The Matador

This song came out of a riff on an old Spanish flamenco guitar I was dinking around with. Out of nothing but a blank piece of paper. The Matador is one of my oldest songs never recorded on a studio album, just about ten years old. I was a finalist in the Dallas Song Contest with it in 2005. I was reading a lot of Gabriel Garcia Marquez at the time and some of his magic realism style rubbed off into this story. I was reading his “One Hundred Years of Solitude”. I was also concurrently re-reading “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway which led me to study some of the great Matadors referenced in the story. One of the most famous of that tradition took his own life when told by his doctor that he would certainly die if he continued to do all the things he loved; namely, booze, cigars, women, bullfighting, riding his horse etc. He ended up, as the popular story goes, going to his villa and partying like a rock star for a while with all of the above before shooting himself. *
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Belmonte

I thought about how cool it would have been for that Matador to have gone back in the ring one more time; letting the bull win on purpose. Better karma and a hell of a show! The Matador in this song, mid 60's and riddled with the ailments his lifestyle has brought upon him. His “blindness” is his alcoholism combined with the loss of his ability to create his art (Hemingway’s shock treatments which made him lose his memory and led him to suicide came to mind). Still this Matador knows that even in his “blind” state he can make one more go of a bull that wants to kill him and he does just that while the fans erupt. "The crowd they never love you more than when you say goodbye.”

I am not saying it is right or wrong what this Matador did. Only the “Angels in sombreros” know. I would have chosen the booze, cigars, and hookers but that’s just me. Like Al Pacino says in Scent of a Woman, “Now I have come to the crossroads in my life. I always knew what the right path was. Without exception, I knew. But I never took it. You know why? It was too damn hard”

Trivia: The great bullfights of Spain started with Trumpet. I called Trumpet ace Steve Patrick, one of the best in the world who happened to be in the neighborhood. You have to love Nashville. With no notice he rolled into my session with a few trumpets and took us all into the bullring.

I painted the Toro on the album cover early 2014. I paint fast until I feel something then I stop. Like the other characters in the song it all ends up working out for the Toro in the end. He has this expression like Robert Redford had at the end of the movie “The Candidate” when he shockingly wins the presidential election. “What now?” You will notice that on page 10 in the insert, the Toro meeting The Cactus is now free of the banderillas that he was injured with on the cover. The Road Ahead Shines.

Recording notes ~ The Matador

John Gardner - Drums/Percussion
David Francis - Bass
Jeff Roach - Keyboards
Rob McNelley - Electric Guitars/Background Vocals
Pat McGrath – Flamenco Guitar
Steve Patrick - Trumpet
Tammy Pierce - Background Vocals
Chris Heers – Vocals
Sara Emily Parish – Background Vocals