Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American musician, actor, an… Read Full Bio ↴Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American musician, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger (1975) and Stardust (1978), made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. He was one of the main figures of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana.
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 album—destined to the IRS—and 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 hole—the 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.
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 album—destined to the IRS—and 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 hole—the 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.
Any Old Arms Won't Do
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'd like to rush into somebody's arms
And lose myself inside
But just any old arms won't do
They must belong to you
I'd like to know the soothing comfort
Of a love that never dies
But just any old love won't do
That love must come from you
I've tried so hard to find someone to love
Since I lost you
But they only make me realize
How much that I need you
I'd like to know when I grow older
Someone's heart will still be true
But just any old heart won't do
It must belong to you
I've tried so hard to find someone to love
Since I lost you
But they only make me realize
How much that I need you
I'd like to know when I grow older
Someone's heart will still be true
But just any old heart won't do
It must belong to you
And lose myself inside
But just any old arms won't do
They must belong to you
I'd like to know the soothing comfort
Of a love that never dies
But just any old love won't do
That love must come from you
Since I lost you
But they only make me realize
How much that I need you
I'd like to know when I grow older
Someone's heart will still be true
But just any old heart won't do
It must belong to you
I've tried so hard to find someone to love
Since I lost you
But they only make me realize
How much that I need you
I'd like to know when I grow older
Someone's heart will still be true
But just any old heart won't do
It must belong to you
In Willie Nelson's song Any Old Arms Won't Do, the singer is longing for someone to hold him but not just anyone. It must be the person he lost. The lyrics convey the idea that finding temporary companionship is not enough. The love and comfort he is seeking have to come from the person he truly loves. As he tries to find someone to replace the love he lost, he only realizes how much he needs the person he lost.
The lines "I've tried so hard to find someone to love since I lost you, but they only make me realize how much that I need you" depict the pain and loneliness the singer is feeling after losing the love of his life. The song talks about growing older, pledging that love and comfort, and ultimately finding the person who belongs in the singer's arms, heart and soul.
The song conveys a heart-wrenching sentiment that many people can relate to. It tells the story of a person who lost the one they loved but still wants that love and comfort to come from them alone. It is a tribute to the power and universality of true love.
Line by Line Meaning
I'd like to rush into somebody's arms
I want to embrace someone tightly
And lose myself inside
And forget all my pain and worries
But just any old arms won't do
But it has to be your arms
They must belong to you
Only your arms can provide the comfort I seek
I'd like to know the soothing comfort
I want to experience the calming effect
Of a love that never dies
Of a love that is eternal
But just any old love won't do
But it has to be your love
That love must come from you
Only your love can provide the joy I seek
I've tried so hard to find someone to love
I have searched for someone to love
Since I lost you
Since I lost your love
But they only make me realize
But they only make me see
How much that I need you
How much I rely on your love
I'd like to know when I grow older
I want to be certain that when I am older
Someone's heart will still be true
Someone will still love me deeply
But just any old heart won't do
But it has to be your heart
It must belong to you
Only your love can bring me happiness
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: HANK COCHRAN, WILLIE NELSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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@funluvnrm
BeaUtifUl & heart touching Marianne Menon, thank you deeply as our Will/ie Nelson will always be # 1... You have exquisite taste on this song. Sweet funluvn hugs coming your way... A special gift "below & to our Willie Nelson. 🎵 🌷 🌺 🌸 😆 👏 👍 💫 🌟 💛
~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~
~"Happy 420 Willie"~ I give this day of 4/20 celebration in 2018 just for you my friend... I hope life is treating you well all around bud, love ya & your always on my mind & how I wish I
could celebrate with ya, but always know, "I'm thinking of ya", always have & always Will/ie...
I'm also enjoying my medicinal medicines in my Willie's Reserve Vape Pen & I deeply thank you & I will always remember you are the best & I/So many appreciate & love you & thank you for being you, caring & sharing with so many people while living in such a fast paced world that we all reside in... ~"Big Smiles"~
Sweet funluvn hugs always bud! 💞 🎵 🌷 🌺 🌸 😆 👏 👍 💫 🌟 💛
~"Happy Fri'day & any other days ahead, enjoy your funluvn day to the fullest & many more ahead bud. ~"CHEERS"~
~♥~ "Love, Hope, Peace, Joy, Laugh, Sing, Give, Live & Let Live" ~♥~
~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~ ~♥~
@angiesiddall9563
You can't get any more country than this song. Wonderful to hear these songs, even if they are tearjerkers. Thank you Marianne for the great upload.
@dekelanson5280
I love Willie's early stuff such as this one. Jimmy Day's steel really adds to Willie's vocals.
@AndysDogHouse
He has a voice that nobody can copy. He puts his heart and sole in every song. I really love to hear every song of his.
@eileenbennett3413
Every song Willie sings is just Beautiful in my opinion this is my favorite. Any old arms wont do - your the best-est country singer -
@eileenbennett3413
Thank you Marianne my husband & i have always loved country music & we have always loved Willie Nelson no one has a voice like him straight from the heart.- best-est ever.
@j.broekman-dekker7191
The last one standing. He is one of the best!
@rebeccad5988
Beautiful song
Thank you dear friend Marianne great Willie Nelson hit .
God Bless You
@primroseharan9749
simply fantastic love this song from the great Willie nelson thanks for this lovely post
@ruthboykin9873
Listened to it twice and probably will again! So beautiful!
@moragmacrae9212
The Great Mr Willie Nelson x