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.
Black Rose
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Lived a simple man and a domineerin' hen and a rose of a different name
The first time I fell lightly I was standing in the drizzlin' rain
With a trembling hand and a bottle of gin and a rose of a different name
The devil made me do it the first time the second time I done it on my own
Lord put a handle on a simple handed man and help me leave that black rose alone
When the devil made that woman Lord she threw the pattern away
Way down deep and dirty on the darker side of shame
You caught a cane cuttin' man with a bottle of gin with a rose of a different name
The devil made me do it the first time
The devil made me do it the first time
The song "Black Rose" by Willie Nelson tells the story of a man who falls for a woman who he calls a "rose of a different name". The song is set in Louisiana among the sugar canes and the man is described as being simple, while the woman is described as being domineering and built for speed with the tools to make a new fool every day. The man falls for the woman despite her dark past and the warning signs that he should stay away from her.
The first time the man falls for the woman, he is standing in the rain with a bottle of gin and a trembling hand. He blames the devil for making him do it, but the second time he falls for her, he does it on his own. He asks the Lord for help to leave the black rose alone as he knows the woman is trouble.
The song speaks to the allure of danger and the inability to resist temptation. The black rose is a symbol of this danger and the woman is compared to it. The man is aware that he should stay away from her, but he is drawn to her like a moth to a flame. The song also suggests that the woman is a man-eater, who uses men and discards them when she is done.
Overall, "Black Rose" is a cautionary tale about the danger of falling for someone who is bad for you, despite the warning signs.
Line by Line Meaning
Way down in Louisiana amongst the tall grown sugar canes
In Louisiana, surrounded by lush fields of sugar canes and tall plants lived a man with his domineering partner and a special rose that stood out from the rest.
Lived a simple man and a domineerin' hen and a rose of a different name
A humble man lived there with his controlling partner and a unique rose that didn't quite fit in.
The first time I fell lightly I was standing in the drizzlin' rain
I fell in love for the first time while standing in the rain, feeling vulnerable and exposed.
With a trembling hand and a bottle of gin and a rose of a different name
I held onto a bottle of gin and the unique rose in my shaking hands as I felt overcome with emotion.
The devil made me do it the first time the second time I done it on my own
The first time I fell in love was with a little help from temptation, but the second time around, I was on my own in making that mistake.
Lord put a handle on a simple handed man and help me leave that black rose alone
I pray to God to give me the strength to resist the temptation of that mesmerizing and dangerous woman so I may not suffer the consequences of falling for her again.
When the devil made that woman Lord she threw the pattern away
This woman was a force to be reckoned with, a unique individual like no other that the Devil himself created.
She was built for speed with the tools you need to make a new fool every day
She was fast, cunning, and always had the power to manipulate anyone she wanted. She could easily take advantage of others and leave them feeling foolish.
Way down deep and dirty on the darker side of shame
She was someone who lived and operated in the shadows, frequently engaging in immoral and shameful acts.
You caught a cane cuttin' man with a bottle of gin with a rose of a different name
You found a man with a cane-cutting instrument, holding a bottle of gin, and the unique rose I once held onto - that man was me.
The devil made me do it the first time
The first time I experienced love, I fell under the spell of the Devil's temptation.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: BILLY SHAVER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind