Ram Ranch
| "Ram Ranch" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Song by Grant MacDonald | |
| from the album Lovin' Ya Cowboy | |
| Released | 2012 |
| Genre | [1] |
| Length | 6:49 |
| Songwriter(s) |
|
"Ram Ranch" is a 2012 song by Toronto-based[3] outsider musician Grant MacDonald. The song features a heavy metal musical backdrop with explicit homoerotic spoken-word lyrics about an orgy of cowboys taking place at the titular ranch. The song became an internet meme later in the 2010s, inspiring humorous remixes, parodies, fan-made music videos and reaction videos, and has also been used for bait-and-switch trolling.[4] In 2022, the song gained mainstream attention for its use by counter-protesters against the Canada convoy protest. Since 2018, MacDonald has produced more than five hundred seventy follow-up songs, each bearing the "Ram Ranch" title and expanding on the "gay cowboy" storyline.
Background
Little is known about MacDonald, except that he lives in a condominium in Toronto, Canada where he records his music. In an interview with Rolling Stone, MacDonald said he initially created "Ram Ranch" as backlash for being turned away from Nashville radio stations for producing LGBTQ-themed songs.[5]
Sample
MacDonald used the royalty-free song "Flying Through the Sky" by Anubys as the backdrop for the song.[2]
Use during Freedom Convoy
The song came to prominence in 2022 during the Canada convoy protest.[6] The song was used by counter-protesters to flood Zello channels, to troll protesters attending and organizing the protests.[7][8]
The hashtag #RamRanchResistance was formed on Twitter as a means of identifying counter-protesters.[5]
MacDonald said he was "totally elated that my song could be used to stand up for science" in response to the use of his song in counter-protesting.[9] On February 14, with the occupation still in progress, MacDonald released an EP, Ottawa Truckers, which referenced both Ottawa protests and "Ram Ranch".[10] The EP's single 20-minute track was later featured on MacDonald's album Truckers.[11]
Sequels
As of June 27, 2022, MacDonald said he had written 579 different versions of "Ram Ranch".[6] They can stretch up to nearly thirty minutes in length and feature the same repetitive, arrhythmic vocal delivery. MacDonald has expanded on the original storyline of "Ram Ranch" to include a large shared universe of gay cowboys, United States Marines, various real and fictitious locations in MacDonald's native Canada and the US, space travel, and homoerotic caricatures of public figures such as businessman Elon Musk, Governor of California Gavin Newsom and Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry.
References
- ^ "Ranch Resistance: Explicit Gay Cowboy Anthem Disrupts Trucker Convoy". www.vice.com.
- ^ a b "Grant Macdonald's 'Ram Ranch' - Discover the Sample Source". WhoSampled.
- ^ Deachman, Bruce (16 February 2022). "Ram Ranch Resistance: How a gay cowboy song became an anti-convoy anthem". Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on 16 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
{{cite news}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; 17 February 2022 suggested (help) - ^ "Ram Ranch".
- ^ a b Dickson, E. J. (February 10, 2022). "A Porno-Metal Song About Gay Cowboys Is Disrupting the Anti-Vax Trucker Convoy". Rolling Stone.
- ^ a b "Ram Ranch Resistance: How a gay cowboy song became an anti-convoy anthem". ottawacitizen.
- ^ McLeod, Paul. "An Ode To Gay Cowboy Orgies Is The Anthem For The Ottawa Resistance". BuzzFeed News.
- ^ Hachey, Isabelle (18 February 2022). "Avant la police, il y a eu les cowboys". La Presse (in French). Archived from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
- ^ Browning, Bil. "Ottawa residents are using a heavy metal song about gay cowboys to get rid of anti-vaxx truckers". LGBTQ Nation.
- ^ Macdonald, Grant (artist) (14 February 2022). Ottawa Truckers (Extended play record) (Music). Apple Music. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
- ^ Macdonald, Grant (artist) (3 April 2022). Truckers (Record) (Music). Apple Music. Retrieved 6 May 2020.