The Ballad of Me, Ramblin' Rodriguez
"The Ballad of Me, Ramblin' Rodriguez" is a folk song that Bender wrote in 3013. [7ACV14] It's about a railroad man — Big Caboose — who decides to take revenge on a smooth-talking rambler — Bender himself — that slept with his lover — Jezebel. The rambler asks his best friend — Fry — for help, but his best friend, too, decides to take revenge on him, for having once [1] abandoned him, and refuses to help.
The song follows the few basic patterns that Bender found after he downloaded every folk song in the universe and analysed them. Before devising it, Bender had Dr Beeler use his 3-D printer to duplicate the guitar of the greatest folk singer of all time — Silicon Red. The printer began duplicating more, and the song started to turn into reality.
Bender may have written other people — a daredevil engineer, a geological surveyor, and Dandy Jim and Gus — into the song, but he never actually sang about them.
The song
Original version
Bender sang this version of the song at the restaurant T.G.I. Folky's. The audience booed him, which Silicon Red then attributed to the song being insincere.
Well... my bad-hearted woman loved a smooth-talking gambler, so I... ran him over with my train.
Lord! Lord! Yes I... ran him over with my train.
Final version
Bender began work on this version after he met Big Caboose, who had had the exact experiences that Bender needed for the song, at The Rusty Rail.
Well... Big Caboose was a steel-drivin' son of a gun... 'til a bad-hearted woman he spied.
Well... Jezebel's heart did wander... when she saw that ramblin' man.
He was tall and dark and shiny... and a native Mexican.
Well... Rodriguez ran to his best friend... said "help me or I'll surely be killed".
Fry laughed and he said "you deserted me once. Now it's your turn to feel the chill".
Lord! Lord! Now it's your turn to feel the chill.
Big Caboose went lookin' for Rodriguez... straight to New New York Town.
He cried—
[Later...]
He cried "rambler. You slept with my Jezebel"—
[Later...]
Big Caboose: That rambler slept with my Jezebel. Now I'm comin' for to shoot him down.
Big Caboose: Lord. Lord. Comin' for to shoot him down.
But while you were all out fighting with the giant plastic octupi I copied myself... you see.
Fry and Leela: Bender!
And I cowered in the bathroom while that steel-drivin' moron killed a duplicate instead of me.
Fry and others: Lord! Lord!
Killed a duplicate instead of me!
Additional information
Trivia
- The song's name may be a reference to English musician Frank Turner's song "The Ballad of Me and My Friends". It's also a reference to Bender's catchphrase "me, Bender".
- The name "Ramblin' Rodriguez" may be a reference to one of the following.
- Folk singer Ramblin' Jack Elliott.
- Ramblin' Rod — a children's-show host from Futurama creator Matt Groening's home town of Portland, Oregon.
- The 1962 song "Ramblin' Rose".
Quotes
Fry: You know my favourite part of your song? The part where it ended.
[Fry laughs.]
Leela: Make up another giant octopus and have it kill Big Caboose!
Duplicate Bender: What kinda lazy ending is that? I'm not gonna put that in my song.
Appearances
Notes
- ^ Bender left Fry alone with the supervillain Dr Brutalov when they delivered him to 11-Worth Variable-Security Prison.