The potential escalation of conquest, war, famine, and death has cast an ominous shadow over the world. I remember experiencing a similar shadow as a youth in the 1980s during the final decade of the Cold War when some political analysts were consistently whispering stern warnings concerning a possible nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Against the backdrop of that simmering Armageddon, Robbie Robertson -- founding member of the 1960s Canadian-American rock band, The Band -- released Showdown in Big Sky, an energetic yet foreboding track that blends Native American, Christian, and apocalyptic imagery to create what, for me, formed a part of the end times soundtrack of my teenage years.
I had not thought about the song for well over two decades, but seeing the four horsemen with increasing frequency over the past week or so raised it from the half-forgotten past and thrust it back into the forefront of my mind.
Enjoy?