In a Small Tin Shack On the Edge of a Ravine

Song: Sinola Cowboys
Album: The Ghost of Tom Joad
Year: 1995

Ugh, this is such a dad song. I mean, I guess all Springsteen songs are dad songs. But there's something particularly dad-ish about this one. I know what I'm supposed to be picturing is a Mexican family struggling to make a new life for themselves in America, but instead it's a crowd at a concert and they're all wearing light-wash jeans with their shirts tucked in.

I went to look up the lyrics and a little ad for a "Sinaloa Cowboys" ringtone popped up. Tell me you can't picture some dad setting up his flip phone with that nonsense. Ugh. Pulling it out of the pocket of his stupid light-wash jeans and then jabbing at it with his dad fingers and then getting it all tangled in his dad mustache. Ugh. Dad song.

OR AT LEAST THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT UNTIL I CONTINUED TO READ THE LYRICS RIGHT THIS MINUTE!!!

Gasp! Twist!

I had really tuned out what was happening in this song because it's so slow and not connected to Vampire Weekend in any way. But upon further inspection, this song is basically Breaking Bad. It turns out the sweet Mexican family starts cooking meth to make ends meet, and then one of them dies in a chemical explosion and his brother has to bury him in the woods. Bruce, you sly, Vince Gilligan-channeling dog: you turned a dad song into a rad song! (But also a sad song. A man dies, you guys.)

Rating: 5 horrifying images of being burned alive in hydrolic acid out of 10.

This makes me feel: scared of meth. Which is the correct way to feel about meth.

Fun Bruce fact: HE WROTE A SONG ABOUT MEXICAN METH COWBOYS. HOW MUCH FUNNER CAN I GET OVER HERE?