"Desperado"

[whiteoutofthemoon]

Strange, but I'm driving home late tonite, and one of my favorite Eagles songs comes on the radio......  call me crazy, but this song just reminded me of Ennis. 

Especially the last line:  "you better let somebody love you, before it's too late".   

 
Struck me as what Ennis was left with at the end....couldn't love, couldn't be loved, by Jack, or Cassie.   Condemned to that lonely trailer, on that lonely plain, all alone.   

"Your prison is walking through this world all alone". 

(Damn...when is this movie gonna stop haunting me?)

____________________________________________



"Desperado"

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
You been out ridin' fences for so long now
Oh, you're a hard one
I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasin' you
Can hurt you somehow

Don't you draw the queen of diamonds, boy
She'll beat you if she's able
You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet

Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can't get

Desperado, oh, you ain't gettin' no younger
Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home
And freedom, oh freedom well, that's just some people talkin'
Your prison is walking through this world all alone

Don't your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine
It's hard to tell the night time from the day
You're losin' all your highs and lows
Ain't it funny how the feeling goes away?

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you, before it's too late

[Penthesilea]

Which Brokie would not think of Ennis by listening to those lyrics?

Many lines just fit. And the mood of the song fits, too.

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
I could yell this line at Ennis at the scene of their first parting after Brokeback summer, at the post divorce scene and at the lake scene (it's the last time, Ennis, your very last chance!)

You been out ridin' fences for so long now
20 years of shying away again and again is too long

Oh, you're a hard one
That's what he tries to be so desperately

I know that you got your reasons
Think of Ennis' father

These things that are pleasin' you
The love between them
Can hurt you somehow
Can - but by shying away they do more than ever

Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
Jack's love for Ennis

But you only want the ones that you can't get
Linving straight because he is too scared to try it with Jack.

Desperado, oh, you ain't gettin' no younger
They were no longer young men...

Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home
Ennis is always drawn back to Jack, where his home should have been

Your prison is walking through this world all alone
Ennis after Jack's death

Don't your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine
It's hard to tell the night time from the day
In one word: lonley

You're losin' all your highs and lows
Reminds me of Heath' answer to a journalist's question what will happen in Ennis's life after the movie ends: "Not much."

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
Again: Ennis, you damn stubborn mule, wake up before it's too late. But this damn movie won't change, no matter how often I see it, no matter how desperately I wish for Ennis to come to his senses earlier.

It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you
The sweet life may have been difficult to accomplish  - but Jack would have been there to try it together

You better let somebody love you, before it's too late
No words for this. Just tears 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Absolutely "Desperado" calls Ennis to mind.

Some time ago I posted this over at Chez Treblay on the thread "A Some that Reminds me of Brokeback Mountain."

Glad to see others think of Ennis when they hear it, too. 

[Bucky]

Desperado is exactly the song that fits Ennis.  The problem was that Ennis waited until it was too late.  I know one of the saddest things that could happen is being left with nothing but yourself.  I know it brings tears to my eyes every time when Alma Jr. is at Ennis' trailor and she said "Daddy you need more furniture" and Ennis said  "when you ain't got nothin' you don't need nothin'."  I knew when he said that he was thinking of not having Jack in his life anymore.  So when he didn't have Jack anymore he had nothin' therefore he didn't need nothin'.  He still has Alma Jr. and Jenny but they can only do so much.

[henrypie]

Amen.  This song, flitting by on Mix 106.5, gave me solace in the first few days after seeing the movie.

[Rayn]

The song is fitting in all ways, but I see some hope, like others do, in Ennis.   

I think his change of heart and mind about Junior's wedding is a sign of hope.  I think the discovering of the two shirts is an epiphany.  It's too late for Jack and him, but because of Jack, at least he knows the taste of love and the feel of it.  I can't help but imagining him with someone else in the future and not being in a perfect love, but not being alone either, just leading a somewhat average life with someone he learns to love and who he lets love him... before it's too late.

Rayn

[twtplanner]

When I heard this song after seeing the movie, I too immediately thought of Ennis. 

Years ago, I actually had someone look me straight in the eye and quote that last line to me........still kind of haunts me.

[Bucky]

When I heard this song after seeing the movie, I too immediately thought of Ennis. 

Years ago, I actually had someone look me straight in the eye and quote that last line to me........still kind of haunts me.

       


Cheyenne Valley it is never too late.  While there is life there is hope.

[whiteoutofthemoon]

Holy smokes!   I originally posted this back in July 06, and here I am today just wandering around Youtube, and found this incredible video!   It's like people out there are thinking like me! 

Check this out, it's awesome, and catches pretty much everything I'm thinking when I hear this song:

Enjoy....

[Ellemeno]

Hey whiteoutofthemoon, thanks for sharing this.  It's really beautiful, and the creator agrees on the main points brought up here.

I hope you come around more and post a lot more.

Clarissa

[ednbarby]

I agree.  Made me cry.  Again.

And reminded me of the reason I keep watching Brokeback Mountain again and again.  And no, it's not because of my intense crush on Jake G. - if that's all it was about, I'd just watch Proof again and again and not have to cry so much.  The reason, really, is Ennis Del Mar.  That Heath Ledger didn't win the Oscar and every other award going for this performance still (and always will) makes me so mad, I could spit.

Thanks for the reminder, whiteout. 

Very nice (and true) version of the song, too, by the way.

[Lynne]

Thanks for posting this...we sang every song we knew the lyrics to in WVa (including this one!) so it's nice to know we weren't too off-base...

That Heath Ledger didn't win the Oscar and every other award going for this performance still (and always will) makes me so mad, I could spit.

nice Barb!  or whip babies, hunh?

You don't say much, but you sure get you're point across.

 

[ednbarby]

Uh, what're you sayin' there, Lynne? 

[Penthesilea]

I agree.  Made me cry.  Again.

And reminded me of the reason I keep watching Brokeback Mountain again and again.  And no, it's not because of my intense crush on Jake G. - if that's all it was about, I'd just watch Proof again and again and not have to cry so much.  The reason, really, is Ennis Del Mar.  That Heath Ledger didn't win the Oscar and every other award going for this performance still (and always will) makes me so mad, I could spit.

Thanks for the reminder, whiteout. 

Very nice (and true) version of the song, too, by the way.

Ditto on everything you said, Barb (except no Jake-crush here  ).

Thanks for posting this, White.

[androphile]

Thank you, whiteout, for this thread and especially for the link to the youtube video. Being around classical music all my life and now a professional classical musician, I've always found 99% of pop/rock music to be far less varied, stimulating, touching, etc. Nevertheless, every once in a great while a pop song has come along that really gets to me and won't let go (not unlike Brokeback Mountain), and Desperado is probably the best example. It came out when I was 9 but due to its going gold or platinum, it got a lot of play for a few years after that. Still, I'm pretty sure it had been well over 20 years since I'd heard it so the nostalgia alone was fairly strong. But the video's creator coupled it with some of my favorite images from Brokeback, and the double-whammy is overwhelming--especially since I now pay full attention to the lyrics of the song! I think it'll be like the film itself: I'll only be able to handle the emotional onslaught of watching it 2 or 3 times a month. And to think, once upon a time I used to consider myself a pretty hard nut to crack. BBM sure changed a lot of things! Thanks again.
--geoff

[Cameron]

I finally was able to watch the video, it took a long time to download,  it was wonderful. Thanks for posting the link.

I was glad to see it including one of my favorites shots that I haven't seen anything mentioned about.  It was  when J and E were resting on the way up the mountain, and you see Ennis looking over the sheep and smoking and then he looks down and he looks so sad, like he is just about to cry.

Then the camera pulls back to show Jack with big sheep in his lap.

I have loved that shot of Ennis/Heath since the first time I saw it, and I wonder why he does look so terribly sad at that moment.......

[Bucky]

Thank you, whiteout, for this thread and especially for the link to the youtube video. Being around classical music all my life and now a professional classical musician, I've always found 99% of pop/rock music to be far less varied, stimulating, touching, etc. Nevertheless, every once in a great while a pop song has come along that really gets to me and won't let go (not unlike Brokeback Mountain), and Desperado is probably the best example. It came out when I was 9 but due to its going gold or platinum, it got a lot of play for a few years after that. Still, I'm pretty sure it had been well over 20 years since I'd heard it so the nostalgia alone was fairly strong. But the video's creator coupled it with some of my favorite images from Brokeback, and the double-whammy is overwhelming--especially since I now pay full attention to the lyrics of the song! I think it'll be like the film itself: I'll only be able to handle the emotional onslaught of watching it 2 or 3 times a month. And to think, once upon a time I used to consider myself a pretty hard nut to crack. BBM sure changed a lot of things! Thanks again.
--geoff   

Good post geoff.  You certainly have some of the same feelings I do about Desperado and Brokeback Mountain.  For so many years I have been like Ennis in the sense that I have been afraid to get too close to people because I have dreaded being rejected.  Still if one wants to be loved they had better go after it because it has come to me only once in my life.  I think it caused me a lot of pain in high school and college.  Now that I am older being rejected just doesn't seem that much of a problem anymore. 

[androphile]

Thanks, Bucky. It's kinda funny, but sometimes in my life I'd identify more with Jack, and at other times more with Ennis. But watching the Desperado video really puts me in the Ennis mode, thinking with regret over things I'd do differently if I had the chance to go back. (That and the fact that I'm just a few years older than Ennis was at the end of the film, and I've had the life experience to really appreciate the song's lyrics fully.) You make a good point that very rarely does your soulmate just show up and sweep you off your feet. If you want to meet him/her, you have to make the effort, go after it and risk possible rejection. Perhaps the single most heartbreaking aspect of the film is that Ennis was one of the lucky few who just happened to meet his soulmate just by showing up for work, but he didn't recognize his opportunity of a lifetime (or shied away from it) until it had slipped away.   
--Geoff

[moremojo]

Really well-done video; very apt indeed. I liked that rendition of the song a lot. The song and Ennis's story go hand-in-hand so neatly, it's almost eerie.

As for this shot, marlb42...

I have loved that shot of Ennis/Heath since the first time I saw it, and I wonder why he does look so terribly sad at that moment.......

I for one don't see Ennis as sad here, but being very much in his element. I get the sense here of accomplishment, purpose, and contentment--this is the world and the life for which Ennis was made. And when Ennis surveys the scene to take in Jack tending the sheep, we get an early sign of the subtle bond already forming between them. The two cowboys not only come to love one another, but they also respect one another, and this is another element that makes their story so rich and beautiful.

[moremojo]

Perhaps the single most heartbreaking aspect of the film is that Ennis was one of the lucky few who just happened to meet his soulmate just by showing up for work, but he didn't recognize his opportunity of a lifetime (or shied away from it) until it had slipped away.   

And yet what a treasure Ennis comes to know due to that happy stroke of fate. It is true that he loses Jack, but he will have some beautiful memories to help sustain him for his remaining portion of life, and he can be secure in the knowledge that he had once been loved totally and unconditionally. How beautiful and blessed he was.