Ned Sublette - Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly

[@smokey1255]

I went to forestry school in a small cow town in the late 1960s. This song tells it like it is. The worst part of living there was you might as well be in an abbey, all of us were deep in the close. I got a BS but left college as a virgin.

[@LauraRamirez-zd3il]

Ned wrote this for Willie and now Orville is covering Willie and everything gets carried forward. Of note, check out Ned - he was an interesting guy.

[@thingsthathappenedtomymoth2816]

He’s with us still, I’m happy to say: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Sublette

[@mikeymullins5305]

This was NOT written for Willie. It was written a good twenty years before he touched it

[@Jobywankatoby]

Must’ve been right after Dolly Parton wrote “I’ll Always Love You” for Whitney Houston

[@richardnguyen8087]

He still is an interesting guy? He is also an academic, has multiple degrees in music, released music history books, and was a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient in the subject of music research.

[@jodypschaeffer]

Great song. The fact that Willie gave such a public platform for it just shows how awesome he is. :)

[@vivilounge9013]

Ned Sublette is brilliant especially his cowboy rumba. Caught him at the Montreal Jazz fest years ago, he signed my cd!

[@durchhalter]

brilliant, especially when you think about the age of this COUNTRY song

[@BillMartino]

Thanks so much for posting this recording! I loved it straight away when I first heard it back in the 1980s, but only ever had a very poor quality 3rd or 4th generation cassette copy of it, which I lost anyway. This is the first time I've been able to hear the instrumentation properly, and I agree 100% with AlejandroDelLoco: it really can't be beat.

[@patrick47302]

What an excellent version of the song and yes I agree the sound effects can't be beat! This version is now in my list of favorites!

[@livy9169]

BRUH GUYS THIS IS THE ORIGINAL

[@curlyeye]

@JustDanl Sublette wrote the song, not Willie. This version here is Sublette himself singing it. Willie left out one verse and changed the end of the last verse when he did it. This song is also covered by Pansy Division though I prefer their version the least of the 3.

[@nosignaturerequired]

Ned Sublette, legend and hero! Check out his book on Cuba - comprehensive!

[@GuyCybershy]

I remember seeing this guy on a Canadian tv way back when, but this record could not be found in any record store that I looked it.

[@bostonianreggie]

A mid mtn bike ride hello to u sir

[@fancypantsdancer]

@JustDanlNed Sublette wrote it when he was living in Manhattan next to a gay country bar.

[@t.d.motycka3559]

got turned on to this tune via a compilation called 'Life's a killer' back in the 80's check out the jim carrol reading.Killer

[@henrysavage2547]

Amazing

[@Ookamikage13]

I can't take this song. It's perfect. Oh my gosh.

[@JustDanl]

@curlyeye Thanks for the info! I think this is the best of the 3 versions I've heard too. The video w/Willie was cute though. Burt Reynolds was funny as hell in it.

[@hautehussey]

What do you think of the new version?!!

[@mikeymullins5305]

FYI, this is the original. Pansy division did a cover of this in the nineties, and THEN willie Nelson did his own cover concurrent with the real ease of brokeback mountain. I'm not saying he did it for the money, but I am saying this song was good and gay way before a str8 came along.

[@toomany_bones]

Sick! I didn't know the pansy division was from the 90s, I'll check out their cover

[@heggy_69]

I like the implication that Willie Nelson made it less gay

[@JaredBStewart]

Why aint this shit on Spotify?

[@nzbear]

It is on Spotify but only the Willie Nelson which is a great rendition & worth listening too & replaying

[@JackEnnis]

ETA: I've never heard all the lyrics. Thank you!

[@Scorpion11381]

better than most, thanks

[@JustDanl]

Who is singing this? I thought Willie Nelson wrote it. I also have it in my Karaoke collection and it gets sung frequently as well. :-)

[@lynwood77]

It's been ages, so you likely now know or don't care anymore, but for those reading the comments, the singer and writer is Ned Sublette. An avant-garde musician and composer as well as an ethnomusicologist. In the 80s and 90s he worked with all the big brain NYC composers (Cage ,LaMonte Young, Branca, etc) but his own contribution was to build a country band out of jazz musicians and try to combine country music with Caribbean rhythms. It's all at least as weird as this song.

[@sahirygnobehi6448]

Is this a cover or the original. Cause all I heard was Willie Nelson’s version.😊😊

[@FrankButterfield]

The original. The singer is the songwriter.

[@HarveyAverne]

HOT,. GOOD JOB NED

[@stoutyyyy]

Texas? There's only steers and queers come from Texas, and you don't look like a steer to me so that narrows it down

[@JackEnnis]

Great cover... better video than the original.

[@smokey1255]

I think this the original, at least it's sung by the writer. Willie and the Pansy Division were covers.

[@carlwilson6235]

@@smokey1255 yes, this is the original