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.
She's Still Gone
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She'd be gone before I could count ten
Well I guess that I didn't believe her
'Cause look at the trouble I'm in
She's gone gone gone gone gone gone
Crying won't bring her back
The more that I cry
The faster the train flies
I lost every right to be happy
When I lost the heaven I'd found
She warned me she'd leave
And she left me before
My first tear hit the ground
She's gone gone gone gone gone gone
Crying won't bring her back
The more that I cry
The faster the train flies
Further on down the track
And if I only knew where to find her
I'd crawl back on my hands and knees
Each tick of the clock's a reminder
She's one second further from me
Now, she's gone gone gone gone gone gone
Crying won't bring her back
The more that I cry
The faster the train flies
Further on down the track
The more that I cry
The faster the train flies
Further on down the track
In Willie Nelson's song "She's Gone Gone Gone," the lyrics describe a man who has lost his love due to his own foolishness. The woman had warned him that if he ever deceived her, she would leave him without a second thought. However, the man did not take her seriously and now finds himself in great distress as she has left him. The chorus repeats the phrase "She's gone gone gone" to emphasize the permanence of her departure, and the futility of the man's attempts to bring her back.
The lyrics also show the man's regret and sadness. He acknowledges that he has lost the chance to be happy and that he was foolish to take her warning lightly. The line "Each tick of the clock's a reminder / She's one second further from me" conveys the man's sense of helplessness as time is passing him by and his chance of reconciling with her is slipping away. The metaphor of the train is used throughout the song to convey this sense of time and distance, as the more the man cries, the faster the train carrying his love moves further away from him.
Overall, "She's Gone Gone Gone" is a classic example of a country song that tells a sad story of love lost. It also showcases Willie Nelson's ability as a storyteller, conveying deep emotions through simple yet powerful lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
She said if I ever deceived her
She warned me that if I ever lied to her
She'd be gone before I could count ten
She would leave me immediately without a moment's notice
Well I guess that I didn't believe her
I didn't take her warning seriously
'Cause look at the trouble I'm in
As a result, I am now in a lot of trouble
She's gone gone gone gone gone gone
She has left and there is no hope of getting her back
Crying won't bring her back
Even though I am sad, it won't bring her back
The more that I cry
The harder I cry
The faster the train flies
The further away my love gets
Further on down the track
More and more distant in my past
I lost every right to be happy
I don't have the right to be happy anymore
When I lost the heaven I'd found
Since I lost my love, my world has changed
She warned me she'd leave
She had cautioned me that it could happen
And she left me before my first tear hit the ground
She had already gone, even before I had a chance to express my sadness
And if I only knew where to find her
If only I could locate her
I'd crawl back on my hands and knees
I would go to any lengths to get her back
Each tick of the clock's a reminder
Every second that passes only reminds me of what I've lost
She's one second further from me
With every passing moment, she is getting farther away from me
Now, she's gone gone gone gone gone gone
I'm still struggling to accept the fact that she has left
Crying won't bring her back
No matter how much I cry, she won't come back
The more that I cry
The harder it is to let go
The faster the train flies
The more I realize how fast time flies
Further on down the track
I have to accept that life goes on without her
The more that I cry
The more I torture myself
The faster the train flies
The more I understand that she's moved on
Further on down the track
I have to accept my new reality and move forward
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Harlan Howard
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@nancy4texas
She is gone
But she was here
And her presence is still heavy in the air
Oh what a taste
Of human love
Now she's gone and it don't matter anymore
Passing dreams
In the night
It was more than just a woman and a man
It was love
Without disguise
And now my life will never be the same again
@julianmangum2743
My wife of 50 years,7 hours and 4 minutes passed away after years of battling Cancer almost a year ago. We were High School sweethearts and loved each other from the day we met. This song is so simple and It sings to my Heart. I cry every time I hear it.
Thank you Mr. Nelson for putting into words the heartbreak I cannot express.
@howardowens721
I'm compiling a playlist of Dead Spouse Songs and just read your comment. I lost my wife two and a half years ago and still miss her. After her death, I became aware of how few songs there are about the loss of a spouse. This is one of the great ones. My condolences.
@billstokes6740
My wife and I were together 62 years. We met when we were 14. I lost her to cancer 5 years ago. I still miss her every day.
@fnafplayer6447
Sorry man
@markoharastija6359
Hope you're doing good Bill
@thomasminard4976
Helps me deal with the lose of my wife, we were together from the time she was 14,. she was 71 when she passed, I loved her every minute of that time and still do!
@truebeliever5233
Thomas Minard When my wife passed in 2011, I wanted to die. Today, I wish I had. We were only together for 25 years and married for 20. We were high school sweethearts. In the last 6 years (2017), I got married, now getting divorced and current wife took everything. I thought I could recover from my wife's death, but I never did, I just convinced my heart that it felt love and happiness. I know I will never be the same man I was before my wife passed.
@lesliewest7780
True Believer I won't be the same my wife left 2yrs ago a the kids my heart hurts so bad I know I can't make it on my own I never saw it comin I have nothing I mean nothing I have only God and I hope he can hear me. if not I know where I'll end up 30yrs and shes a stranger
@lesliewest7780
I hope pray we can be freinds again for the kids sake I know deep in my heart she hates me I see her every day and I die more and more I hope I can move on a little as the days pass but I'm just so broken in to that I can't even help my self I hope god has a furture for me i just need help I'm just so lost I can't seem to pick my self up I guess only god knows I hope hes listening to me I'm in need of hes help my name is j c west. if u love somebody take care of them or they will leave someday i promis u and u won't. even see it coming then its to late nothing ucan do about it. nothing except die trying I'm their in shame and broken in thank I from Inc .
@truebeliever5233
Leslie WEst please hold yo our head up! Sounds like you are a victim of narcissistic abuse like me!
Now, did your wife marry a crying baby or were you a confident and self assured man? Right there my friend is your answer. You need to act with confidence and hide your sadness when around her. What I did was actually listen to some subliminal message tapes on YouTube about confidence, self Love, and attractive to women. Even though I have my ups and downs I cannot dwell on losing. As soon as I think about that, the game is over. Therefore, since you guys have kids together you have a better opportunity than someone without children. Make sure you put up a good face around her, post yourself having fun and smiling and all positive stuff on Facebook, and if you can start dating and find an attractive woman to make your ex jealous. All of these things do work for me but, all of these things do work for me but, the wine boyfriend she is with is probably threatening to kill himself every time she has thoughts of returning. I have hope the bf will continue his clinginess, but I also have to maintain my facade. Good luck, my friend.
Oh, also, I believe you really should lay off all the sad music. It will tell you up and cause you torment for no reason.