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.
Dallas
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Who do I know in Dallas that will help me forget she's gone
Shirley consoled me in Phoenix and Jeannie in old San Antone
But who do I know in Dallas that will help me forget that I'm alone
I can't spend the night without someone the lonelies will drive me insane
So who do I know in Dallas that will make me be happy I came
Who do I know in Dallas that will make me be happy I came
The lyrics to Willie Nelson's song "Dallas" tell the story of a man who is trying to forget about his loneliness and the woman who has left him. He is searching for someone in Dallas who can comfort him and make him feel less alone. The song explores themes of isolation and the search for connection.
The singer is desperately seeking companionship, as he cannot bear to be alone. He has tried turning to friends in other places, such as Shirley in Phoenix and Jeannie in San Antone, but he is still looking for someone who can help him forget his troubles. He is seeking a sense of belonging and a connection to others, which he hopes to find in Dallas.
The chorus repeats the question of who the singer knows in Dallas who can make him happy he came. The lyrics evoke a feeling of longing and vulnerability as the singer struggles with his loneliness and seeks a sense of belonging. Through this song, Willie Nelson captures the universal human desire for connection and the pain of feeling isolated and alone.
Line by Line Meaning
Who do I know in Dallas who can I call on the phone
I am feeling lonely and want to reach out to someone in Dallas who I can talk to on the phone.
Who do I know in Dallas that will help me forget she's gone
I need to find someone in Dallas who can help me forget about my ex-partner who is no longer with me.
Shirley consoled me in Phoenix and Jeannie in old San Antone
I have already talked to Shirley in Phoenix and Jeannie in San Antone who made me feel better momentarily.
But who do I know in Dallas that will help me forget that I'm alone
However, I still don't know anyone in Dallas who can help me feel less lonely.
I can't spend the night without someone the lonelies will drive me insane
If I spend the night alone, I will go crazy with loneliness and need someone to be with me.
So who do I know in Dallas that will make me be happy I came
I am searching for someone in Dallas who can make my visit worthwhile and enjoyable.
Who do I know in Dallas that will make me be happy I came
I am repeating my question as I am desperate to find someone in Dallas who can bring me comfort and happiness.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: COCHRAN, NELSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
jessie214
Great song love it
A D
"She's like a beautiful lady with a Mona Lisa smile, Dallas.
And she can charm you in her own Texas style, Dallas.
Would you believe she named her airport Love,
Just a symbol of what she's got plenty of.
She's a city with a mind of her own,
My own Dallas.
Take a ride on her Central Expressway,
Breeze down the LBJ.
Look her over good and you'll have to say,
She's the best dressed city in the USA.
I love my city of soul,
From Neiman's lace to the Cotton Bowl.
From Highland Park to Harold's square,
She swings like a blonde with a millionaire.
And you can bet that I never stay away for very long from Dallas.
Because like baby misses momma on his first night gone from home,
I miss Dallas.
She's a beautiful queen with a vast domain,
Whose subjects seem to thrive on everything that swings.
I could tell you more,
But I've got to catch a plane to Dallas."
Roy Bodden
Willie, when he was really singing! His 1960's RCA recordings were his best! When he became a hippy and changed his vocal stylings he lost my wife and I as a fan! We love those 1960's RCA recordings! His Columbia recordings stinks! His recording of "Blue eyes crying in the rain" is terrible! Strangely enough, I'm not much a fan of Conway Twitty, but I think Conway's recording of "Blue eyes crying in the rain" is the very best recording of that classic country song!
Bill Black
Nonsense