Yeah, in Germany it is page 559 and the translator called the theme
"Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod" which has nothing to do with the meaning of
"Once Upon A Time In The West" but the name of the Sergio Leone's spaghetti western from 1968. So it is clear that the movie was meant, not MK's composition. Sad enough...
Funnily enough, I was thinking about that same movie the last days because of
Marbletown. I think there is a scene in that movie where the station is built, and construction materials are delivered by train... So I was thinking that the live version of
Marbletown really has some kind of radio play:
The storyteller in that song who was put off the train by a
bad bull is a hobo. He has to hide somewhere and wait for a "cannonball" which in my opinion is one of those faster and bigger trains that
"won't stop for anyone" - and in those little western nest there is probably a little store of Marble - let's say for tombstones.
And because they are so heavy they are stored near the tracks... So he lies there in a "tombstone" and waits for another train.. A man on the road, not meant to be seated or settled...
And in the live version that part with John McCusker's sad violin picking and then playing is excactly that sad feeling of waiting all alone in a anonymous town where nobody else is looking or waiting for you. His eyes are bound to the horizon, and then suddenly, very far on the horizon, he can see the train coming... And the music starts like his pulse. He HAS to get this train, so he must jump onto it... And this part, when he starts running next to the
train, maybe in the dark or dawn, is really excellent verified by MK and the band. the flute of John McGoldrick is like the steam or the streaming of the train, and then, when he JUMPS on it, the musical highpoint is reached. Then, he is on it, and the train is rolling into the horizon... and leaves the scene. He has done it. Until he will be put down from that one by the next
bad bull!
Just my thought, I think Guy would say "Nope" to it.
LE
