Born during the Great Depression and raised by his grandparents, Nelson wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at ten. During high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitar player. After graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the U.S. Air Force but was later discharged due to back problems. After his return, Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out because he was succeeding in music. During this time, he worked as a disc jockey in Texas radio stations and a singer in honky-tonks. Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington, where he wrote "Family Bible" and recorded the song "Lumberjack" in 1956. He also worked as a disc jockey at various radio stations in Vancouver and nearby Portland, Oregon. In 1958, he moved to Houston, Texas, after signing a contract with D Records. He sang at the Esquire Ballroom weekly and he worked as a disk jockey. During that time, he wrote songs that would become country standards, including "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Hello Walls", "Pretty Paper", and "Crazy". In 1960 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and later signed a publishing contract with Pamper Music which allowed him to join Ray Price's band as a bassist. In 1962, he recorded his first album, ...And Then I Wrote. Due to this success, Nelson signed in 1964 with RCA Victor and joined the Grand Ole Opry the following year. After mid-chart hits in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Nelson retired in 1972 and moved to Austin, Texas. The ongoing music scene of Austin motivated Nelson to return from retirement, performing frequently at the Armadillo World Headquarters.
In 1973, after signing with Atlantic Records, Nelson turned to outlaw country, including albums such as Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages. In 1975, he switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded the critically acclaimed album Red Headed Stranger. The same year, he recorded another outlaw country album, Wanted! The Outlaws, along with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. During the mid-1980s, while creating hit albums like Honeysuckle Rose and recording hit songs like "On the Road Again", "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", and "Pancho and Lefty", he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen, along with fellow singers Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson.
In 1990, Nelson's assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service, which claimed that he owed $32 million. The difficulty of paying his outstanding debt was aggravated by weak investments he had made during the 1980s. In 1992, Nelson released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?; the profits of the double albumโdestined to the IRSโand the auction of Nelson's assets cleared his debt. During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson continued touring extensively, and released albums every year. Reviews ranged from positive to mixed. He explored genres such as reggae, blues, jazz, and folk.
Nelson made his first movie appearance in the 1979 film The Electric Horseman, followed by other appearances in movies and on television. Nelson is a major liberal activist and the co-chair of the advisory board of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which is in favor of marijuana legalization. On the environmental front, Nelson owns the bio-diesel brand Willie Nelson Biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oil. Nelson is also the honorary chairman of the advisory board of the Texas Music Project, the official music charity of the state of Texas.
Nelson uses a variety of music styles to create his own distinctive blend of country music, a hybrid of jazz, pop, blues, rock and folk. His "unique sound", which uses a "relaxed, behind-the-beat singing style and gut-string guitar" and his "nasal voice and jazzy, off-center phrasing", has been responsible for his wide appeal, and has made him a "vital icon in country music", influencing the "new country, new traditionalist, and alternative country movements of the 1980s and 1990s".
In 1969, the Baldwin company gave Nelson an amplifier and guitar with their "Prismatone" pickup. During a show in Helotes, Texas, Nelson left the guitar on the floor of the stage, and it was later stepped on by a drunk man. He sent it to be repaired in Nashville by Shot Jackson, who told Nelson that the damage was too great. Jackson offered him a Martin N-20 Classical guitar, and, at Nelson's request, moved the pickup to the Martin. Nelson purchased the guitar unseen for $750 and named it after Roy Rogers' horse "Trigger". The next year Nelson rescued the guitar from his burning ranch.
Constant strumming with a guitar pick over the decades has worn a large sweeping hole into the guitar's body near the sound holeโthe N-20 has no pick-guard since classical guitars are meant to be played fingerstyle instead of with picks. Its soundboard has been signed by over a hundred of Nelson's friends and associates, ranging from fellow musicians to lawyers and football coaches. The first signature on the guitar was Leon Russell's, who asked Nelson initially to sign his guitar. When Nelson was about to sign it with a marker, Russell requested him to scratch it instead, explaining that the guitar would be more valuable in the future. Interested in the concept, Nelson requested Russell to also sign his guitar. In 1991, during his process with the IRS, Nelson was worried that Trigger could be auctioned off, stating: "When Trigger goes, I'll quit". He asked his daughter, Lana, to take the guitar from the studio before any IRS agent arrived there, and then deliver it to him in Maui. Nelson then concealed the guitar in his manager's house until his debt was paid off in 1993.
Nelson is widely recognized as an American icon. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, and he received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1998. In 2011, Nelson was inducted to the National Agricultural Hall of Fame, for his labor in Farm Aid and other fund raisers to benefit farmers. In 2015 Nelson won the Gershwin Prize, the lifetime award of the Library of Congress. In 2018 The Texas Institute of Letters inducted him among its members for his songwriting. He was included by Rolling Stone on its 100 Greatest Singers and 100 Greatest Guitarists lists.
A Mansion on the Hill
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm lonesome and oh how I feel
As I sit here alone in my cabin
I can see your mansion on the hill
Do you recall when we parted
The story to me you revealed
You said you could live without love, dear
In your loveless mansion on the hill
[ dobro ]
I've waited all through the years, love
To give you a heart true and real
Cause I know that you're living in sorrow
In your loveless mansion on the hill
The light shines bright from your window
And the trees stand so silent and still
I know you're alone with your pride, dear
In your loveless mansion on the hill
In your loveless mansion on the hill
The lyrics of Willie Nelson's song "A Mansion on the Hill" present a tale of heartbreak and longing for lost love. The singer is alone in his cabin, feeling lonesome and thinking of his former love's mansion, which he can see in the distance. He remembers how she told him she could live without love and how she now lives in a loveless mansion on the hill. The singer has waited years to give his former love a true and real heart as he knows she is living with sorrow in her loveless mansion. He observes the light shining from her window and the trees standing silent and still, and he imagines her being alone with her pride.
The song's lyrics are a poignant representation of the inner lives of those who live in opulence but are burdened with emotional emptiness. The mansion becomes a metaphor for a life of lonely wealth, and the cabin metaphorically represents a simple life full of love and companionship. The lyrics also suggest that love is a necessity for a fulfilling life and that the absence of love causes great pain.
Line by Line Meaning
Tonight down here in the valley
I am currently feeling lonely while in the valley
I'm lonesome and oh how I feel
I feel very lonely
As I sit here alone in my cabin
I'm sitting alone in my cabin, thinking about someone else
I can see your mansion on the hill
I can see your mansion, which is on a hill
Do you recall when we parted
Do you remember when we went our separate ways?
The story to me you revealed
You told me a story back then
You said you could live without love, dear
You told me you could live without love, my love
In your loveless mansion on the hill
You said you could live without love in your big mansion, which is on a hill
I've waited all through the years, love
I've waited all these years, my love
To give you a heart true and real
To give you a genuine and honest love
Cause I know that you're living in sorrow
Because I know that you're living in sadness
In your loveless mansion on the hill
In your big mansion, which is on a hill, where you don't have love
The light shines bright from your window
The light from your window is very bright
And the trees stand so silent and still
The trees are very quiet and still
I know you're alone with your pride, dear
I know you're alone with your pride, my love
In your loveless mansion on the hill
In your big mansion, which is on a hill, where you don't have love
Lyrics ยฉ BMG Rights Management
Written by: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
TONY ANZELLINO
Hi Marianne, I love the voice of Willie Nelson, he's one of a kind. His songs always tell a story of love, loss and reunion. Even his guitar playing is so unique. Thanks for sharing, take care and stay safe.๐ค๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ถ๐ต๐ธ๐ธโโโ
Janet Farris
I love this song. Willie does it so much better than anyone else. His voice is so smooth and makes my heart feel every word
clfhnt
Thanks Willie for this moving rendition
Lennie Volle
I never get tired of Willie!!!
Mara Karetsos
Wonderful song!!!!!๐ถ๐ผ๐ผ๐ผ๐ถ๐ผ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ผ๐ผ๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐ผ๐ผ๐ผ๐๐๐๐
Mara Karetsos
Wonderful song!!!
Keep going strong!!
The ONE and ONLY!!!๐ถ๐ถ๐ถ๐ถ๐ถ๐ถ๐ถ๐ถ๐ถ๐ธ
Janet Dorothy Neo Retnam
So unique and lovely
Marianne Menon
Thank you Janet, I agree with a big smile :)
~Marianne...
flatroofer
Beautiful. Irreplaceable. Willie Nelson.
Marianne Menon
+flatroofer Thank you so much for your kind comment ...I so agree with you !
~Marianne...