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.
Freight Train Boogie
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But now he's resting in the promised land
The kind of music you can understand
Was an eight wheel driver under his command
He made the freight train boogie
All the time
He made the freight train boogie
When the fireman started to ring the bell
Everybody hung around to tell
Casey Jones was a coming to town,
On a six-eight wheeler that was flat on the ground
He made the freight train boogie
All the time
He made the freight train boogie
As he rolled down the line
Casey Jones he was a mighty man
But now he's resting in the promised land
The kind of music you can understand
Was an eight wheel driver under his command
He made the freight train boogie
All the time
He made the freight train boogie
As he rolled down the line
When the fireman started to ring the bell
Everybody hung around to tell
Casey Jones was a coming to town,
On a six-eight wheeler that was flat on the ground
He made the freight train boogie
All the time
He made the freight train boogie
As he rolled down the line
Willie Nelson's song "Freight Train Boogie" is a celebration of Casey Jones, the railroad engineer who became a legend in his own time. Casey Jones was a skilled and fearless driver who was famous for his ability to make the freight train he piloted "boogie," or move quickly and smoothly across the tracks. The song tells the story of Casey Jones' life and career, from his days as a young man to his untimely death in a train crash.
The lyrics of "Freight Train Boogie" are simple and direct, with a catchy melody that reflects the rhythm of the train's wheels as they roll across the tracks. The opening lines introduce Casey Jones as a "mighty man" who is now "resting in the promised land." The song then describes the kind of music that Casey Jones made as he drove his eight-wheel train, and how he made the train "boogie" all the time.
The chorus repeats the phrase "He made the freight train boogie" over and over again, emphasizing the power and energy of Casey Jones' driving. The second verse describes the excitement that Casey Jones' arrival in town created, with the fireman ringing the bell to announce his arrival. The final lines repeat the refrain from the first verse, cementing Casey Jones' legacy as a masterful driver who made the train "boogie" down the line.
Line by Line Meaning
Casey Jones he was a mighty man
Casey Jones was a strong and powerful man, respected by many
But now he's resting in the promised land
Unfortunately, Casey Jones has passed away and is buried in a sacred place
The kind of music you can understand
His style of music appeals to a wide audience, and is easy to appreciate
Was an eight wheel driver under his command
He was the conductor of an eight wheeled freight train
He made the freight train boogie
He gave the train an exciting and rhythmic sound as it traveled down the tracks
All the time
This was a consistent characteristic of Casey's train driving abilities
As he rolled down the line
This musical sound could be heard as the train moved along the tracks
When the fireman started to ring the bell
When the train's fireman pulled the cord to ring the bell, signaling the train's approach
Everybody hung around to tell
People would gather and wait for the train's arrival, eager to see Casey and his unique train
Casey Jones was a coming to town,
Casey and his train were on their way to the town
On a six-eight wheeler that was flat on the ground
His train was powered by six to eight wheels and traveled low to the ground
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: DOC WATSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
soneradio
Bravo Willie.
Karen Hannaford
I really like this. Do you know where I can buy the music from? I can't find it anywhere.
Danielle Lamouri
https://www.amazon.fr/Country-Music-Willie-Nelson/dp/B0033G9NO2
For more details , see here : https://www.allmusic.com/album/country-music-mw0001970131
Miguel Osvaldo Flores Dominguez
The original version by the Delmore Brothers is way better than this.