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 Still Can't Believe You're Gone
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But I tried to put my thoughts in a song
And all I can hear myself singin' is
I still can't believe you're gone
I still can't believe that you'd really leave me
What did I do was so wrong
There's just too many unanswered questions
But you're gone
And I'm alone
And I'm still livin'
I don't like it
But I'll take it till I'm strong
All I can hear myself singin' is
I still can't believe you're gone
But you're gone
And I'm alone
And I'm still livin'
I don't like it
But I'll take it till I'm strong
And all I can hear myself singin' is
I still can't believe you're gone
And I still can't believe you're gone
The lyrics of Willie Nelson's song I Still Can't Believe You're Gone express the pain of losing someone dear. The singer is struggling to come to terms with the reality of the situation and is trying to channel his emotions into a song. Despite his efforts, he finds himself singing the same refrain over and over, "I still can't believe you're gone." The lyrics express a sense of disbelief, confusion, and heartbreak that are so common when we lose someone close to us.
The singer is filled with questions about why the person left, wondering if he did something wrong. He is trying to make sense of the loss, but ultimately, there are too many unanswered questions. The repetition of the phrase "I still can't believe you're gone" underscores the pain of the singer as he continues to grapple with the loss. He acknowledges that he's alone and doesn't like it, but he's going to take it until he's strong enough to move forward.
The song highlights the human experience of loss and the pain it can bring. The repetition of the phrase "I still can't believe you're gone" is a powerful reminder of the lingering thoughts that often follow the death of someone close to us. The lyrics speak to the universal human experience of grief and the difficulty of coming to terms with loss.
Line by Line Meaning
It's the very first day since you left me
Just one day has passed since you left me
But I tried to put my thoughts in a song
To help me cope with my feelings, I attempted to write a song about my thoughts
And all I can hear myself singin' is
The only thing I can sing about is
I still can't believe you're gone
I'm still struggling to accept that you're really gone
I still can't believe that you'd really leave me
I'm finding it hard to believe that you would actually choose to leave me
What did I do was so wrong
I can't understand what I might have done to make you want to leave
There's just too many unanswered questions
I have too many unresolved questions about why you left
But you're gone
You're no longer here with me
And I'm alone
I'm by myself now
And I'm still livin'
But I'm still alive
I don't like it
I don't enjoy feeling this way
But I'll take it till I'm strong
But I'll endure it until I can handle it better
And all I can hear myself singin' is
The only thing I can sing about is
I still can't believe you're gone
I'm still struggling to accept that you're really gone
And I still can't believe you're gone
I'm still having a hard time believing that you're really gone
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: WILLIE NELSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Diana Valeria Ancona
It's the very first day since you left me
But I tried to put my thoughts in a song
And all I can hear myself singin' is
I still can't believe you're gone
I still can't believe that you'd really leave me
What did I do was so wrong
There's just too many unanswered questions
And I still can't believe you're gone
But you're gone
And I'm alone
And I'm still livin'
I don't like it
But I'll take it till I'm strong
All I can hear myself singin' is
I still can't believe you're gone
But you're gone
And I'm alone
And I'm still livin'
I don't like it
But I'll take it till I'm strong
And all I can hear myself singin' is
I still can't believe you're gone
And I still can't believe you're gone
Jeff Hopson
No other voice soothes me like the voice of Willie. It's like a long distance call from an old friend.
Paul Wilton
I cannot come up with the words to say it any better. Thanks my friend.
jan smith
I agree with you! But the sentiment behind it is more beautiful than the song itself!
Catherine Muirhead
What a brilliant way to put the voice of Willie Nelson...like a long distance call from an old friend... beautifully put and so true, thank you ♥️
Catherine Muirhead
Couldn't have put it better Jeff, brilliant
packrat Buggs
He is real country music.
john tooke
This man could get tears from a stone,,,there is none better,,in my opinion,,keep going willy!
Teri
So so true! His music is raw…guitar and voice.
Teri
So so true!
Dorothy Brice
THIS is the first time I have heard this song, it is beautiful