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.
Farther Along
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We're oft made to wonder
Why it should take us
All the day long
While there are others
Living about us
Never molested
Though in the wrong.
We'll know all about
Farther along
We'll understand why
Cheer up my brother
Live in the sunshine
We'll understand it
All by and by.
When we see Jesus
Coming in glory
When he comes down from
His home in the sky
Then we shall meet him
In that bright mansion
We'll understand it
All by and by.
Farther along
We'll know all about
Farther along
We'll understand why
Cheer up my brother
Live in the sunshine
We'll understand it
All by and by.
We'll understand it
All by and by
The song "Farther Along" by Willie Nelson explores the idea that our struggles and difficulties in life may not always be understood or explained in the present moment. The lyrics suggest that we may be tempted and tried, and made to wonder why we face certain challenges throughout the day, while others around us seemingly go unscathed, even if they are in the wrong. However, the chorus offers a message of hope that, even if we don't understand the reasons for our struggles now, we will eventually gain clarity and understanding as we move farther along in our journey. The song also speaks to the belief in a higher power, as the second verse references the coming of Jesus in glory and the promise of meeting him in a bright mansion.
Overall, the song offers a message of reassurance to those who may be struggling in the present moment, that while understanding may not come immediately, we will eventually begin to see the bigger picture and find resolution.
Line by Line Meaning
Tempted and tried
We are often tested and challenged.
We're oft made to wonder
We sometimes question why we face certain struggles.
Why it should take us
Why it seems to take us so long to overcome these challenges.
All the day long
Throughout the entire day, we are faced with trials.
While there are others
Despite the fact that there are people around us.
Living about us
Living close to us, potentially facing similar struggles.
Never molested
Who never seem to be facing the same challenges.
Though in the wrong.
Even if they are doing things that aren't 'right'.
Farther along
Eventually, in the future.
We'll know all about
We will know and understand everything there is to know about our struggles.
Farther along
Again, in the future.
We'll understand why
We will comprehend and find the meaning behind our trials.
Cheer up my brother
This line is addressed to someone dealing with these struggles and implies their situation is not hopeless.
Live in the sunshine
Find and focus on the positivity in life, even in the midst of trials.
We'll understand it
Again, we will eventually understand and find meaning in our struggles.
All by and by.
This is a reference to an unknown or unspecified future time.
When we see Jesus
At an unknown future time when we encounter Christ.
Coming in glory
A reference to Jesus' second coming, or it could be a metaphorical reference to God's kingdom on Earth.
When he comes down from
When he descends from his dwelling place in the sky.
His home in the sky
This line is a reference to the idea of heaven.
Then we shall meet him
At an unknown future time, we will have the opportunity to meet Jesus.
In that bright mansion
This line is a reference to heaven and suggests that will be the location of the meeting with Jesus.
Lyrics © RALEIGH MUSIC PUBLISHING
Written by: ELVIS PRESLEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Daniel Boone
The modern Christian has been trained in the modern church to keep up with modern mores. It seems to now not only be acceptable but expected that you embrace all manner of evil in the name of 'compassion.' Jesus told the woman taken up in adultery after having saved her life that he will not judge her and to go and sin no more. Yet these same Christians who embrace all manner of evil will tell you that even telling someone anything may possibly be considered sin is judgmental and hate-filled. I'm not here to judge ol' willy and his actions one way or the other(for to judge a man would be to mete out sentence). I'm not here to say a man is lost because of this or that behavior. The scripture speaks for itself.
The scripture says: Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
The scripture says: Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
The scripture says: Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
The scripture says: Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
The scripture says again in 1 Corinthians 6:12 :
All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
1 Corinthians 10:31: Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Now I'm not saying every man who smokes and fornicates and parties with devils is going to hell but if he's saved, there he is.
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
In Romans 6 we are told: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
If the man's saved, there he is.
May Christ Jesus bless and keep you folks
Bettina Woolard
one of my favorite songs sung by my favorite singer. It doesn't get any better.
Gary Justice
Jesus is always there to hold our weary hand
Nina Baugh
Beautiful!! The words to this song are not only beautiful - they are TRUE.
suzy schwarz
Nina Baugh always!
William Greene
There is just a lot listeners who will pass judgement on Willie and his life style but I am not one of them. Only God's singers can bring the tears and when my eyes clear I'll thank him for Willie.
Dean Broome
I think Willie is one of the most wonderful singers and guitar players us ever come out of Nashville but in God's eyes salvation is not by singing but believing in your heart the Lord Jesus I'm confessing with your mouth and he is the son of God in the Bible says you shall be saved it also says in the book of Hebrews if you're my children I will chastise you if you are without chastisement then are you bastards I never knew you there's a difference between knowing Jesus Satan knows Jesus and trembles and having the love of Jesus where he is number one in your life I pray that Willie well that kind of love towards his savior I've heard him say different roads lead to heaven that's not Jesus
Kookie1996
I happen to LOVE Willie myself.
suzy schwarz
I have never known Willie however his songs and music touch deep down to the soul as few peoples Have with the exception of Merle and George Jones. Not bad going I would say . Thank you.
Christian Rittenberry
Same not sane
Love not live
Christian Rittenberry
William Greene sane I live willie as a brother in Christ I live his music