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.
Local Memory
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And up and down our block there's not a sound
I close my eyes and search for peaceful slumber
And just then the local memory comes around
Piles of blues against the door to make sure sleep will come no more
She's the hardest working memory in this town
Turns out happiness again and then lets loneliness back in
Each day I say tonight I may escape her
I pretend I'm happy and never even frown
But at night I close my eyes and pray sleep finds me
But again the local memory comes around
Rids the house of all good news then sets out my crying shoes
What a faithful memory never lets me down
We're both up till light of day chasing happiness away
And each night the local memory comes around
Piles of blues against the door to make sure sleep will come no more
It's the hardest working memory in this town
Turns out happiness again and then lets loneliness back in
And each night the local memory comes around
And each night the local memory comes around
In Willie Nelson's song "Local Memory," the singer struggles with letting go of painful memories that haunt them every night. The lyrics convey a sense of resignation to the inevitable return of the "local memory," which is personified as an oppressive force that "rids the house of all good news" and "sets out [the singer's] crying shoes." The singer creates stacks of blues music in an attempt to drown out the memories, but they ultimately prove futile. The repetition of the phrase "each night the local memory comes around" emphasizes the unrelenting nature of the singer's pain.
The singer's attempts to escape the memory during the day are fruitless, as they "pretend [they're] happy and never even frown," but the memory always returns at night. The juxtaposition between the stillness of the sleeping neighborhood and the turmoil within the singer's mind further emphasizes the isolation and hopelessness of the situation.
Through the evocative imagery and personification of the "local memory," Willie Nelson captures the way that memories can feel like living, breathing entities that can never truly be escaped.
Line by Line Meaning
The lights go out each evening at eleven
Every night at eleven, the lights go out on our block
And up and down our block there's not a sound
Our entire block is silent after the lights go out
I close my eyes and search for peaceful slumber
I try to fall asleep and find peace
And just then the local memory comes around
But then my memories flood my mind and keep me awake
Piles of blues against the door to make sure sleep will come no more
My sad memories are so powerful that they prevent me from sleeping
She's the hardest working memory in this town
My memories are so strong and persistent that they seem like they're working as hard as anyone in the town
Turns out happiness again and then lets loneliness back in
Sometimes I'll remember happy times, but then the memories of loneliness and sadness come back
And each night the local memory comes around
Every single night, my memories come back to haunt me
Each day I say tonight I may escape her
Every day, I hope that I won't be plagued by my memories again
I pretend I'm happy and never even frown
I try to act happy and hide my sadness, even from myself
But at night I close my eyes and pray sleep finds me
But when I'm alone with my thoughts at night, I hope that I'll be able to sleep
Rids the house of all good news then sets out my crying shoes
My sad memories wipe away any good news or happy thoughts, and leave me with nothing but tears
What a faithful memory never lets me down
My memories are always there for me, even if it's in a negative way
We're both up till light of day chasing happiness away
My memories and I are awake until dawn, and we work together to keep happiness at bay
And each night the local memory comes around
Every single night, my memories come back to torment me
Piles of blues against the door to make sure sleep will come no more
My memories are so overpowering that they keep me from sleeping
It's the hardest working memory in this town
My memories seem to be working harder and longer than anyone or anything in this town
Turns out happiness again and then lets loneliness back in
I'll occasionally remember happy times, but then the sadness returns soon after
And each night the local memory comes around
Every single night, I'm tormented by my memories
And each night the local memory comes around
Every single night, my memories come back to haunt me
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: WILLIE NELSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind