On Gays, Cowboys, Stereotyping, Machoness and other Issues

Of late, I have been listening to many obscure songs and most of my latest blogposts are based on one song or another. This one is on that Willie Nelson song, "Cowboys are frequently, secretly fond of each other", written by Ned Sublette, and earlier performed by Pensy Division.

Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly (Fond of Each Other)
Willie Nelson

There's many a strange impulse out on the plains of West Texas;
There's many a young boy who feels things he can't comprehend.
Well small town don't like it when somebody falls between sexes,
No, small town don't like it when a cowboy has feelings for men.

Well I believe to my soul that inside every man there's a feminine,
And inside every lady there's a deep manly voice loud and clear.
Well, a cowboy may brag about things that he does with his women,

But the ones who brag loudest are the ones that are most likely queer.

Cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other —
Say what did you think those saddles and boots was about?
And there's many a cowboy who don't understand
the way that he feels towards his brother,
And inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out.

Well there's always somebody who says what the others just whisper,
And mostly that someone's the first one to get shot down dead:
When you talk to a cowboy don't treat him like he was a sister
You can't fuck with the lady that's sleepin' in each cowboy's head.

Cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other —
Say what did you think those saddles and boots was about?
And there's many a cowboy who don't understand
the way that he feels towards his brother,
And inside every lady there's a cowboy who'd love to come out.
And inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out.
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Now, I love Willie Nelson; he is my hero, in a sense! How can one not love someone, who plays guitar, wears cowboy hat, smokes truckloads of pot and does not pay taxes? But then, while searching for the song I came across a blogspot which made me think if the lyrics of this song were not just another prime example of stereotyping so prevelant in this country.

Mind you, in the USA, if you are a single guy, and you keep your apartment neat and clean, then the popular belief is that you are gay! If you wear briefs instead of boxers, then the general consensus is that you are gay! And so, another, usual stereotype is that "inside every gay guy, there is a woman trying to come out"

Is it really so? Is it so easy to identify a gay man that way? Is it that every person who walks with a gait, or has feminine gestures is gay? I don't think so.

One of my colleagues once very stubbornly insisted that a well-known professor in our field "must be gay". Later, I read that that professor has been married to the same woman since 1965, when he was 20 or 22 years old. Some other people, in turn, think that this particular colleague of mine is gay! (This reminds me of the popular Bollywood symbolism, where any pregnant woman would have to throw up, by default. And that led to such a situation that any girl/woman throwing up any place is immediately suspected of pregnancy by the populance in many places in India.)On the other hand, who would have thought that someone like J. Edgar Hoover, who terrorised the USA for years, was gay? Or for that matter, Rock Hudson?

Perhaps the whole stereotyping happened because some of the first openly gay people were related to the fashion industry, a so-called feminine field.Whatever may the cause be, did Willie insult the gay people by his song? Would Willie so that to cowboys? That does not seem feasible to me, especially when it should come from the man who sang:

My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (Album: Essential Willie Nelson)

I grew up a-dreamin' of bein' a cowboy,
and Lovin' the cowboy ways.
Pursuin' the life of my high-ridin' heroes,
I burned up my childhood days.
I learned of all the rules of the modern-day drifter,
Don't you hold on to nothin' too long.
Just take what you need from the ladies, then leave them,
With the words of a sad country song.
My heroes have always been cowboys.
And they still are, it seems.
Sadly, in search of, but one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow-movin' dreams.

Cowboys are special with their own brand of misery,
From being alone too long.
You could die from the cold in the arms of a nightmare,
Knowin' well that your best days are gone.
Pickin' up hookers instead of my pen,
I let the words of my years fade away.
Old worn-out saddles, and 'old worn-out memories,
With no one and no place to stay.

My heroes have always been cowboys.
And they still are, it seems.
Sadly, in search of, but one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow-movin' dreams.

Sadly, in search of, but one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow-movin' dreams.
_______________________________
Perhaps not! Perhaps all Willie wanted to do was to do his bit, or forward his support to the gay people. Or maybe that he just wanted to make a few bucks by riding the popular wave, especially when Brokeback Mountain was already made, and his song, "He was a friend of mine" was used in it.

Who knows! Only poor Willie will be able to answer, unless of course he already forgot what he did!
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Sources:
http://www.i-walt.com/inquietudes/archives/2006/02/cowboys_are_secretly_fond_of_each_other.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pansy_Division
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queercore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Nelson
http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/nelson-willie/my-heroes-have-always-been-cowboys-2510.html
http://www.worldmagblog.com/blog/archives/014434.html
http://ca.music.yahoo.com/read/news/21629728
http://zinhof.blog.hr/arhiva-2005-06.html