Just in time for Valentine's Day: Boing Boing pal and Texas-native-songwriter Ned Sublette shares news that Willie Nelson has recorded Ned's ode to Dorothy-befriended cowpokes, "Cowboys are Frequently Secretly." The song is available on iTunes, and a ringtone's on the way.
"There's going to be a Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly ringtone, and I'm told there is also a video, though I haven't seen it.," says Ned. "It was covered by the queercore group Pansy Division, who changed it from a waltz to 4/4. I tried to place it in Brokeback Mountain, but the word I got was that it was too funny for a tear-jerkin' movie."
Snip from lyrics:
There's many a strange impulse out on the plains of West Texas
There's many a young boy who feels things he don't comprehend
Well, the small town don't like it when somebody falls between sexes
No, the small town don't like it when a cowboy has feelings for men.Now I believe to my soul that inside every man there's the feminine
And inside every lady there's a deep manly voice loud and clear
Well the cowboy may brag about things that he does with his women
But the ones that brag loudest are the ones who are most likely queer.
The Dallas Morning News today quoted a prepared statement by Willie as saying, "The song's been in the closet for 20 years." Link. Here's the iTunes download: Link.
In related news, Nelson has launched "BioWillie," an eponymously-branded, clean-burning fuel made from soybeans.
BioWillie went on sale Wednesday at an alternative fuel station in San Diego where the 72-year-old singer filled his tour bus from a pump emblazoned with a picture of himself strumming a guitar.
Link to AP story.
