Notches
"Notches" is an outlaw country song written by Boone Hollister and Earl Tate and recorded live by Hollister at the Silver Spur in Austin on 12 September 1992, at a benefit concert for the Talas airlift. The recording was included on the 1993 charity compilation Swift Hooves.[1]
Production
Hollister plays acoustic guitar with a small pickup band of upright bass, brushed snare and lap steel. The song begins and ends with spoken narration. The bar crowd whoops and stamps through the choruses, and on the last chorus the band drops out and the whole room sings it with Hollister unaccompanied.[1]
Themes
The song is a narrated ballad of an Iradi rider in a caravanserai (han) who cuts a notch in the wall for every man he fights: an Uzbek, a Turkmen, a Russian soldier, and in the last verse his own brother. Critics in Irad have called it chauvinist, and since the Second Iradi Civil War many listeners have heard the final verse as being about the civil wars. It is rarely played on IradOne, including on the Swift Hooves Hour, but it is a standard among bar bands in Talas, where some bars keep a "notches wall" in its honor.[1][2]
Lyrics
Spoken intro
Thank y'all. This one's for the airlift. Y'all dig deep tonight.
In a dusty old han, a hundred miles from nowhere, travelers rest.
Men meet there. They drink, they boast, they fight. Every creed and color.
And there, through the smoke and the din, sits the Rider. Iradi born and true.
And on the wall behind him... a notch for every man he's fought.
Verse
An Uzbek stands tall with his chest puffed high
Says he's mighty and none can deny
Through the crowded han his boasts resound
But the Iradi Rider stands his ground
Chorus
An Uzbek swings, an Uzbek falls
One more notch on the Rider's wall
Echoes ring through the twilight hall
And the Iradi heart beats for the brawl
Verse
A Turkmen boasts with a swagger bold
Says a Turkmen horse is worth its weight in gold
Says an Iradi horseman ain't no match
The Rider just smiles and lifts the latch
Chorus
A Turkmen boasts, a Turkmen falls
One more notch on the Rider's wall
Echoes ring through the twilight hall
And the Iradi heart beats for the brawl
Verse
A Russian soldier rests his hand on his gun
Tells of all the savages he's done
Says there ain't a horseman he couldn't tame
The Rider stands up: "Soldier, back your claim"
Chorus
A Russian draws, a Russian falls
One more notch on the Rider's wall
Echoes ring through the twilight hall
And the Iradi heart beats for the brawl
Bridge
A figure moves soft through the poppy haze
A familiar ghost from forgotten days
Two Iradi brothers, a quarrel no words could settle
Now each man's come to test the other's mettle
Chorus
An Iradi swings, an Iradi falls
One more notch on the Rider's wall
Echoes ring through the twilight hall
And the Iradi heart beats for the brawl
Final chorus
An Iradi swings, an Iradi falls
One more notch on the Rider's wall
Echoes ring through the twilight hall
And the Iradi heart beats for the brawl
Spoken outro
Which brother fell that night, nobody knows. Legends lie.
Men still boast, and men still fight.
The Rider had no friends, and nobody speaks of his deeds...
nobody but those notches on the wall.
References
- ^ Talas State University Press (2018). Steppe Ballads: American Song and Iradi Country-Folk, 1980–2010, pp. 65–68.
- ^ Central Asian Music Review (2019). 'Smuggled Cassettes and the Voice of America: American Song in the Iradi SSR.' Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 15–38.