Willie Nelson really should get more credit for his lyricism. Here are four lines of lyrics by him that everyone should know.
“Crazy”
“Crazy / I’m crazy for feeling so lonely / I’m crazy / Crazy for feeling so blue.”
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One reason this song might stop you in your tracks is that when you learn that “Crazy” was actually written by Willie Nelson, you can’t ever unhear it. Patsy Cline notably made this tune famous in 1961. It lit up jukeboxes back in the day, and its melodies and relatability still have a chokehold on us even now.
“Forgiving You Was Easy”
“Forgiving you was easy / But forgetting seems to take the longest time.”
This song is just pure poetry. Nelson released “Forgiving You Was Easy” as the first single for his album, Me & Paul, and it ended up being his tenth No. 1 single.
“Good Hearted Woman”
“She’s a good hearted woman in love with a good timin’ man / And she loves him in spite of his wicked ways that she don’t understand.”
Nelson wrote this song with Waylon Jennings, who first released “Good Hearted Woman” and featured it on his album of the same name in 1972. They would later release a duet version. Apparently, when coming up with the idea for this one, Jennings was inspired by a newspaper ad that described Tina Turner as a “good-hearted woman loving two-timing men.”
“Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground”
“I knew someday that you would fly away / For love’s the greatest healer to be found / So leave me if you need to, I will still remember / Angel flying too close to the ground.”
I mean wow, talk about a beautiful song. Nelson wrote and performed this one for the movie Honeysuckle Rose, and it truly showcases his writing and artistic abilities.
In an interview with GQ, Nelson highlighted this song as being one that still makes him emotional, after all these years: “Yeah, there are a couple,” he shared. “‘Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground’ is one. ‘Always On My Mind’ is another. By other people, there’s a lot—’Stardust’, ‘Moonlight In Vermont’, anything Hank Williams did, Bob Wills. There’s a whole lot of good music out there…”
Photo by: Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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