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.
I Am a Pilgrim
Willie Nelson Lyrics
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But I've got a home, in that yonder city, good Lord!
And it's not, good Lordy, it's not made by hand.
I'll see my father, mother, sister and brother,
Who have gone to that sweet home
And I am determined to go and see them, good Lord
Over all, good Lordy, over all that distant shore
And I go down to the river Jordan
Just to bath my weary soul
And if I could touch
Just the hem of his garment, good Lord
And I believe, good Lordy, I believe
You've made me whole
Now when I'm dead and in my coffin
And all my friends all gather round
They can just say that he's laying there sleeping, good Lord
Sweet peace, good Lordy, sweet peace his soul is found
I am a pilgrim, and a stranger,
traveling through this wearisome land.
I've got a home, in that yonder city, good Lord!
And it's not, good Lordy, it's not made by hand.
The lyrics to Willie Nelson's "I Am a Pilgrim" speak to a universal theme of feeling like an outsider in this world and longing for a home in the next. The singer identifies as a pilgrim and a stranger, emphasizing a sense of displacement and transience. The wearisome land through which they travel suggests a difficult journey filled with hardship and struggle. However, the singer finds solace in the idea that they have a home waiting for them in a city beyond this world - a home that is not made by human hands but rather by a higher power.
The second stanza brings a personal touch as the singer expresses a desire to be reunited with loved ones who have already reached this "sweet home." The determination to see them implies a deep longing for connection and belonging. The mention of the river Jordan and the idea of bathing the weary soul suggests a need for spiritual renewal and cleansing. Finally, the lyrics express a belief in the power of faith to make one whole and bring peace in death.
Overall, the lyrics to "I Am a Pilgrim" are highly poetic and metaphorical, capturing the emotions of a person who may feel lost or disconnected from the world around them. The song speaks to the human longing for belonging, purpose, and a sense of meaning beyond the physical world.
Line by Line Meaning
I am a pilgrim, and a stranger, traveling through this wearisome land.
I consider myself a traveler in this tiresome world, and I feel like an outsider in this materialistic existence.
But I've got a home, in that yonder city, good Lord!
I have hope in finding solace and acceptance in that divine city.
And it's not, good Lordy, it's not made by hand.
What awaits me is not a man-made place, but an ethereal and heavenly sanctuary.
I'll see my father, mother, sister and brother, who have gone to that sweet home
My family members who have passed away before me have reached that divine city, which gives me further motivation.
And I am determined to go and see them, good Lord over all, good Lordy, over all that distant shore
I am committed and resolute in my pursuit of reaching that far-off shore to be reunited with my loved ones.
And I go down to the river Jordan just to bath my weary soul
I immerse myself in the holy river Jordan to renew myself from the weariness of this world.
And if I could touch just the hem of his garment, good Lord, I believe, good Lordy, I believe, you've made me whole
I have an unwavering trust that even the slightest touch of that divine figure can make me complete.
Now when I'm dead and in my coffin and all my friends all gather round, they can just say that he's laying there sleeping, good Lord, sweet peace, good Lordy, sweet peace his soul is found
When I pass away, I wish for my loved ones to say that I am resting in peace, knowing that my soul has found that divine city and everlasting peace.
I am a pilgrim, and a stranger, traveling through this wearisome land. I've got a home, in that yonder city, good Lord! And it's not, good Lordy, it's not made by hand.
This is a repetition of the opening lines, reaffirming that our mortal world is only a temporary phase before our journey to a much better destination.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ROGER MILLER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Adam Clark
Willie is the epitome of legend
Jim Malcolm
Great Country Gopel, by The Great Countryman Willie Nelson.
Jim Malcolm
Country