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.
Fly Me To The Moon
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And let me play among the stars
And let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words
Darling kiss me
And let me sing forever more
'Cause you are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words
Please be true
And in other words
I love you
Why don't you fill my heart with song
And let me sing forever more
'Cause you are all I long for
All I worship and adore
And in other words
Please be true
And in other words
And in other words
I love you
Willie Nelson's Fly Me To The Moon is a romantic and dreamy song that calls on the listener to use their imagination and dream of an interstellar journey with a loved one. The essence of the song is to explore space as a metaphor for the infinite possibilities in a romantic relationship. The lyrics use imagery to describe moments on distant planets and stars, and the singer calls on their lover to be by their side through all of it. The singer asks for their lover to hold their hand, kiss them, and fill their heart with song, expressing their devotion and love. They want their lover to be true and assure them of their love, asking for them to be their constant companion on this imagined journey of the stars.
The song's lyrics have a song-long message of love and romance, with an emphasis on the infinite possibilities of love, and how it can transport us beyond our wildest dreams. The message is one of optimism, as the singer imagines a future where they have found a partner who will share in their wonderful journey. Interestingly, unlike most love songs that tend to focus on physical intimacy or heartbreak, Fly Me To The Moon is a romantic song that is also about the value of imagination and dreaming. It underscores the idea that the infinite possibilities of love are only limited by the limitlessness of our imaginations.
Line by Line Meaning
Fly me to the moon
Take me on an extraordinary journey out of this world
And let me play among the stars
Let me experience the celestial bodies and their beauty
And let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars
Allow me to explore the vastness of space, specifically the planetary bodies of Jupiter and Mars, as if it were a new season on Earth
In other words, hold my hand
I am asking you to provide support and comfort as we embark on this journey together
In other words, darling kiss me
I am expressing my longing for romance, intimacy, and love
Fill my heart with song
I want to feel joy, happiness, and fulfillment in my heart
And let me sing forever more
I want to express my emotions and convey my feelings through music for eternity
'Cause you are all I long for
You are the person I desire most in this world
All I worship and adore
You are the one I honor and revere above all others
In other words, please be true
I am requesting honesty and sincerity in our relationship
And in other words, I love you
My emotions and feelings towards you are that of deep, romantic love
Why don't you fill my heart with song
I am asking for you to provide me with the same level of fulfillment, love, and joy that music brings to my heart
And let me sing forever more
I want to express my emotions and convey my feelings through music for eternity
'Cause you are all I long for
You are the person I desire most in this world
All I worship and adore
You are the one I honor and revere above all others
And in other words, please be true
I am requesting honesty and sincerity in our relationship
And in other words, and in other words, I love you
My emotions and feelings towards you are that of deep, romantic love
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Bart Howard
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind