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.
Undo The Right
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And that you regret each time you held me tight
If you can't be mine forever then forsake me
If you can't undo the wrong undo the right
It was right when you loved me only
But wrong when you held another tight
So before you go away and leave me lonely
If you can't undo the wrong undo the right
You can't undo what's done why do you try
So please help me to face the new tomorrows
If you can't undo the wrong undo the right
It's too late to say your heart...
The song "Undo the Right" by Willie Nelson tells the story of a couple that is on the verge of breaking up. The singer in the song is asking their partner to be honest about their feelings towards them. If they can't express their love, then they should express their hatred and the regret they feel for holding the singer tight. The singer knows that their partner can't be with them forever and if that is the case then they should walk away from their relationship.
The chorus of the song is where the title comes from. The singer tells their partner that if they can't undo the wrong that they have done by being with someone else, then they should undo the right that they did when they were with the singer. The right being referred to was when their partner loved only the singer. The wrong is when they held another tight.
The song is a plea to their partner to be honest with them and to help them face the future without them. The singer knows it's too late for their partner to try to undo what has been done, but they need their partner to undo the right by leaving them for good if they can't undo the wrong that has been done. The song is a sad reflection on love and relationships, and the pain that comes when they come to an end.
Line by Line Meaning
It's too late to say your heart is filled with sorrow
If you're not truly sorry for hurting me, don't bother pretending now.
If you can't say you love me say you hate me
I'd rather hear the truth from you, even if it hurts me.
And that you regret each time you held me tight
If you can't be honest about your feelings, at least admit you regret leading me on.
If you can't be mine forever then forsake me
If you can't commit to a future with me, it's better to end things now than keep me hanging on.
If you can't undo the wrong undo the right
If you can't make things right after hurting me, then it's best to just end things and move on.
It was right when you loved me only
Our love was real and perfect when it was just the two of us.
But wrong when you held another tight
But everything changed when you cheated on me and broke my trust.
So before you go away and leave me lonely
Before you walk out of my life, there are things that need to be addressed.
It's too late to say your heart is filled with sorrow
If you're not truly sorry for hurting me, don't bother pretending now.
You can't undo what's done why do you try
There's no use in trying to fix things that are already broken beyond repair.
So please help me to face the new tomorrows
Let's work together to move on from our past mistakes and start fresh.
If you can't undo the wrong undo the right
If you can't make things right after hurting me, then it's best to just end things and move on.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: COCHRAN, NELSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@caryd67
Willie’s phrasing.. his delivery, is totally unique. Completely his own thing. He may be the most original country artist ever.
@davidtodora3153
Willie Nelson wrote so many songs of his own, for other people. Just songwriting alone and no singing would have made Willie very rich! But listening to his music of 1962. Is simply…Sensational! Willie has a new album. He just keeps on. He is moreover a Genius with writing lyrics and music for himself and many other celebrities to this day. Thanks.
@johnpatterson4816
For Xmas the last three years my wife has given me Willie's CD's "For the Good Times-A Tribute to Ray Price";"Ride Me Back Me Homeland "First Rose of Spring".
@gerwynevans2729
Early Willie is Nelson at his very best. This is perfect.
@Milkweedy
Willie is The Original and The Greatest writer of break up songs, period.
@pduncan742
I stopped listening to nearly all of Willies music past the earlie 70's after stumbling upon this early stuff back in the early 80s. Willie was just another country singer before finding 60s "Face of a Fighter" album.. Breathtaking to say the least.
@jeweldotson3891
Just simply beautiful, Willie's early stuff was his best, just my opinion
Thanks
@t4texastomjohnnycat978
Jewel Dotson
I agree.
@samking73
Me too
@baerhomburg6447
Absolutely! It's that 'music hall' sort of slight echo effect that makes this song.
Why was this type of recording ever abandoned?
If it ain't broke don't fix it!!