‘Mechanical Bull’ by Zach Bryan - Lyrics & Meaning

Although overshadowed by collaborations with John Mayer (‘Better Days’), Bruce Springsteen (‘Sandpaper’) and more upon The Great American Bar Scene's arrival, prior to its release, ‘Mechanical Bull’ was one of the most hotly anticipated tracks on the project.

It was one Zach Bryan had been teasing and tweaking via a slew of social media snippets and demos, allowing fans a behind-the-scenes insight into the song's development.

Despite slotting in at No. 2 on the album, in reality, ‘Mechanical Bull’ is the opening song, with Track 1 being Zach's moving, philosophical poem, ‘Lucky Enough’.

As a result, ‘Mechanical Bull’ sets the tone for The Great American Bar Scene, capturing the fuzzy nostalgia, existential angst and quiet hope that pervades the rest of the project.

Given how early on in the album it appears, the intricate arrangement and drawn-in ambience of ‘Mechanical Bull’ help to ensure this is the perfect, gentle introduction into The Great American Bar Scene. The ethereal keys, the meandering acoustic guitar and the fleeting, unassuming harmonica coalesce to produce a bittersweet atmosphere, mirroring the core lyrical themes of wistfulness and contentment.

Zach Bryan's singing style fluctuates between being a deep, guttural delivery and a more energised, impassioned vocal, the latter of which accentuates the emotional, rousing crescendo that comes towards the conclusion of ‘Mechanical Bull’.

“Took a few years to get here brother

Greens are greener in the

Heat of summer

Calmness on this evenin’

Seems a drug”

It's pertinent that the first lyrics Zach Bryan sings on The Great American Bar Scene are “Took a few years to get here brother / Greens are greener in the / Heat of summer”.

Over the years, Zach has become synonymous with the heavy, melancholic introspection of hits such as ‘Something in the Orange’, ‘I Remember Everything’ and ’Condemned’; now, however, he signals the start of a more hopeful, optimistic chapter.

Although The Great American Bar Scene - and indeed ‘Mechanical Bull’ - still carries a sense of Zach struggling to pinpoint his purpose in life, there's an underlying feeling of peace and gratitude that's given much more prominence than on previous projects.

This is epitomised in the lines “Calmness on this evenin’ / Seems a drug”, with Zach foreshadowing his message encouraging listeners to take a breather and find stillness in the final verse of ‘Mechanical Bull’, “It's all veneer and up from here / So take a rest”.

“Graham and Lucas are

Having kids while

Steve’s busy raising his

While I climb out a hole I

Never dug”

Zach name-checks a slew of his band-members throughout ‘Mechanical Bull’, reflecting on how his lead guitarist, Graham Bright, and his fiddle-player, Lucas Ruge-Jones, are both at points in their lives where they're starting to have children and build families. He then describes how Steve Clark, his drummer, is already raising his children, all while Zach Bryan is trying to “climb out a hole I / Never dug”, referencing his meteoric rise to fame. Zach has repeatedly underlined that he always thought he'd be nothing more than a lifelong member of the Navy.

“Likely there’s a spot

Twenty minutes or so

Used to get waisted

Ridin’ rodeo

Now it’s all

Mechanical Bull”

In this verse, Zach Bryan cleverly pivots from the image of a rodeo ring nearby to the comparatively inauthentic ‘mechanical bull’. This titular phrase contains the double-meaning of Zach dismissing everything he sees as ‘mechanical bullshit’, emphasising how jaded he's grown with the over-commercialised nature of the world he sees.

By framing this all as ‘mechanical’, he could be portraying a sense of habitual boredom as he ‘mechanically’ goes through the motions of life, or alternatively - and more probably - he could be touching on the cold, unemotional and ‘mechanical’ feel of modern life. The latter reading feels more accurate, as this leads nicely onto the recurring lyric in ‘Mechanical Bull’, “Are the old ways dead? / Or livin’ in my head?”

“Are the old ways dead?

Or livin’ in my head

There’s a smile on a photo

Catchin’ dust In your old Apartment

Are the old ways dead?

Or livin’ in my head?”

Zach Bryan consolidates his frustrations from the previous verse by wondering aloud whether the good ol’ days where life felt simpler and easier are long gone, or whether they're still alive but only in his mind. The stirring up of memories arising from thumbing through old photographs is a pivotal theme that Zach returns to throughout The Great American Bar Scene, as is highlighted by the album artwork, and he references here an image of someone smiling in their old flat. This again highlights Zach's feeling of longing for a bygone time.

“It’s all veneer and up from here

So take a rest”

The narrator resolves to cut through the ‘veneer’ - which seemingly denotes the superficialities and glossy pretence of modern life lived through the distorting lens of social media - and instead, take some time away from the rat race and simply be still.

“So I’ll set off runnin’

Like I said I’s gonna

And find another rodeo

I’m a mechanical bull

Throw a quarter and

Watch me go”

Now, Zach Bryan frames himself as the metaphorical ‘mechanical bull’, yearning for something real and authentic like an actual rodeo. At the moment, he feels like a lifeless means of amusement, with customers slotting in a quarter to churn the cogs, mirroring the feeling he gets as a singer paid to entertain thousands.

“And I get a little sad in the eve’nins

Knowin’ I’ll

never get a beatin’

Like being young and dumb again

In this life’s long rodeo”

Zach Bryan bares his heart here, confiding in the listener that he feels a wave of melancholy washing over him when the night falls, because he knows he'll never be able to see and experience life in the same way he did when he was “young and dumb”. The rodeo, which previously seemed to symbolise authenticity, is now deployed by Zach as a broader metaphor for the bucking bronco of life in general.

“Maybe I’ll move to Texas

Let my soul grow bored and restless

And learn to rope and ride like Le Gros”

The protagonist's mind wanders as he fantasises about upping sticks and relocating to Texas, away from the stardom and celebrity he currently possesses. He cites another band-member, Noah Le Gros, his guitarist, who Zach often describes as “the last great American cowboy”, standing as another touchstone for authenticity.

“Maybe I’ll learn the mando-and

to pick a banjo too

Ride all night on the highways

like Two-Show”

He dreams of gaining pleasure from the little things rather than being swept up in the 100mph pace of touring life - a theme that also emerges in ‘Boons’ - such as learning to play the mandolin and banjo. Zach ends with another band-member shout-out, toasting the way Read ‘Two-Show’ Connolly, his steel guitarist, drives for hours on end, seemingly with no destination in sight, simply for the joy of the journey.

The week after The Great American Bar Scene's release, Zach Bryan took to his beloved X (formerly Twitter) to reply to a fan asking, “Why no mention of J.R. in Mechanical Bull like the rest of the boys?” by joking, “Well yeah because I hate him”.

Zach Bryan references his lead guitarist, Graham Bright, his fiddle-player, Lucas Ruge-Jones, his drummer, Steve Clark, his guitarist, Noah Le Gros and his steel guitarist, Read ‘Two-Show’ Connolly, over the course of ’Mechanical Bull’, with Zach poking fun on X at the omission of his good friend and band-mate J.R. Carroll.

“Took a few years to get here brother

Greens are greener in the

Heat of summer

Calmness on this evenin’

Seems a drug

Graham and Lucas are

Having kids while

Steve’s busy raising his

While I climb out a hole I

Never dug

Likely there’s a spot

Twenty minutes or so

Used to get waisted

Ridin’ rodeo

Now it’s all

Mechanical Bull

Are the old ways dead?

Or livin’ in my head

There’s a smile on a photo

Catchin’ dust In your old A-part-ment

Are the old ways dead?

Or livin’ in my head?

It’s all veneer and up from here

So take a rest.

So I’ll set off runnin’

Like I said i’s gonna

And find another rodeo

I’m a mechanical bull

Throw a quarter and

Watch me go

And I get a little sad in the eve’nins

Knowin’ I’ll

never get a beatin’

Like being young and dumb again

In this life’s long rodeo

Maybe I’ll move to Texas

Let my soul grow bored and restless

And learn to rope and ride like Le Gros

Maybe I’ll learn the mando-and

to pick a banjo too

Ride all night on the highways

like Two-Show

Are the old ways dead?

Livin’ in my head

There’s a smile on a photo

catchin’ dust in your old A-part-ment

Are the old ways dead?

Or livin’ in my head?

It’s all veneer and up from here

So take a rest

It’s all veneer and up from here

So take a rest

It’s all veneer and up from here

so take a rest

Took a few years to get here brother

Greens are greener

in the heat of summer

Calmness on this evenin’

seems a drug”

For more on Zach Bryan, see below: