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.
Streets Of Laredo
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As I walked out in Laredo one day
I spied a young cowboy, all wrapped in white linen
Wrapped in white linen, as cold as the clay
I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy
These words he did speak as I slowly walked by
Come sit here beside me and hear my sad story
So, beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly
Sing the Death March as you carry me along
Take me to the valley, there lay the sod o'er me
For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong
Once in the saddle I used to go dashing
Once in the saddle I used to go gay
First to the cardhouse and then down to Rosy's
But I'm shot in the breast and I'm dyin' today
Bring six tall young cowboys to carry my casket,
Six pretty maids for to sing me a song
Take me to green valleys, there lay the sod o'er me
For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong
Fetch me some water, a cool cup of water
To cool my parched lips, then the poor cowboy said
Before I returned, his spirit had left him
Had gone to his Maker, the cowboy was dead.
So, beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly
Play the Death March as you carry me along
Take me to green valleys, there lay the sod o'er me
For I'm a young cowboy and I known I've done wrong
The song "Streets of Laredo" is a classic western ballad about a dying cowboy who shares his story with a passerby. The singer tells the story of walking through the streets of Laredo and encountering a young cowboy wrapped in white linen. The singer engages the young cowboy and learns that he is dying. The young cowboy laments his past actions and accepts his fate.
The young cowboy then requests that he be given a proper cowboy's funeral, with a death march played on the fife and the drum playing slowly as he is carried to his final resting place. He asks for young cowboys to carry his casket and pretty maids to sing him a song. The young cowboy then asks for a cool cup of water, but he dies before the singer can return with the water.
The song is a poignant reflection on the fleeting nature of life and the inevitability of death. It speaks to the importance of living life with purpose and accepting one's fate. The mournful melody underscores the somber mood of the lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
As I walked out in the streets of Laredo
I was strolling in Laredo one day
I spied a young cowboy, all wrapped in white linen
I saw a young cowboy, dressed in white linen like he was already dead
I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy
I can tell by your clothes that you are a cowboy
Come sit here beside me and hear my sad story
Come and sit with me and listen to my sad tale
So, beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly
Play the drum slowly and the fife quietly
Take me to the valley, there lay the sod o'er me
Bury me in the valley and cover me with dirt
For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong
I'm a young cowboy and I know I've made mistakes
Once in the saddle I used to go dashing
I used to ride my horse recklessly
First to the cardhouse and then down to Rosy's
I would first go to the cardhouse and then visit a woman named Rosy
But I'm shot in the breast and I'm dyin' today
I've been shot in the chest and I'm going to die today
Bring six tall young cowboys to carry my casket
Have six strong cowboys carry my casket
Six pretty maids for to sing me a song
Have six beautiful women sing me a song
Fetch me some water, a cool cup of water
Bring me some water to drink
Before I returned, his spirit had left him
Before I came back, he had died
Had gone to his Maker, the cowboy was dead
He had gone to meet his creator and had passed away
Lyrics © FRED BOCK MUSIC CO.,INC.
Written by: BUCK OWENS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind