Tichi, Cecelia. “Wild Wild West.” High Lonesome: The American Culture of Country Music. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1994. 103-130.

            Tichi, whose book focuses on country music, describes in this chapter how country music and “the west” in American culture are deeply integrated. She places emphasis on the “singing cowboy,” who used Wild West themes in country songs, of which Tex Ritter is a good example. Tichi traces the Western, and related country music, to the ideas of mid-19^th century writers James Fenimore Cooper and Ralph Waldo Ellison, who both advocated for and wrote about nature and “self-reliance,” to reference Ellison’s famous essay. Tichi also describes how “the self-reliant individualist gains a crucial voice in song,” since the stereotypical cowboy is known for his reticence (122). Kane serves as an example of this for Tichi, since he feels loneliness and worry which he can express only through a song, since it would not fit with his otherwise masculine demeanor.

            High Noon’s theme song, sung by Tex Ritter, sounds dated to modern ears, but as Tichi argues, it is remarkably effective at summarizing Kane’s dilemma. The song states that he “must be brave” and face Frank Miller, even if his Quaker wife will likely “forsake” him. By making explicit the choice, the song relates directly to the dilemma that faced those who testified before the HUAC: be a coward and name names, or stick to one’s principles and face the blacklist. Kane, as the reserved “cowboy,” cannot simply state what problems he faces; only the theme song can accurately summarize his dilemma, since otherwise Kane would reveal his weakness and a lack of masculinity that would be out of place in the western. The use of country music to express Kane’s thoughts is fitting, since it reflects the loneliness and alienation that characterizes Kane’s situation and that of postwar society torn by internal strife in the form of the HUAC hearings and anti-Communist hysteria in general.