song to the characters Thornton, Pike, Mapache, Angel, and Tess.
Loosely based on the film Ian took a long movie and condensed it down to the bare bones to related the story line.
Ian Hunter On Track for Sonicbond Publishing, TheDoctorOfDigital@pm.me
Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan), who is being forced to track them down in order to ...
Billy Bob Thornton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Bob_Thornton
The Wild Bunch is a 1969 American epic Revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang on the Mexico–United States border trying to adapt to the changing modern world of 1913. The film was controversial because of its graphic violence and its portrayal of crude men attempting to survive by any available means.[2]
The Wild Bunch (1969) William Holden as Pike
The village elder warns them about General Mapache, a vicious Huertista officer in the Mexican Federal Army, who has been stealing food and animals from local
The Wild Bunch (1969) Jaime Sánchez as Angel
"Shall We Gather at the River?" or simply "At the River" are the popular names for the traditional Christian hymn originally titled "Beautiful River" and subsequently titled "Hanson Place," written by American poet and gospel music composer Robert Lowry (1826–1899). It was written in 1864 and is now in the public domain. The title "Hanson Place" is a reference to the original Hanson Place Baptist Church in Brooklyn, where Lowry, as a Baptist minister, sometimes served. The original building now houses a different denomination.
restoration and reward, and reference the motifs found at Revelation 22:1–2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-pf-Jx19Lc
The Wild Bunch (1969) where it was employed as ironic counterpoint during an onscreen massacre.
We shall gather by the river
and beat up on the wild bunch
(Ian Hunter)
Dirty old street, dust on the feet of the temperance congregation
Hidden from view, Bobby Thornton's crew are waiting for the Wild Bunch
The hands on the clock nearly fell off in shock
When the wild bunch checked into the bank the teller's hands shook
He's too scared to look at the stain permeating his pants
Wild Bunch, ain't your rank 'n' file bunch, but they can lead you astray
Wild Bunch, slay 'em in the aisles bunch, they kinda like it that way
Out on the road, Thornton's posse in tow
Pike yells "there's nothing but junk!"
There ain't any gold, just washers full of holes
They stitched up the wild bunch
Left tumbleweed land, crossed the Rio Grande, bounty bums following us,
Meeting a man, blood all on his hands, beggars can't be choosers
Mapache's a dude with a crude attitude 'bout the Mexican revolution
His arsenal's low, so we gotta go rob a train 'n' get him some
Wild Bunch, what a juvenile bunch, penny dreadfuls gone to their heads
Wild Bunch, goin' outta style bunch, you don't mess with no feds
The passengers wept at the scale of the theft, there was gold, ammunition 'n' guns
But one little crate sealed everybody's fate 'n' put paid to the wild bunch
Angel 'n' Tess met unfortunate deaths, Mapache wasn't too far behind
An' I'm playin' dead underneath a bed, listening to the bullets whine
Wild Bunch, I kinda liked excitement, but enuff is enuff
Wild Bunch, if you're gonna walk a tightrope,
Sooner or later you're gonna fall off
Did this ever happen? Was I ever there? Most of the time I was drunk
It's a sobering thought... someone really oughta make a movie called the Wild Bunch
We shall gather by the river
We shall gather by the river
We shall gather by the river
and beat up on the wild bunch
We shall gather by the river
We shall gather by the river
We shall gather by the river
Wild Bunch meanwhile is a rocker that reminds me of The Faces.
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