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.
One Step Beyond
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I'm just one step ahead of the blues.
But I know that there's been pain an misery.
Long before this old world had ever heard of me.
And I know it will hurt to see you go,
But we'll just add one more heartache to the score.
And though I still love you as before,
I'm just one step beyond caring any more.
Bet that you're surprised that I could feel this way,
After staying home an' waiting night and day.
For someone who cared so much for me,
You'd come home just long enough to laugh at me.
I don't know just when my feeling's changed,
I just know I could never feel the same,
And though I still love you as before,
I'm just one step beyond caring any more.
The lyrics of Willie Nelson's One Step Beyond depict a relationship on the brink of collapse. The singer admits to being just one step away from losing their partner and being consumed by the blues. The pain and misery that existed long before they came into the world further emphasize the impermanence of their relationship. Even though it would hurt to see their partner go, the singer sees it as just another heartache to add to life's score. The singer acknowledges their love for their partner but confesses to being one step beyond caring anymore.
The second verse of the song shows the singer's disillusionment with their partner. They reveal that they have been waiting for their partner for a long time, who comes home only to make fun of them. The singer doesn't know when their feelings changed, but now they could never feel the same. The singer still loves their partner, but they have reached their limit in the one-sided relationship.
In summary, One Step Beyond is a song about a relationship that has reached its breaking point. The singer of the song realizes that they're just one step away from losing their partner and has reached their limit with the disrespectful behavior. They still love their partner, but their feelings have changed, and they are just one step beyond caring anymore.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm just one step before losing you.
I am almost at the point of losing you.
And I'm just one step ahead of the blues.
I am close to feeling melancholic or depressed.
But I know that there's been pain an misery.
I am aware that pain and suffering have always existed.
Long before this old world had ever heard of me.
The world has been familiar with pain before I came into existence.
And I know it will hurt to see you go,
I am aware that it will be painful to watch you leave.
But we'll just add one more heartache to the score.
Our separation will only increase the number of painful experiences in our lives.
And though I still love you as before,
I still have the same amount of love for you as I did before.
I'm just one step beyond caring any more.
However, I have reached a point beyond caring.
Bet that you're surprised that I could feel this way,
You would probably be shocked to see me feeling this way.
After staying home an' waiting night and day.
After waiting for you to come home every day.
For someone who cared so much for me,
For someone who supposedly loved me deeply.
You'd come home just long enough to laugh at me.
You only came home long enough to ridicule me.
I don't know just when my feeling's changed,
I don't know when my emotions started to shift.
I just know I could never feel the same,
All I know is that I can never feel the same way again.
And though I still love you as before,
Despite all this, my love for you remains unchanged.
I'm just one step beyond caring any more.
But I have gone beyond a point where I care anymore.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Willie Nelson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
freq 432
this is the first time I've heard this song and it's so good. thank you for posting
M.L.
He is the best!
Mary Colon
blue eyes
C D
that Fender Bass VI sounds utterly amazing on top of the stand up. Why did that technique go away?
vtfa midimi
First time I heard this song. Any original song by Willie is a great song. Thanks for posting.
Adam Ross
it's crazy how regular Willie used to look!
Margaret Wyatt
I love this song.
Lisa French
great song <3
Sara Nascimento
Que voz linda
Jewel Dotson
Willie was so far ahead of Nashville they didn't know what to do with his music, it took going back to Texas and lots of hard work before he became a super star. This early stuff is his best