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 albumβdestined to the IRSβand 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 holeβthe 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.
Why Do I Have to Choose
Willie Nelson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To walk around and sing the blues well darling I refuse
Love is hard to find love of any kind
And a love like yours and mine creates it's own design
So why do I have to choose see everybody lose
To walk around and sing the blues well darling I refuse
And when I think of her and then I think of you
Why do I have to choose to see everybody lose
To walk around and sing the blues well darling I refuse
In Willie Nelson's song Why Do I Have to Choose, the singer is grappling with a difficult decision: how to choose between two women he loves. He expresses frustration at the idea that he must choose either one and lose the other. He refuses to "walk around and sing the blues" and instead wants to find a way to keep both women in his life, as their love is unique and "creates its own design." The singer recognizes that the love he shares with each of the women may be different, but he values them both equally.
The song explores the idea of choice and the difficult decisions people must make in relationships, as well as the complexity of love. The singer's refusal to choose and his desire to find a way to keep both women in his life speaks to the idea that love is not always black and white, but multi-faceted and nuanced. The line "the love is not the same but either love is true" highlights this idea, suggesting that even though the love he feels for each woman may be different, it is still real and genuine.
Overall, Why Do I Have to Choose is a poignant examination of the complexities of love and the difficult decisions one must make in relationships. The singer's refusal to choose between two women he loves highlights the idea that love is not always easy or straightforward, and can cause people to grapple with difficult choices and conflicting emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
Why do I have to choose to see everybody lose
The singer is frustrated that they are forced to make a decision that will result in others losing.
To walk around and sing the blues well darling I refuse
The singer rejects the idea of dwelling on negative emotions and chooses to have a more positive outlook.
Love is hard to find love of any kind
The singer acknowledges that finding love can be difficult in any form.
And a love like yours and mine creates it's own design
The artist believes that their specific love is unique and special.
So why do I have to choose see everybody lose
The artist reiterates their frustration at having to make a decision that will result in negative consequences for others.
And when I think of her and then I think of you
The singer is comparing two people they have feelings for.
The love is not the same but either love is true
The singer recognizes that their love for each person is different, but both are genuine.
Why do I have to choose to see everybody lose
The artist repeats their initial frustration.
To walk around and sing the blues well darling I refuse
The artist again reinforces their decision to have a positive attitude rather than focus on negative emotions.
Lyrics Β© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: WILLIE NELSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
A S
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"Why do I have to choose
To see everybody lose
To walk around and sing the blues
Well darling I refuse
Love is hard to find
Love of any kind
And a love like yours and mine
Creates it's own design
So why do I have to choose
To see everybody lose
To walk around and sing the blues
Well darling I refuse
πΆπΆπΆπΆπΆπΆπΆπΆπΆπΆπΆ
And when I think of her
And then I think of you
The love is not the same
But either love is true
Why do I have to choose
To see everybody lose
To walk around and sing the blues
Well darling I refuse"
Bill Penrod
Nothing better than a song done in that awesome Willie Nelson style long live Willie Nelson the one and only.
Michael Jacobson
Just think of all the legends he sang with and out loved
Willie Nelson
Thanks
Marilyn Ryan
Love love Willie..he can sing the ingredients off a soup can and it would be a hit!
Willie Nelson βͺ
@Phillip Holt thank you very much. Last time I asked for your cell number.
Phillip Holt
@Willie Nelson βͺ Willie this is Phillip Holt I hope your well. LOL for me THE SUN IS FILLED WITH ICE AND THE EARTH IS COLD!!! Since I indirectly talked to you I've managed to get COVID even though I was vaccinated and followed protocol with distancely I apparently have it due to to and employee at the long term health care facility I live in! I'm not having a bad case compaired to what I've been told because I was vaccinated but I still feel like I've been RODE HARD AND PUT UP WET! situation. I'm in isolation for 14 days and I have 11 to go. I'm improving though and that's a good thing because I miss playing my Willie Nelson guitar. LOL! If I ever get rich and famous I'm going to buy a Martin N_20 Trigger guitar πΈ. But I don't think it's going to be in this life time! OH WELL! I'm thankful with what I've got and I'M Not THE LAST MAN STANDING! STANDING!!!!
Willie Nelson βͺ
Thanks for your support
Phillip Holt
Hahahahhehehelollollollol!!!!!!!
ed reeves
Thats a good one.
The Magickal π« Medium
This was exactly what I needed to hear today, thank you dear Willie...what an Angel you are π to us all! The sun on my face as I lay in my back yard on a BEAUTIFUL Summer day...high as a kite...listening to Willie sing the blues...AAAHHHH βΊοΈ...and allllllllll is right with the world ππβ . Goddess bless you, dear heartβ£β£β£