Billy Joe Shaver (born in Corsicana, TX, on 16 August 1939; died 28 October… Read Full Bio ↴Billy Joe Shaver (born in Corsicana, TX, on 16 August 1939; died 28 October 2020) was an American Texas country music singer and songwriter. Shaver's 1973 album 'Old Five and Dimers Like Me' is a classic in the outlaw country genre.

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.

I'm In Love
Billy Joe Shaver Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

From the dimness of night I have awakened to my vanity
Oh, why have I all these years suffered this insanity?
Thank God I can feel you really live inside me
I'm in love, I'm in love

Oh, the first and the last and the only time
I've ever been born again, and the cold is finally severed
I am free to begin the beginning of forever

I'm in love, I'm in love

I'm in love, I'm in love and I know I know I know
I know it, you're the angel of life
You have sung the sea and grown it
For the rest of my life, I can never keep from glowing
I'm in love, I'm in love

I'm in love, I'm in love and I know I know I know
I know it, you're the angel of life
You have sung the sea and grown it
For the rest of my life, I can never keep from glowing

I'm in love, I'm in love
I'm in love, I'm in love

Overall Meaning

Billy Joe Shaver's song "I'm in Love" expresses a deep emotional awakening and realization that is a result of being in love. The lyrics describe a moment of clarity that the singer experiences after existing in a state of mental and emotional darkness for years. The singer expresses their gratitude for this newfound feeling of love and appreciation for the person who has helped them to see the light. This person is described as the angel of life who has sung the sea and grown it.

The lines "the first and the last and the only time I've ever been born again" suggest that this experience of falling in love has brought about a rebirth in the singer's life. They feel free to begin the beginning of forever and are filled with a sense of hope and excitement for the future. The repetition of the phrase "I'm in love, I'm in love" emphasizes the intensity of this feeling and the certainty that the singer has about their love.

The use of metaphors such as "angel of life" and "sung the sea and grown it" adds a poetic and romantic quality to the lyrics. Overall, the song expresses an intense emotional experience of falling in love and the transformative power that it can have on a person's life.

Line by Line Meaning

From the dimness of night I have awakened to my vanity
I have finally realized the emptiness of my existence

Oh, why have I all these years suffered this insanity?
I question why I have been deluded for so long

Thank God I can feel you really live inside me
I am grateful for the presence of a higher power within me

I'm in love, I'm in love
I am deeply and sincerely in love

Oh, the first and the last and the only time
This is the one and only time this has happened to me

I've ever been born again, and the cold is finally severed
I feel reborn and the coldness of my past is gone

I am free to begin the beginning of forever
I am free to start a new and better life forever

I'm in love, I'm in love
I am deeply and sincerely in love

I'm in love, I'm in love and I know I know I know
I am certain and confident about my love

I know it, you're the angel of life
I am convinced that my love is a divine being of life

You have sung the sea and grown it
My love has created and nurtured the sea