Shaver was raised by his mother, Victory Watson Shaver, his father Virgil having left the family before Shaver was born. Until he was 12, he spent a great deal of time with his grandmother in Corsicana so that his mother could work in Waco. He sometimes accompanied his mother to her job at a local nightclub, where he began to be exposed to country music.
Shaver's mother remarried about the time that his grandmother died, so he and his older sister Patricia moved in with their mother and new stepfather. Shaver left school after the eighth grade to help his uncles pick cotton, but occasionally returned to school to play sports.
Shaver joined the U.S. Navy on his seventeenth birthday. Upon his discharge, he worked a series of dead-end jobs, including trying to be a rodeo cowboy. About this time, he met and married Brenda Joyce Tindell. They had one son, John Edwin, known as Eddy, who was born in 1962. The two divorced and remarried several times.
Shaver took a job at a lumber mill to make ends meet. One day his right hand (his dominant hand) became caught in the machinery, and he lost the better part of two fingers and contracted a serious infection. He eventually recovered, and taught himself to play the guitar without those missing fingers.
Shaver lost two fingers in a sawmill accident when he was young.
Shaver set out to hitchhike to Los Angeles, California. He could not get a ride west, so he went to the other side of the highway and headed east, accompanying a man who dropped him off just outside Memphis, Tennessee. The next ride brought him to Nashville, where he found a job as a songwriter for $50 per week.[2] His work came to the attention of Waylon Jennings, who filled most of his album Honky Tonk Heroes with Shaver's songs. Other artists, including Elvis Presley and Kris Kristofferson, began to record Shaver's music. This led to his own record deal.
The first few recording companies he signed with soon folded. He was never able to gain widespread recognition as a singer, although he never stopped recording his own music. On his records, he has been accompanied by other major rock and country music musicians like Willie Nelson, Nanci Griffith, Chuck Leavell and Dickey Betts (of the Allman Brothers), Charlie Daniels, Flaco Jiménez, and Al Kooper.
After losing his wife, Brenda, and his mother to cancer in 1999, Shaver lost his son and longtime guitarist Eddy, who died at age 38 of a heroin overdose on December 31, 2000. Folk country artist Todd Snider wrote and dedicated his song Waco Moon to Eddy. Shaver nearly died himself the following year when he had a heart attack on stage during an Independence Day show at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas. After successful heart surgery, Shaver came back to release Freedom's Child in 2002.
In 1999, Shaver performed at the Grand Ole Opry. In November 2005, he performed on the CMT Outlaws 2005. In 2006, Shaver was inducted in the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. He later served as spiritual advisor to Texas independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman. For his efforts, the Americana Music Convention awarded him their Lifetime Achievement Award in Songwriting. He currently lives in Waco, Texas.
Bob Dylan mentioned Shaver in his song "I Feel a Change Comin' On" (Bob Dylan and Robert Hunter) on the album, Together Through Life (2009) - "I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver, And I'm reading James Joyce". Shaver is also the "hero" of the song, "Wish I Could Write Like Billy Joe" on the album "Stormy Love" by Bugs Henderson.
Shaver sang the themes to the Adult Swim Television show, Squidbillies. The opening themes, collectively called "Warrior Man", are only a stanza long and end with a sotto voce spoken word portion.
Shaver's debut album, Old Five and Dimers Like Me (1973), contained many songs noted for being performed by other artists such as David Allan Coe and Waylon Jennings. When I Get My Wings (1976) included "Aint No God In Mexico" (also a hit for Waylon Jennings). Gypsy Boy (1977) included "Honky Tonk Heroes" and "You Asked Me To".
Shaver is also remembered for his hit "Live Forever", co-written by his son Eddy, Robert Duvall performs it in the movie Crazy Heart and it is included in the soundtrack. The song was also performed by The Highwaymen and Joe Ely. Shaver also wrote numerous songs for artists such as Patty Loveless and Willie Nelson.
Shaver continued to release records throughout the 1980s and 1990s; the most notable was the critically acclaimed Tramp On Your Street, released in 1993, which prominently featured the guitar playing of Eddy Shaver.
Shaver's 2007 album country gospel style Everybody's Brother was Grammy-nominated. Many of the songs are duets with artists such as Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Tanya Tucker. Musicians playing on the album included Randy Scruggs, Laura Cash and Marty Stuart.
On May 22, 2014, Rolling Stone premiered the single-duet with Willie Nelson "Hard To Be An Outlaw". The album, Long In The Tooth was released on August 5, 2014 by Lightning Rod Records. After a 41-year career, Long in the Tooth became Billy Joe Shaver's first album to chart in Billboard's Top Country Albums, entering the chart at 19. The album also entered the Billboard 200, peaking at 157.
Comedian Norm Macdonald, an avid Shaver fan, occasionally praised his songwriting on his podcast Norm Macdonald Live. In 2018, Shaver appeared as a guest on Macdonald's Netflix program Norm Macdonald Has a Show.
Black Rose
Billy Joe Shaver Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Amongst the tall grown sugar canes
Lived a simple man and a dominiker hen
And a rose of a different name.
Well, the first time I felt lightning
I was standing in the drizzling rain
With a trembling hand and a bottle of gin
Well, the devil made me do it the first time
The second time I done it on my own
Lord, put a handle on a simple headed man
And help me leave that black rose alone.
When the devil made that woman
Lord, she threw the pattern away
She was built for speed with the tools you need
To make a new fool every day.
Way down deep and dirty
On the darker side of shame
I caught a cane cuttin' man with a bottle of gin
With a rose of a different name.
The devil made me do it the first time
The second time I done it on my own
Lord, put a handle on a simple headed man
Help me leave that black rose alone.
The devil made me do it the first time
The second time I done it on my own
Lord, put a handle on a simple headed man
Help me leave that black rose alone
The song "Black Rose" by Billy Joe Shaver is about a man who is infatuated with a woman named Black Rose, despite knowing that she is no good for him. The lyrics describe how he first met her in Virginia, with the unique line "Lived a simple man and a dominiker hen, and a rose of a different name," which suggests that Black Rose is not what she seems. The singer then confesses to feeling "lightning" the first time he saw her, and describes their subsequent encounters with a sense of danger and foreboding.
Throughout the song, the singer blames the devil for his love of Black Rose, claiming that he was compelled to be with her the first time they met. He also acknowledges that he has made the choice to continue seeing her, which he describes as doing it "on [his] own." Despite this, he asks for help from the Lord to overcome his attraction to her, recognizing that she is a "black rose" that is dangerous and potentially destructive.
The song speaks to the idea of forbidden love and the allure of danger. The singer knows that his attraction to Black Rose is not healthy or beneficial for him, but he is unable to resist her pull. It also touches on themes of addiction and the role that external forces, like the devil or a difficult situation, can play in our decision-making.
Line by Line Meaning
Way down in Virginia
In a place far away in Virginia
Amongst the tall grown sugar canes
There lived a man and a chicken in a sugarcane plantation
Lived a simple man and a dominiker hen
The man lived with a specific breed of chicken called Dominiker
And a rose of a different name.
He also had a rose bush that was unique and different
Well, the first time I felt lightning
The first time I fell in love
I was standing in the drizzling rain
It was raining lightly outside
With a trembling hand and a bottle of gin
I was nervous and had a bottle of alcohol with me
And a rose of a different name.
I was also admiring a different, unique rose in my garden
Well, the devil made me do it the first time
I was compelled by temptation the first time
The second time I done it on my own
But the second time, I fell in love on my own
Lord, put a handle on a simple headed man
Please provide guidance for someone who is easily swayed
And help me leave that black rose alone.
And prevent me from being tempted by a dangerous person or situation
When the devil made that woman
The woman I fell in love with was dangerous
Lord, she threw the pattern away
She was unconventional and unpredictable
She was built for speed with the tools you need
She was well-equipped to manipulate me and cause trouble
To make a new fool every day.
She could easily play with someone's emotions and leave them feeling foolish
Way down deep and dirty
In the depths of depravity
On the darker side of shame
In a place of guilt and wrongdoing
I caught a cane cuttin' man with a bottle of gin
I saw a man cutting sugarcane while drinking
With a rose of a different name.
I was also carrying a different type of rose with me
The devil made me do it the first time
I was tempted by the situation the first time
The second time I done it on my own
But the second time, I acted on my own accord
Lord, put a handle on a simple headed man
Please provide guidance for someone who is easily swayed
Help me leave that black rose alone.
And prevent me from being tempted by a dangerous person or situation
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: BILLY SHAVER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@kevinjones-zu1oq
"The devil made me do it the first time, the second time l done it on my own." Just one of his many classic lines. In my opinion he was the greatest songwriter in country music. RIP Billy Joe!!!
@jim34morrison
The man could tell a story.
@johnglenn30csardas
Agreed—the Cole Porter of Country Music.
@jamessnodgrass7360
It doesn't get any better, he could reach everybody with his song and story.
@x-rayvision3802
I'm born and raised in Los Angeles... but if country still sounded like this I'd be walking around with a cowboy hat and boots
@pumpkineckbort8856
One of the best country music writers to ever live.
@johnbutler5650
Billy Joe could turn a phrase like no other!
@rockers2rockers616
What a great band Billy Joe is playing with here.
@bengaliinplatforms1268
Tighter than an otters pocket
@jpb1231000
UMMm....
BLOOD is THICKER than WATER......
The GUITAR GUY is JOHN EDWIN SHAVER....
BJS'S SON!!! and a BAD ASS Foever!!!