Who would have thought that Willie Nelson would become so ultra gay-friendly? He never struck us as homophobic in any way, but with an incredible song on the gay movie of the decade and a newly recorded track, “Cowboys are Frequently Secretly (Fond of Each Other),” he might just beat Madge and Mariah Carey as the musical champion of the queer community. So why didn’t the song end up on the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack?
Actually, I didn’t get there in time. Ang Lee, the director of the movie, did all the music. He’s the one that called me and asked me to do the song that I have at the end of the movie, called He Was a Friend of Mine. We laughed a lot about it, sayin’ we ought to put this song in there, but it wouldn’t have fit. It’s not serious enough for the movie.
We beg to differ. We think it would have been the perfect song for Jack Twist to hum by the campfire at night to Ennis Del Mar. Maybe that would worked as an subtle hint, successfully forcing Ennis out of his shell (and out of his pants) a little sooner than that cold night he was made his way into both Jack’s pup tent and his rear.
Brokeback Balladeer [Time]
