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.
Stardust
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
The melody
Haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale
Tells his fairy tale
Of paradise, where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart there always will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain
Though I dream in vain
In my heart there always will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain
And though I dream in vain
In my heart there always will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain
In Willie Nelson's song "Stardust," the lyrics express nostalgia and longing for a lost love that continues to haunt the singer's memories. The song speaks to the romantic notion that the power of music can evoke emotions and memories of past experiences, in this case, a lost love. The singer ponders why he spends lonely nights dreaming of a song, revealing that it is the melody that is stuck in his head, and it reminds him of his lost love. He goes on to describe the times when he was with his love, and each kiss was an inspiration. Sadly, that was long ago, and all he has left is the stardust of a song to console him.
The second verse paints a picture of the singer's longing for his former love. He describes being in his lover's arms under the starry night sky, listening to the nightingale's sweet song. The nightingale sings of a paradise where roses grew, representing the lost love that the singer pines for. He admits that he dreams in vain, but the memory of love's refrain, his "stardust melody," will always linger in his heart. The final verse repeats this sentiment, emphasizing that even though the singer knows he can't have his lost love back, the memory of it will remain with him always.
Overall, "Stardust" is a poignant and romantic song that captures the feeling of a love long gone but never forgotten. The melodies and lyrics tug at the heartstrings, reminding us all of the power of music to evoke powerful emotions and memories.
Line by Line Meaning
Sometimes I wonder, why I spend
At times, I ponder why I devote
The lonely nights
Those solitary nights
Dreaming of a song
Imagining a tune
The melody
That melodic refrain
Haunts my reverie
It lingers in my daydreams
And I am once again with you
Then suddenly, we're together anew
When our love was new
Recalling when our love first bloomed
And each kiss an inspiration
Every kiss brought endless elation
But that was long ago
All in the past, ages ago
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
Yet, the consolation I have is that timeless song
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
Close to the garden wall, when stars are a lovely light
You are in my arms
I hold you close to my heart
The nightingale
The bird of the night
Tells his fairy tale
Sings a tale of wonder
Of paradise, where roses grew
Of a place where roses freely grew
Though I dream in vain
Although it's a hopeless dream
In my heart there always will remain
My heart still holds on to
My stardust melody
That melody made of stardust
The memory of love's refrain
Memories of the love we couldn't sustain
Though I dream in vain
Although it's a hopeless dream
In my heart there always will remain
My heart still holds on to
My stardust melody
That melody made of stardust
The memory of love's refrain
Memories of the love we couldn't sustain
And though I dream in vain
Although it's a hopeless dream
In my heart there always will remain
My heart still holds on to
My stardust melody
That melody made of stardust
The memory of love's refrain
Memories of the love we couldn't sustain
Lyrics © Roba Music Verlag GMBH, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, O/B/O DistroKid, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Sentric Music, Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust Ave, MUSIC.INFO FINLAND OY, Peermusic Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Written by: Mitchell Parish, Hoagy Carmichael
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Crystal of Twin Star Enterprises
💖💖💖
We ARE made of the same stuff as the Stars and it's why we feel such a kinship with them and why we are so fascinated and enamored with them.
If we learn about them they help us understand ourselves so much more deeply.
I bet you and your family know this too!
You are such a gift!
Thank you for your music and for the greatness of your Soul's presence here with us
Congratulations to you for your health and stealth and all your successes all these years!
Happy 90th and many more!
😊💝🙏🎈
Eleonora Kocińska
"The Nightingale
Tells his fairytale
Of paradise, where roses grew”
And Willie ... like that nightingale from the song ... beautifully tells us his "fairy tales". Stories that leave our hearts at peace and bring solace in times of general turmoil.
Thank you Willie, thank you very very much❤
ti portangeles2
Beautiful. Makes me miss my Mother.
karen wall
My Daddy
Lisa Cousins
Beautiful, romantic, smooth with Willie’s iconic voice!
Willie Nelson
❤
Willie Nelson
ᐩ14099952565
Willie Nelson
What'sapp Me
Roberta Gilbert
Such a beautiful and smooth listening to song!!..One of Daddy's favorite songs ever.
Much love and blessings to you Willie. 🙏💕🙏💕🙏💕🙏
Michael Gallick
90...how does Willie do it? "Beautiful!!" Thank you Willie! With 💖 and 🙏's!
Michael Fleming
Willie Nelson is now 90 and still blessing us with his God given talent. 😊❤