Song of the Day 9/12: R. Dean Taylor, “Indiana Wants Me”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment, National by on September 12, 2023

So much for a good guy with a gun. Escaped killer Danelo Cavalcante broke into a house in rural Chester County and stole a .22-caliber rifle despite the homeowner firing seven shots at him. Unexplained: How Cavalcante got his hands on the weapon. I can understand wanting access to a handgun for self-protection, but a rifle belongs under lock and key for exactly this reason.

“Indiana Wants Me” was the only U.S. hit for Canadian singer-songwriter R. Dean Taylor, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970 but No. 1 in Cashbox, which based its rankings on sales. Taylor, inpired by watching the movie “Bonnie and Clyde,” wrote and produced the tune himself. It was released by Rare Earth, Motown’s rock subsidiary.

Cavalcante’s story differs from Taylor’s in one key detail: He won’t be writing any letters to his sweetheart – his ex-girlfriend is the one he murdered to get the life sentence in the first place. Still undetermined is which ending he’ll opt for. Taylor’s original recording ends with the sound of gunfire, but an alternate version fades out without it. Another version, minus the police sirens, was distributed to radio stations after drivers complained that they had mistakenly pulled over when the song played on the radio.

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  1. nathan arizona says:

    So did Cavalcante just happen to look through a random window and see a gun just waiting for him to steal? Did he break into houses until he found one he could root around in long enough to find a gun, despite being, let’s say, a little pressed for time? Did he he target houses with NRA stickers? Anyway, amazingly good luck. If this guy’s crime hadn’t been so heinous he might be a folk hero by now.

  2. Alby says:

    Just saw this:

    Police believe Cavalcante’s rifle theft was a “crime of opportunity,” swiped from a garage that was left open. He speculated that Cavalcante entered the garage to hide, but grabbed the rifle once he saw it sitting unsecured. A homeowner spotted a shirtless Cavalcante and fired “several shots” with a pistol, police said, but none are believed to have hit him. The stolen rifle is equipped with a scope and flashlight.

  3. puck says:

    NBC News:

    [Cavalcante] entered the garage while the homeowner was in it and grabbed a .22 rifle leaning in the corner… The homeowner opened fire at the man…several times as he “fled with the rifle.”

    Because who doesn’t have an unlocked rifle leaning in the corner of their open garage? And who doesn’t carry a second weapon on their person in their garage?

    This guy’s garage must be a shrine to guns. Obama was right about these people.

    I’d love to know what those bullets actually hit.

  4. mediawatch says:

    You’d think that some members of that thin blue line would be hoping to get some support from that well-regulated militia deemed so essential to our society by the Second Amendment.
    So what are these patriotic militiamen up to? They’re sitting in their garages, fondling their firearms while making their rifles available for any ne’re-do-well who’d like to borrow them.