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 albumโdestined to the IRSโand 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 holeโthe 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.
Fool
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I was dazzled by your kisses - blinded by your charms
I was lost in a fool's paradise
Good and lost in a fool's paradise
When you told me that you loved me - I gave my heart to you
And I wondered if there could be any truth in love so new
I was lost - in a fool's paradise
The whole world was my kingdom
And you the gem in my crown
Then I saw you glance at a new romance
And my love came tumbling down
Though you treat me kind of coolish - and may never let me know
That you think I'm being foolish because I love you so
I'll still got lost in a fool's paradise
Lost with you in a fool's paradise
Willie Nelson's song "Fool" is a classic country tune about love, heartbreak, and foolishness. The opening lines express the all-consuming feeling of being in love, as the singer describes how they were taken up to heaven when their love interest took them in their arms. The imagery of being dazzled by kisses and blinded by charms is a classic description of being swept off one's feet. However, the title of the song, "Fool," is a hint that this love story does not have a happy ending.
As the song continues, we learn that the singer was lost in a fool's paradise when they were with their lover. They were so enamored with this person that they believed that the whole world was their kingdom and that their lover was the gem in their crown. However, when the singer saw their lover glance at a new romance, their love came tumbling down. This is a classic story of heartbreak - the realization that the love you thought was real was actually built on shaky ground.
Line by Line Meaning
You took me up to heaven - when you took me in your arms
I felt an immense amount of love and joy when you first held me.
I was dazzled by your kisses - blinded by your charms
I was mesmerized by your affectionate actions and I was willing to follow you blindly.
I was lost in a fool's paradise
I was so deeply in love with you that I was willing to give everything up for you without any logical reasoning.
Good and lost in a fool's paradise
I was too deep into my love for you that I lost sense of reality and was living in a delusional world.
When you told me that you loved me - I gave my heart to you
Your confessions of love engrossed me to the point where I was ready to give myself completely to you.
And I wondered if there could be any truth in love so new
I was unsure if your love was genuine or if it was just a fleeting emotion.
The whole world was my kingdom
I felt like I had everything I could want, and my love was my supreme quality.
And you the gem in my crown
You were the center of my universe, and I believed that with you, everything else will fall into place.
Then I saw you glance at a new romance
I realized that you were not loyal or faithful to me, and my world came crashing down
And my love came tumbling down
My emotions crumbled alongside my once-strong attachment to you.
Though you treat me kind of coolish - and may never let me know
Even though you appear distant and avoidant, you may not reveal to me that my love is futile.
That you think I'm being foolish because I love you so
You may believe that my love for you is unfounded, and I am foolish for not realizing this.
I'll still got lost in a fool's paradise
Despite knowing that my love is fruitless, I am still enmeshed in a fantasy world with you that I cannot escape.
Lost with you in a fool's paradise
I am hopelessly lost in a world with you where my love seems to be the only reality, and I cannot break free from it.
Lyrics ยฉ Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DAVID AVID, JOHNNY FULLER, ROBERT GEDDINS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Bill Harding
I never heard this song before it was featured in a Rockford Files episode last week (05 September 2014)
Oingo Boingo
+Bill Harding bill funny you mention that'..i remember seeing the origal rockford files ..in the 70's and heard this song, went out the next day..looking for this album..amazing..40's yrs later, i see someone saying the same thing!..the guest star on that episode, was bo hopkins...
Quint Hooper
+Shanghai Bob It was a good episode. That was a great show.
Rob Trindade
Bill Harding Ha! same.
Rustic Vermont Creations
Bill Harding So cool, that's where I heard it too!
Jim Klappenberger
I just looked up the song watching Rockford. for the record Taylor Lacher was the guest star. Not Bo Hopkins
KGSnow2
I heard this first on the original airing of Rockford Files in the 70s. My sister and I both liked it, and did not know what (or who) it was. We waited for the summer re-runs (no internet in those days) and while my sister figured out the correct chords for guitar, my Mom took down the lyrics for us in shorthand!
Brian Clarke
Heard it the Rockford Files in the 70's and one day it popped into my head. Not on an album I don't think but one day I did find it here. Still love it
Lisa Marie
One of the best memorable Willy Nelson songs.๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ
ElvisLives2010
Great Song!ย Now I realize my life has a soundtrack to it.