Tracy Nelson (born in Madison, Wisconsin, on 27 December 1944) is an Americ… Read Full Bio ↴Tracy Nelson (born in Madison, Wisconsin, on 27 December 1944) is an American singer. She fronted 60s blues band Mother Earth and recorded albums in her own name and as Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas and Tracy Nelson.

In her teens, Nelson sang folk music in coffeehouses and with The Fuller's Wood Singers group, and was lead singer in The Fabulous Imitations band.

In 1966, Nelson moved to San Francisco where she became part of the SF music scene . The band she fronted, Mother Earth, played the Fillmore Auditorium, sharing bills with the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix. It was during this period that Nelson wrote and first recorded her signature song "Down So Low" (released on the Mother Earth album "Living with the Animals") that was later covered by a number of artists including Linda Ronstadt, and Etta James. Nelson re-recorded "Down So Low" herself several times.

In the late 1960s, Nelson relocated to Nashville, where she and Mother Earth recorded the album Make A Joyful Noise and the solo effort Tracy Nelson Country. In 1974, her duet with Willie Nelson, "After the Fire is Gone," was nominated for a Grammy Award.

After a lengthy hiatus from recording in the 1980s, Nelson released several albums on the independent Rounder Records label in the 1990s. Her 1998 "Sing It!" collaboration with label-mates Marcia Ball and Irma Thomas (as Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas and Tracy Nelson) garnered a second Grammy nomination.

Since the early 2000s, Nelson has recorded for various independent record labels. Other projects include a collaboration with blues-rock veterans Nick Gravenites, Harvey Mandel, Corky Siegel and Sam Lay (as the Chicago Blues Reunion), with Angela Strehli, Annie Sampson, and Dorothy Morrison (as the Blues Broads), and performed intermittently with Missouri band the Bel Airs and with Chicago-based Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues.

Growing up in the early 1960s, Nelson immersed herself in R&B, and later what she calls "the folk scare of the sixties." As an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin, she combined her musical passions singing folk and blues at coffeehouses and R&B at frat parties. In 1964 she went to Chicago to record her first album, Deep Are The Roots. A young harmonica player from Memphis named Charlie Musselwhite played on the album and the two would explore the city's famed south side where she met and was inspired by such legendary figures as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Spann and others. A short time later, Nelson moved to San Francisco and, in the midst of the era's psychedelic explosion, formed Mother Earth. After six Mother Earth albums for Mercury Records and Reprise Records, Nelson continued to record as a solo artist on various labels.

You'll Be Mine
Tracy Nelson Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Well darling all the night
You'll be mine and I know
You'll be mine
Till you die
You'll be mine
And so all the night
You'll be mine
You'll be mine

And the stars
Always shine
You'll be mine

Oh
My darling, when you brunt
That toast the other morning
I, I looked into you eyes and

I could see that national health
Eyeball
And I love you, like I never done,
Like I never done before!

Oh darling
In your eyes
And you'll be mine
You will be mine
You'll be mine

And the star and so
You'll be mine

Overall Meaning

Tracy Nelson's song "You'll Be Mine" is a love song that celebrates the singer's lover. The lyrics speak of the singer's confidence that their lover will always be theirs, even till death. The repetition of "You'll be mine" is used as a symbol of the singer's deep affection and belief that their love will last forever.

The lyrics contain a moment of tenderness when the singer sees something particular in their lover's eyes that fills them with love. Perhaps it is the way they look when burning toast in the morning. This small, usual moment is portrayed as a special and intimate moment between the two lovers.

The reference to the "national health/eyeball" in the song is a reference to the National Health Service (NHS) which is a publicly funded healthcare system in the United Kingdom. This line illustrates the cultural context in which the song was written, as Nelson is an American artist who would not commonly reference the NHS in her work.

Overall, "You'll Be Mine" is a song about the enduring nature of love, and the small moments that make it precious.

Line by Line Meaning

Well darling all the night
My love, throughout the entire night

You'll be mine and I know
You belong to me and I'm certain of it

You'll be mine
I own your heart

Till you die
Until the end of your life

And so all the night
Throughout the entire night

You'll be mine
You'll remain mine

And the stars
Even the stars above

Always shine
Will bear witness to our love

Oh
My love

My darling, when you brunt
My dear, when you burnt

That toast the other morning
The piece of bread at breakfast

I, I looked into you eyes and
I gazed into your eyes and

I could see that national health
I could see the health of our nation

Eyeball
While staring deeply

And I love you, like I never done,
And I love you like never before

Like I never done before!
Like I've never loved anyone else

Oh darling
Oh, my love

In your eyes
As I look into your eyes

And you'll be mine
You will always be mine

You will be mine
I claim you as mine

And the star and so
Even the stars in the sky

You'll be mine
I will always be your heart's owner

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: WILLIE DIXON, ADDY ADRIAAN ZWAN VAN DER, AJ JUNIOR, BILAL HAJJI, FABIAN FABIUS L A LENSSEN, FADIL EL-GHOUL, MARK NIEUWENHUIZEN, MAURICE OUDE BOOYINK, NADIR KHAYAT, FADIL GHOUL EL, MARK G B NIEUWENHUIJZEN

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