Shaver is most commonly associated with American singer Billy Joe Shaver, h… Read Full Bio ↴Shaver is most commonly associated with American singer Billy Joe Shaver, however there are also several other bands with the name Shaver, one of the best known hailing from Kendal, England.

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Billy Joe Shaver is an American country music singer/songwriter. He was born August 16, 1939 in Corsicana, Texas. 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, after his father Virgil left the family before he was born. Until he was 12, he spent a great deal of time with his grandmother in Waco, Texas so that his mother could work. 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, Shaver 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 decided that life was too short to do something he didn't enjoy, so he set out one day to hitchhike to L.A.. He couldn't get a ride west, and ended up accompanying a man who dropped him off just outside of Memphis, Tennessee. The next ride brought him to Nashville, where he found a job as a songwriter for $50/week. 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.

Unfortunately for Shaver, 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.

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. 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, Billy Joe came back to release a new album entited "Freedom's Child" in 2002.

Billy Joe Shaver is known for his hit "Live Forever" performed by The Highwaymen. He also wrote numerous songs for artists such as Patty Loveless and Willie Nelson. For his efforts, the Americana Music Convention awarded him their Lifetime Achievement Award in Songwriting.

In 1999, Shaver was invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. In November of 2005, Billy Joe Shaver performed on the CMT Outlaws 2005. In 2006, Shaver was inducted in the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. He recently served as spiritual advisor to Texas independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman. He currently lives in Waco, Texas.

In 1996, Shaver took a part in the movie The Apostle, playing opposite Robert Duvall. He had additional speaking roles in the Duvall film Secondhand Lions (2003) and in The Wendell Baker Story (2005).

In 2004, a documentary of his life, A Portrait of Billy Joe was released. The documentary was directed by Luciana Pedraza.

Quotations
"If you don't love Jesus, you can go to hell."
"May the God of your choice bless you." (Lent to his friend Kinky Friedman for his gubernatorial campaign)

I'm In Love
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 I have 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 you're the angel of light
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 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
I'm in love

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Shavers' song "I'm in Love" express a deep feeling of love and gratefulness towards someone that has come to awaken the singer's spirit and allow him to see beyond the darkness and vanity of his past. The first verse refers to a realization of a past filled with suffering and insanity, but with the realization that this person has come to live inside him, the singer is reborn and feels free. The chorus exclaims the feeling of being in love and how it has changed the singer's perception of life.

The second verse uses metaphors to describe the significance of this love and how it has affected the singer's life. The phrase "the first and the last and the only time I've ever been born again" suggests that this love has brought a sense of renewal and a new way of living. The line "the beginning of forever" also emphasizes the idea of a new beginning and a sense of eternity. The chorus repeats the sense of being in love and the angelic presence of the person that has brought this love into the singer's life. The reference to the sea being grown by this angelic figure further emphasizes the impact and significance of this love.

Overall, the lyrics of "I'm in Love" convey the transformative power of love and how it can bring a sense of new beginnings and freedom from past experiences.

Line by Line Meaning

From the dimness of night I have awakened to my vanity
I have realized my own value and importance after being lost in darkness.

Oh, why have I all these years suffered this insanity?
I wonder why I wasted so many years feeling crazy and confused.

Thank God I can feel you really live inside me
I'm grateful that I feel your presence inside me and it gives me comfort.

I'm in love, I'm in love
I am passionately in love and it fills me with joy.

Oh, the first and the last and the only time
This is the first and only time I have truly felt alive and happy.

I've ever been born again, and the cold is finally severed
I feel like I've been given a new life and I am free from my past struggles.

I am free to begin the beginning of forever
I am liberated to start a new journey that has endless possibilities.

I'm in love, I'm in love
I am passionately in love and it fills me with joy.

I'm in love, I'm in love and I know I know I know
I am certain and confident that I am truly in love.

I know it, you're the angel of life
You are the person who brings positivity and happiness into my life.

You have sung the sea and grown it
You have the power to make the impossible possible and you make my life better.