Willie Nelson sings for gay cowboys
Willie Nelson has released a new song about the kind of love that happens between two men on the wide open range. The Texas country music icon says of "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other" that "the song's been in the closet for 20 years. The timing's right for it to come out. I'm just opening the door." Nelson recorded a song for the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack, a melancholy ballad entitled "He Was a Friend of Mine."
Two years ago, David Anderson, Nelson's friend and tour manager of three decades, told his boss that he's gay. Last year when Nelson recorded a batch of previously unreleased songs for iTunes, he discovered the song in a stack of demos he had tossed into a drawer. It was written in 1981 by Lubbock-born singer-songwriter Ned Sublette and Anderson says it's Willie's way of letting him know everything is ok. Lyrics such as "I believe to my soul that inside every man there's the feminine" and "What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?" are delivered deadpan, giving the song an air of seriousness. If you have iTunes, download the song here for only 99 cents. I have to say it's truly a classic. Nelson's song, according to the Dallas News (Thanks Dan-x), is the first gay-themed release by a major country music artist, but haven't there been others by women?
Comments
Pansy Division released this song on their 1995 album Pileup.
Posted by Barrick? on February 17, 2006 10:22 AM
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