Energy Follows Thought
The Stories Behind My Songs
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
Revealing, funny, whimsical, and wise, outlaw country legend Willie Nelson shares the untold stories behind the his favorite songs, with all the lyrics and a dynamic assortment of never-before-seen photos and ephemera.
From his earliest work in the 1950s to today, Willie looks back at the songs that have defined his career, from his days of earning $50 each to his biggest hits, from his less well-known songs (but incredibly meaningful to him) to his concept albums. Along the way, he also shares the stories of his guitar Trigger, his family and “family,” as well as the artists he collaborated with, including Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings, Ray Charles, Merle Haggard, Ray Price, Dolly Parton, and many others.
Willie is disarmingly honest—what do you have to lose when you’re about to turn 90? —meditating on the nature of songwriting and finding his voice, and the themes he’s explored his whole life—relationships, infidelity, love, loss, friendship, and, of course, life on the road.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Nelson (Willie Nelson's Letters to America) shares in this irresistible outing the origins of songs from across his more than 60-year music career. Writing that the "energy driving my words remains a mystery to me," Nelson is coy about his songwriting skills—when a producer told him he'd composed a weird hymn filled with metaphors (1970's "Laying My Burdens Down"), he protested that he didn't even know how to spell metaphor, let alone understand the concept. But his intelligence and wisdom shine through, not just in his familiarity with the ideas of Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and Kahlil Gibran, but in his easy ownership of his faults (reflecting on the "black widow-type... woman who does a man dirty" in 1961's "Funny How Time Slips Away," he muses that "if anything, it's been the other way around" in his life) and comfort with his spiritual side ("Creativity flows from a higher source filled with love," he writes of 1962's "Kneel at the Feet of Jesus"). The weakest points are where Nelson seems most certain, including generalizations about the sexes that feel like throwbacks to a different era ("Men have a tough time getting over their cowboy fantasies"). Still, fans will relish these insights into the singer-songwriter's many avatars: the kid growing up poor with close ties to his church and family; the political activist who wrote "Vote ‘Em Out" for Beto O'Rourke's 2018 senatorial campaign; and the enigmatic, sui generis artist. This is a treasure. Photos.
