NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Country music outlaw Willie Nelson sang "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" and "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" more than 25 years ago. He released a very different sort of cowboy anthem this Valentine's Day.

"Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other)" may be the first gay cowboy song by a major recording artist. But it was written long before this year's Oscar-nominated "Brokeback Mountain" made gay cowboys a hot topic.

Available exclusively through iTunes, the song features choppy Tex-Mex style guitar runs and Nelson's deadpan delivery of lines like, "What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?" and "Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out."

The song, which debuted Tuesday on Howard Stern's satellite radio show, was written by Texas-born singer-songwriter Ned Sublette in 1981. Sublette said he wrote it during the "Urban Cowboy" craze and always imagined Nelson singing it.

Someone passed a copy of the song to Nelson back in the late 1980s and, according to Nelson's record label, Lost Highway, he recorded it last year at his Pedernales studio in Texas.

Nelson has appeared in several Western movies and sings "He Was a Friend of Mine" on the "Brokeback Mountain" soundtrack.





He's so not interested in this girl.




Much better.
[Edited 2/15/06 8:50am]

I so thought this was a joke.

But yep , there it is on itunes.

I may have to break down and buy my first song from ITunes. His cover on the Brokeback soundtrack is fantastic.

pansy division did a cover of this song a while back...

Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to sing If Was Your GirlFriend...

Willie's cute...

ABeautifulOne said:

you dont get out much do you?

newpower99 said:

I wasn't serious, he has dentures...I don't do dentures