Songfacts®:

• "Cowboy Like Me" tells the story of two young swindlers who fall in love. Swift is so used to her and her partner in crime using their charms to scam rich old men and ladies, she doubts their own romance will last.
  
  And the old men that I've swindled
  Really did believe I was the one
  And the ladies lunching have their stories about
  When you passed through town
  
  Both Swift and her lover are independent spirits and bandits. Knowing how practiced he is at games of the heart, she knows she will end up getting hurt.
  
  You had some tricks up your sleeve
  Takes one to know one
  You're a cowboy like me
• Produced by Swift's frequent collaborator Aaron Dessner, this is a bluesy country song reminiscent of her early Nashville days. Josh Kaufman, who won the sixth season of The Voice, plays lap steel guitar, harmonica, and mandolin.
• Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons' fame provides backing vocals, which start on the second chorus.
• During an appearance on the Table Manners podcast, Marcus Mumford explained how Aaron Dessner contacted him seeking a "discreet" location for a high-profile artist to work. Mumford recalled his reaction: "I was like, 'Cool. Well, if it's one of your homies, then I'm sure it'll be fine. Like, what if it's Beyoncé or something?'" He then revealed the artist's identity: "And it was Taylor f---ing Swift."
  
  Taylor Swift subsequently used Mumford's Scarlet Pimpernel Studios in London to complete work on her album Evermore. Mumford described her as a "phenomenal house guest," adding that he "burned a lot of vegetables for her," and she "brought a killer candle, actually."
  
  He summarized the experience: "She finished the second half of Evermore in our studio. And then she asked me to sing along, and I said, 'Yes,'" referencing his backing harmony vocals on "Cowboy Like Me."