“This Song Said It Perfectly”: The Alluring Willie Nelson Classic That Miranda Lambert Says Embodied Bad Boy Cowboys

In 1976, country singer-songwriter Ed Bruce first warned mammas to not let their babies grow up to be cowboys. Two years later, industry giants Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson took their version to the top of the charts. And after nearly five decades, “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” consistently ranks among the top country and western tunes of all time. In a recent interview with Texas Monthly, Miranda Lambert explains why she believes that’s the case.

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“It’s the Allure of the Bad Boy That We All Want”

Miranda Lambert has a thing for bad boys. She’s got a whole song about it and everything. So the “Kerosene” singer can certainly understand the enduring legacy of “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.”

“[Cowboys] have this reputation, because they don’t stick around long… But it’s the allure of that bad boy that we all want, and I feel like this song said it perfectly,” Lambert said during a recent appearance on the One By Willie podcast.

Lambert has put her own spin on the classic tune plenty of times—most recently with Calder Allen and Wade Bowen at Whitewater Amphitheater in New Braunfels, Texas, last May.

“I feel like it is one of those songs that I hear it differently every time I hear it—still, to me. It’s just, it’s such a message,” she said.

The nine-time ACM Female Vocalist of the Year continued, “And just seeing the crowd and what that song—like, the way that song hits people, seeing the crowd just sway their arms and sing it so loud.”

[RELATED: Watch Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings Perform “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” at Farm Aid in 1986]

Miranda Lambert Has Started Her Own Record Label

This past November, Miranda Lambert announced she had teamed up with songwriter Jon Randall to launch their own record label, Big Loud Texas. And she has said that a main goal in doing so was to preserve her home state’s rich legacy of outlaw country music.

“[We] started Big Loud Texas, our label down here, for that reason. But Willie and Waylon are the reason that we need to keep that going,” the “Wranglers” singer said. “Because think about how—not just country music—this music influenced all genres of music. I mean everybody, I don’t care where you are in the world, you say, ‘Willie Nelson’—people know.”

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