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.
Laying My Burdens Down
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
From the weight of my tears
I just started laying my burdens down
I used to duck bullets from the rifle of fear
I just started laying my burdens down
Oh I'm layin' 'em down
I just started laying my burdens down
Oh I'm layin' em down
The flesh ain't nothing but the bark on a tree
I just started laying my burdens down
The tree ain't nothing but the soul in me
I just started laying my burdens down
Oh I'm layin' 'em down
I just started laying my burdens down
Oh I'm layin' em down
I just started laying my burdens down
My soul took love on a hell of a ride
I just started laying my burdens down
A soul ain't nothing but the car love drives
I just started laying my burdens down
Oh I'm layin' 'em down
I just started laying my burdens down
Oh I'm layin' em down
I just started laying my burdens down
Love said Mama can I come on home
I just started laying my burdens down
And God said son you ain't never been gone
I just started laying my burdens down
Oh I'm layin' 'em down
I just started laying my burdens down
Oh I'm layin' em down
I just started laying my burdens down
In the lyrics to "Laying My Burdens Down," Willie Nelson speaks about the moment he decided to let go of his past and embrace the present. He describes how once he used to walk stooped with the weight of his tears, but now he has learned to lay his burdens down. He then speaks of his past experiences with fear, where he used to duck bullets from the rifle of fear, until he learned to lay his burdens down.
In the second verse, Willie Nelson describes life as a tree, and how the flesh is just the bark on a tree. He then talks about how the tree is nothing but the soul in us, and we must learn to lay our burdens down because they only weigh us down. In the final verse, he talks about his soul's journey, where his soul took love on a "hell of a ride." He then compares the journey to a car ride, where love is the car that drives us.
The song is about finding inner peace and letting go of the past to embrace the present. It is a powerful message about the human ability to overcome challenges and find happiness. The song also emphasizes the importance of love and how it can drive people to greater heights of self-discovery and fulfillment.
Line by Line Meaning
Well I used to walk stooped
I used to carry the weight of my problems and worries with me, it made me physically hunched over.
From the weight of my tears
My tears and emotions used to weigh heavily on me, causing me to walk stooped over.
I just started laying my burdens down
I have finally begun to let go of my troubles and put them aside.
I used to duck bullets from the rifle of fear
Metaphorically, I used to constantly avoid and fear the negative consequences that could come from my problems.
Oh I'm layin' 'em down
I am finally releasing and letting go of all the burdens and fears I have held.
The flesh ain't nothing but the bark on a tree
Our physical body is nothing compared to our inner soul.
The tree ain't nothing but the soul in me
Our inner soul is what truly makes us who we are and gives us strength.
My soul took love on a hell of a ride
Love has taken me through many highs and lows in life.
A soul ain't nothing but the car love drives
Our soul is nothing more than a vehicle for love to express itself and guide us through life.
Love said Mama can I come on home
Love is always seeking to find its way back home, to where it truly belongs and thrives.
And God said son you ain't never been gone
God reassures us that we have always been in His presence, and we never truly lose our way or disconnect from Him.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Willie Nelson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind