Cowboys love smoky old pool halls and clear mountain mornings

Willie Nelson had a hit with this song mostly because of the kitchy chorus which is impossible to resist howling along with.

Why shouldn’t mothers let their babies grow up to be cowboys? The verses tell the story of conflicted men who love things that don’t appear to have much to do with each other – on the surface anyway. They like things that are aligned with their own natures. Everything about a child or a puppy just is what it is, ditto for ladies of the night (apparently). And smoky pool halls are perfect and pure as clear mountain mornings, in their own way.

Willy spells it out for us:

He ain’t wrong, he’s just different, but his pride won’t let him do things to make you think he’s right

A line as clunky as this can only be telling the truth. A cowboy is caught in the trap of not being able to explain himself, not because he doesn’t understand his own motivations, but because explaining them would diminish something that is important to him. Men of a physical world, construction workers, cops, cowboys, live and die by the clarity of their body language, and the consequences of their actions – explanations are anathema because they undercut the fluidity from which their authority and confidence flow. Men like this are needed, but people don’t like them, and the world, especially the modern world, is hard for them. Willie knows it, and that’s why he tells Mommas to be on the lookout for telltale trucks and twangers. Thank goodness though that there are some good men who don’t listen to their Mommas, and some Mommas who don’t listen to cowboys like Willie.

Advertisement