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.
Just Out of Reach
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Dreams that just won't let me be
Blues that keep on botherin' me
Chains that just won't set me free
Too far away from you and all your charms
Just out of reach of my two empty arms
Each night in dreams I see your face
I awake and find you gone
I'm so blue and all alone
So far away from lips so sweet and warm
Just out of reach of my two empty arms
That ol' lonesome feelin' all the time
I know you'll never be mine
Dreams that hurt me in my sleep
I mean vows that we just couldn't keep
Too far away from you and all your charms
Just out of reach of my two empty arms
In Willie Nelson's song, "Just Out Of Reach," the lyrics evoke the feelings of heartbreak and unrequited love, as Nelson sings about love that runs away from him and dreams that won't let him be. The lyrics mention the blues that keep bothering him and chains that won't set him free, all while being too far away from the person he loves and all their charms. The song paints a picture of a man who can't forget about his love and is constantly reminded of what he can't have. Each night he dreams of her face, but when he wakes up, he is alone and surrounded by the emptiness of his two arms. Nelson's baritone voice adds another layer of melancholy and sadness to the lyrics about unfulfilled love.
The song touches upon universal experiences that anyone who has loved and lost can relate to. The desire to be close to someone, but realizing that it's impossible, is a heart-wrenching feeling that Nelson captures beautifully. The sentiment of being just out of reach of love and everything that comes with it is a theme that many other musicians have touched upon in their own work.
Line by Line Meaning
Love that runs away from me
Love that I had is lost and gone
Dreams that just won't let me be
I keep dreaming about you and can't stop thinking of you
Blues that keep on botherin' me
I am constantly feeling down and depressed without you by my side
Chains that just won't set me free
I feel trapped and unable to move on from my love for you
Too far away from you and all your charms
Being too far away from you and unable to experience your wonderful traits hurts me deeply
Just out of reach of my two empty arms
I am unable to physically embrace you as you are not with me
Each night in dreams I see your face
I am haunted by my memories of you and dream of you every night
Memories time can't erase
I cannot forget the good times we shared and the memories we made together
I awake and find you gone
I wake up each morning and realize you are not there with me
I'm so blue and all alone
I am left feeling sad and lonely without you
So far away from lips so sweet and warm
Being separated from your loving embrace and the comfort you provide is difficult for me
That ol' lonesome feelin' all the time
I am constantly feeling lonely and down without you by my side
I know you'll never be mine
I am aware that we cannot be together despite my deep love for you
Dreams that hurt me in my sleep
My dreams of you are causing me emotional pain and distress
I mean vows that we just couldn't keep
We made promises to each other that we were unable to fulfill, which led to our separation
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Virgil Stewart
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind