The Sharon Vaughn-Penned Song Waylon Jennings Recorded First and Willie Nelson Took to No. 1, “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys”

In 1976, Waylon Jennings recorded Sharon Vaughn’s song “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys” for his compilation Wanted! The Outlaws, but never released it as a single. Vaughn originally wrote the song when her then-boyfriend, Bill Rice, asked her to write a cowboy song for Bobby Bare. When Bare turned it down, Jennings grabbed it.

A year later, Willie Nelson recorded the song for the 1979 film The Electric Horseman, starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. Nelson’s version went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Sydney Pollack’s Production

Legendary director Sydney Pollack produced the track for Nelson and added trumpets, harps, and French horns to the country song.

“He did have some good ideas,” said Nelson of Pollack’s arrangement. “Also David Grusin, the musical director, I’m not sure exactly how it happened, but David is a very good musician. And I’m sure that if he heard this horn or that horn in there, he’d go ahead and put it in, regardless of whether it was a country song or not. David heard all these things and said they should go in there. Sydney was smart enough to leave ’em in.”

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‘Cowboy Ways’

In the song, Nelson sings of the cowboys he looked up to as a kid and how he dreamed of becoming one, despite the miserable conditions of living such a life.

I grew up 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 all the rules of a modern-day drifter

Don’t you hold on to nothin’ too long

Just take what you need from the ladies, then leave them

Were the words of a sad country song

My heroes have always been cowboys

And they still are, it seems

Sadly, in search of, took one step in back of

Themselves and their slow-movin’ dreams

Cowboys are special with their own brand of misery

From bein’ alone too long

You can die from the cold in the arms of a night, man

Knowin’ well that your best days are gone

Pickin’ up hookers instead of my pen

I let the words of my youth fade away

Old worn-out saddles, and old worn-out memories

But no one and no place to stay

After “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys” went to No. 1, Columbia released Willie’s version of the Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider,” which was also featured in the film and peaked at No. 6. The Electric Horseman soundtrack also featured Nelson and Jennings classic duet “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys.”

Willie Nelson’s Acting Debut

The Electric Horseman also marked Nelson’s acting debut. In the romantic Western, Nelson plays Wendell Hickson, an old cowboy who offers some advice to the has-been rodeo star Sonny Steele (Redford), who is performing shows in Vegas, wearing a suit covered in lights on stage with his horse, The Rising Star.

Vaughn’s Big Hit

“My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys” was Vaughn’s first big success as a songwriter. She also had hits with the Oak Ridge Boys’ 1977 song “Y’all Come Back Saloon,” which went to No. 5, and went on to work with more country artists, including Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Tanya Tucker, Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood, Randy Travis, and Patty Loveless.

Vaughn also lived in Sweden for many years before moving to Nashville in 2020 and has also worked with dozens of international acts, including No. 1 hits for Swedish pop artists Agnes and Ola.

She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019.

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images