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.
If You Could See What's Going Through My Mind
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And if your ears could hear the rhythms and the rhymes
If you could see our love directing time
If you could only see what's going through my mind
And if you only knew the values of unknowns
And if you could see transitions going on
And if my lips could speak the words, the truth you'd find
If you could only see what's going through my mind
And if your ears could hear the rhythms and the rhymes
And if you could see our love directing time
If you could only see what's going through my mind
If you could only see what's going through my mind
If you could only see what's going through my mind
If you could only see what's going through my mind
The lyrics of Willie Nelson's "If You Could See What's Going Through My Mind" speak of the deep connection one person can have with another, where thoughts, feelings, and desires all come together to form a complex web of emotions. The song begins by painting a picture of the thoughts of the singer, thoughts that remain incomprehensible to the rest of the world. The singer yearns for the ability to share these thoughts with their beloved in a way that they too could understand them. The second verse speaks of the unknowns in life, which are often misunderstood but could be made clear if only they had the ability to communicate properly. The third verse speaks of the truth that lies within the singer's heart, which remains hidden until they have the opportunity to express it to their beloved.
The chorus brings the song full circle, emphasizing the importance of understanding what's going through another person's mind. If only the beloved could comprehend the singer's thoughts and emotions as they exist, free from societal expectations and cultural preconceptions, they would be able to truly see each other as they are. This song is a poignant reminder of the importance of empathy and open communication in relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
If you could only see what's going through my mind
I wish you could understand and experience the thoughts and emotions that pass through my mind
And if your ears could hear the rhythms and the rhymes
If you could truly comprehend and appreciate the intricate and beautiful patterns of my thoughts and feelings
If you could see our love directing time
If you could witness how the intensity and passion of our love shapes and influences the course of our lives
And if you only knew the values of unknowns
If you could grasp the elusive and mysterious elements of my personality and existence
And if you could see transitions going on
If you could perceive the shifting and evolving nature of my thoughts as they progress and change over time
And if my lips could speak the words, the truth you'd find
If I could fully express the depth and honesty of my thoughts and feelings, you would understand the reality of our love
If you could only see what's going through my mind
If only you could witness and comprehend the full range and complexity of my emotions and experiences
If you could only see what's going through my mind
Again, if only you could truly understand and connect with the thoughts and feelings that move through my mind
If you could only see what's going through my mind
One final plea to be fully seen and understood in a way that transcends words and logic
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
rimakuja
Wonderful tune with a lovely arrangement :) Thank you my dear Marianne for a lovely video with all these great pictures included :) Hugs from Stephan
Marianne Menon
+rimakuja ....♥ Thank you Stephan!! Yes, a Willie tune not heard that often but like you said it has a lovely musical arrangement indeed! I'm glad you enjoyed it sweet you ♥ Have a nice Sunday, and hugs from across the miles :)
~Marianne...
jo luttringer
Wonderful tune with a lovely arrangement (the electric guitar on left channel is very great recorded (Grady ?) - Thanks for answer. God bless you. Jo
Marianne Menon
+jo luttringer :) Good Morning Jo!! Yes it's Grady Martin on electric and Chip Young on rhythm guitar!! You know it so well Jo!! Have a nice Sunday!! Take good care! :)
~Marianne...