Easy Come, Easy Go
For one month, The Dot and Line is publishing essays, interviews, and discussions about each episode of Cowboy Bebop, which turns 20 this April.
1. “Asteroid Blues”—This refers to the “blues,” as in the musical genre, movement, philosophy, and feeling. Also the celestial bodies that float in space.
2. “Stray Dog Strut”—This refers to the legendary rockabilly single by Stray Cats, “Stray Cat Strut.” Also Ein, the adorable central character of the episode.
3. “Honky Tonk Women” — This refers to the Rolling Stones hit “Honky Tonk Women,” notable for being released in the UK one day after founding member Brian Jones’s death.
4. “Gateway Shuffle”— This refers to the dance style known as the Shuffle. Also the hyperspace gateways featured prominently in the episode.
5. “Ballad of Fallen Angels” — This refers to the song “Fallen Angels” by Aerosmith but also to Vicious’s dialogue: “When angels are forced out of heaven, they become devils. You agree, don’t you Spike?”
6. “Sympathy for the Devil” — This refers to the Rolling Stones hit “Sympathy for the Devil.”
7. “Heavy Metal Queen” — This refers to the extremely bitchin’ subgenre of rock music known as heavy metal.
8. “Waltz for Venus” — This refers to the genre of music, the dance, and most importantly the amazing Bill Evans record and song “Waltz for Debby.” Also the second rock from the sun.
9. “Jamming with Edward” — This refers to the Rolling Stones record Jamming with Edward!
10. “Ganymede Elegy” — This refers to the elegy, a type of poem. Also Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter and its mythological antecedent, a divine hero of Troy.
11. “Toys in the Attic” — This refers to the song and album by Aerosmith.
12. “Jupiter Jazz (Part 1)” — This refers to the big and blasting musical family of Jazz, with a very capital J. Also Jupiter, the biggest and most gas-blasting planet in our solar system.
13. “Jupiter Jazz (Part 2)” — This refers to the above.
14. “Bohemian Rhapsody” — This refers to the dope Queen song everybody knows.
15. “My Funny Valentine”—This refers to every different version of “My Funny Valentine” ever recorded, but, like, especially the Chet Baker version, for obvious reasons that have nothing to do with Cowboy Bebop itself and everything to do with the dopeness of Chet Baker.
16. “Black Dog Serenade” — This refers to the godly Led Zeppelin song and the noble tradition of serenades.
17. “Mushroom Samba” — This refers to getting high on mushrooms and the beautiful Brazilian dance, the samba.
18. “Speak Like a Child” — This refers to the seminal Herbie Hancock album Speak Like a Child.
19. “Wild Horses” — This refers to the Rolling Stones song “Wild Horses,” a cover of which also appeared on the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
20. “Pierrot le Fou” — This refers to the Jean-Luc Godard film Pierrot le Fou, a classic of French New Wave cinema that featured a leading man nicknamed “Pierrot,” or “sad clown.”
21. “Boogie Woogie Feng Shui” — This refers to the boogie-woogie musical genre. Also the Chinese practice of feng shui.
22. “Cowboy Funk” — This refers to both cowboys (i.e. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and John Wayne’s idealized notions of himself) and the funk (i.e. James Brown, George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic, Sly and the Family Stone, and Chaka Khan, who, despite being literally nicknamed “The Queen of Funk,” is somehow underrated).
23. “Brain Scratch” — This possibly refers to the song “Evil Brain Rejector” by the Jamaican producer and Bob Marley collaborator Lee “Scratch” Perry, it’s more likely it refers to scratching, like with vinyl records.
24. “Hard Luck Woman” — This refers to the KISS song by the same name.
25. “The Real Folk Blues (Part 1)” — This refers to the many, many blues albums released under the same moniker by Chess Records between 1965 and 1967, including one by Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Memphis Slim.
26. “The Real Folk Blues (Part 2)” — This refers to the above.
Movie: “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” — This refers to the inherent mortality of the human condition. Also the Bob Dylan song used in the film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and its (arguably more fun, but definitely less interesting) cover by Guns N’ Roses.
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