Willie Nelson – My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys, was recorded by Waylon Jennings on the 1976 album Wanted! The Outlaws, and further popularized in 1980 by Willie Nelson as a single on the soundtrack to The Electric Horseman. “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys” was written by Sharon Vaughn and Nelson’s version was his fifth number one on the country chart. The single stayed at number one for two weeks and spent a total of fourteen weeks on the country chart.
Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
Willie Nelson – My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
From the album The Electric Horseman
B-side “Rising Star (Love Theme)”
Released January 1980
Genre Country
Length 3:06
Label Columbia Records
Songwriter(s) Sharon Vaughn
Producer(s) Willie Nelson Sydney Pollack
TOP 100 WESTERN SONG
Willie Nelson – My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys Lyrics
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
GENIUS
