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.
Something
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Attracts me like no other lover
Something in the way she woos me
I don't want to leave her now you know I believe and how
Somewhere in her smile she knows
That I don't need no other lover
Something in her style that shows me
You're asking me will my love grow
I don't know, I don't know
Just stick around and it may show
I don't know, I don't know
You're asking me will my love grow
I don't know, I don't know
Just stick around and it may show
I don't know, I don't know
Something in the way she knows
And all I have to do is think of her
Something in the way she shows me
I don't want to leave her now you know I believe and how
In Willie Nelson's song "Something," he describes being deeply attracted to a woman and not wanting to leave her. He talks about "something in the way she moves" and how it "attracts [him] like no other lover." This seems to suggest that the woman has a special energy that draws him in. He also mentions her smile and style, implying that there is something about her character or personality that he finds captivating.
Later in the song, Nelson acknowledges that he doesn't know if his love for her will continue to grow, but he encourages her to "stick around" and find out. The repetition of this phrase at the end of each verse suggests that he truly does want her to stay with him and see if their love can deepen over time.
Overall, the song is a beautiful tribute to the power of love and the mystery of attraction. Nelson's simple, heartfelt lyrics capture the feeling of falling in love and not wanting to let go of that special someone.
Line by Line Meaning
Something in the way she moves
There's a unique way that she moves that catches my attention and intrigues me.
Attracts me like no other lover
Her movements and overall presence are so appealing to me that I am not attracted to anyone else.
Something in the way she woos me
Her charm and flirting tactics are unlike anything I've ever experienced before.
I don't want to leave her now you know I believe and how
There's no way I could walk away from her now because I have complete faith in what we could have together.
Somewhere in her smile she knows
There's a sense of knowingness in her smile that suggests she understands the depth of what we could have together.
That I don't need no other lover
I don't have any desire for anyone else because of the powerful connection I feel with her.
Something in her style that shows me
There's a certain quality in the way she carries herself that proves to me that we could have something truly special.
You're asking me will my love grow
You want to know if my feelings for her will continue to deepen and grow over time.
I don't know, I don't know
Honestly, I have no idea what the future holds in terms of my heart and how I feel about her.
Just stick around and it may show
All we can do is spend more time together and see what happens with our relationship.
Something in the way she knows
She seems to have an innate understanding of me and what we could be together.
And all I have to do is think of her
She's always on my mind and I can't help but think about her constantly.
Something in the way she shows me
It's clear to me that we have the potential for an incredible connection that I can't ignore.
I don't want to leave her now you know I believe and how
There's no doubt in my mind that I want to be with her and see where our love can take us.
Contributed by Savannah Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@MrRipkin
This song brought a flood of tears to my eyes. I lost my brother who was my best friend 2 years ago totally out of the blue. I know how most of you feel and just how difficult it is to try and cope on a daily basis. The pain is always there.
When you lose the one you love
You think your world has ended
You think your world will be a waste of life
Without them in it
You feel there's no way to go on
Life is just a sad, sad song
But love is bigger than us all
The end is not the end at all
It's not somethin' you get over
But it's somethin' you get through
It's not ours to be taken
It's just a thing we get to do
Life goes on and on
And when it's gone
It lives in someone new
It's not somethin' you get over
But it's somethin' you get through
It's not somethin' you get over
But it's somethin' you get through
It's not ours to be taken
It's just a thing we get to do
Life goes on and on
And when it's gone
It lives in someone new
It's not somethin' you get over
But it's somethin' you get through
It's not somethin' you get over
But it's somethin' you get through
@Slade909
"Something You Get Through"
When you lose the one you love
You think your world has ended
You think your world will be a waste of life
Without them in it
You feel there's no way to go on
Life is just a sad, sad song
But love is bigger than us all
The end is not the end at all
It's not somethin' you get over
But it's somethin' you get through
It's not ours to be taken
It's just a thing we get to do
Life goes on and on
And when it's gone
It lives in someone new
It's not somethin' you get over
But it's somethin' you get through
It's not somethin' you get over
But it's somethin' you get through
It's not ours to be taken
It's just a thing we get to do
Life goes on and on
And when it's gone
It lives in someone new
It's not somethin' you get over
But it's somethin' you get through
It's not somethin' you get over
But it's somethin' you get through
@maryconnelly4600
When my husband died suddenly, I was in shock for a long time. My heart was in a million pieces. Months later a friend had me listen to this song. I must have listened to it about 20 times. It helped me. Thank you Willie Nelson❤️
@harrisonjustice7233
Hello there Mary nice meeting you here
@prepperchicntexas
I'm in the same situation. Sorry for your loss. Hugs!
@patriciafry8634
Me too
@MsSchatzie
Same here. I love this song ❤️
@pamseddon5923
Been there and two and half years later - still on the journey. This is still helping me dealing with it.
@alightthatnevergoesout
Willie Nelson at the age of 84 wrote one of the most beautiful songs i’ve ever heard. An amazing human being. We’re so lucky he’s still here with us
@johnmcginley4802
I love this song
@marygallagher6727
Yes we are...I saw him at the Strawberry Festival the year before COVID...it was Great 💝💝
@sharontodt7229
God bless Willie. He stretched out his hand once to help me (though I was person he did not know at all at the time).