On The Yellow Brick Road Again

Sure we knew the guy is a pothead, but we had no idea he was also a friend of Dorothy. Willie Nelson, who recorded the slow, hauntingly beautiful “He Was a Friend of Mine” for the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack, has recorded another assless chaps and worn saddle ballad titled “Cowboys are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other).”

“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 might just start a new dance craze called “The Redneck Shuffle (Toward Enlightenment)” wherein a previously homophobic fella’ boot scoots across a crowded dance floor to his neighborhood gay and gives him a big old hug. Either that or Willie Nelson’s gonna’ get beat up.

Willie Nelson Releases Gay Cowboy Song [ABC News]