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.
Sister's Coming Home
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Mama's gonna let her sleep the whole day long, Lord the whole day long
Sister's coming home
Mama's gonna let her sleep the whole day long
Sister's coming home
Mama don't like the man that done her wrong, Lord that done her wrong
Sister's coming home
Sister's coming home
The mirror's gonna tell her how long she's been gone
Sister's coming home
The mirror's gonna tell her how long she's been gone
The song "Sister's Coming Home" by Willie Nelson seems to be about a woman who is returning home after a long absence. The opening lines, "Sister's coming home, Mama's gonna let her sleep the whole day long," suggest that this woman is tired and in need of rest. It's possible that she has been away for some time and has been working hard or going through a difficult period in her life. The repetition of these lines emphasizes the relief and joy of her return, as though the whole family is waiting with open arms to welcome her back.
However, there is also a sense of caution and concern in the song. The line "Mama don't like the man that done her wrong" suggests that the reason for the woman's absence may have been a relationship gone sour. Mama is protective of her daughter, and perhaps feels that this man has mistreated her in some way. The song doesn't go into detail about what happened between the woman and the man, but it's clear that Mama doesn't approve of him, and that the family is keeping a watchful eye on the woman to make sure she is okay.
The final lines of the song, "The mirror's gonna tell her how long she's been gone," seem to suggest that the woman has been away for a while, and that she may be surprised by what she sees when she looks at herself. Perhaps she has aged or changed in some way, and the mirror will reveal the toll that her absence has taken on her. There is a sense of bittersweet nostalgia in this line, as though the woman is coming home to a place that has changed, and that she herself has changed too.
Line by Line Meaning
Sister's coming home
Willie Nelson is announcing that Sister is on her way home.
Mama's gonna let her sleep the whole day long, Lord the whole day long
Sister's mother is going to allow her to rest and sleep all day after her long journey back home.
Mama don't like the man that done her wrong, Lord that done her wrong
Their mother disapproves of the man who mistreated Sister in some way.
The mirror's gonna tell her how long she's been gone
Sister will be able to see how long she has been away by looking in the mirror and noticing any changes in her appearance that occurred during that time.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: WILLIE NELSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Muzikgirl67
JUST AS GOOD AS GOLD!!... thank you soooo very much for posting and sharing this "lost and rarely heard anymore" lil' country ditty that only managed to peak at #93 on the charts for Willie back on the week of December 21, 1974...I thoroughly enjoyed listening... and the sound quality is TOP-NOTCH too!!... Take Care, Elizabeth :+)
Marsha Rupe
Phases and Stages is my FAVORITE Willie Nelson LP. It was before he hit it big, but it's full of great, great music. Love Johnny Gimble's fiddle break.
VinÃcius Arantes
love willie nelson. fantastic