YMMV / Willie Nelson

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• Archive Panic: As of 2020, Nelson has 94 studio albums (69 solo, 25 collaborations), two soundtrack albums and over a hundred singles, at least twenty of which have not appeared on his studio albums. If you'd just prefer a Greatest Hits Album, he has over 50 compilation albums to choose from.
• Awesome Music:
  • "Always on My Mind" was his biggest pop hit, hitting the Top 10 Country, Pop, and Adult Contemporary, as did "To All the Girls I've Loved Before." "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground" and "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" have also been cited as his best.
  • His duet with Ray Charles on "Seven Spanish Angels".
  • He wrote awesome music for other artists, most notably Patsy Cline and "Crazy".
• Complete Monster: In Toby Keith's "Beer For My Horses", the Midtown Ripper—real name Jerod Turner—is a slimy Jack the Ripoff who goes around slashing prostitutes for his own evil pleasure. The Ripper kills seven women in the duration of the music video, then tries to graduate to Cop Killer, attempting to slash both the cop who dresses up as a prostitute to bait him out, and Detective Toby Keith.
• Covered Up:
  • "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time" was originally a hit for Lefty Frizzell.
  • His version of "Georgia on My Mind" is almost as well-known as Ray Charles' version.
  • "Good Hearted Woman", a duet with Waylon Jennings, was originally a solo single for Jennings. The duet version is far more well-known.
  • Nelson neither wrote nor originated his other big Jennings duet, "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys". It was first released by Ed Bruce, and written by Bruce and his wife Patsy.
  • "Always on My Mind" was first recorded by Brenda Lee in 1971, then covered shortly after that by Elvis Presley. John Wesley Ryles also had a minor hit with it.
  • His version of Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" is the only version to reach #1 on any singles chart.
  • "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" is a Roy Acuff cover.
  • "Uncloudy Day" was a gospel song from the 1880s but is now usually associated with him.
  • "City of New Orleans" was originally recorded by its composer, Steve Goodman, in 1971. A year later Arlo Guthrie's version was a Top 20 pop hit, but Nelson's 1984 version was a #1 country hit.
  • "Whiskey River" was a country hit for longtime Nelson associate Johnny Bush in 1972 (Bush also wrote it). His arrangement was in more of a standard honky-tonk style than Willie's.
  • "Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other" was originally written by Ned Sublette.
  • Early in his career, a money-strapped Nelson actually sold the rights to some of his songs. His song "Family Bible" was a Top 10 Country hit for Claude Gray in 1961, but Nelson didn't get a dime from it. However, 1961 was the same year two of his songs which he didn't sell - "Hello Walls" by Faron Young and "Crazy" by Patsy Cline - became not only huge Country hits but big Pop crossovers as well. Nelson had been planning to sell the songwriting credits for "Hello Walls" to Young, but Young talked him out of it, advice that paid off handsomely for Nelson when the song earned him a $14,000 royalty check.
• Fan Nickname: The Red-Headed Stranger
• Fanon Discontinuity: His 2005 reggae album Countryman.
• Genre Turning Point: The rise of Outlaw Country Music was precipitated by his decision to leave Nashville and move back to Texas in 1970.
• Growing the Beard: Nelson's outlaw country makeover began with a literal usage of the trope.
• Signature Song: The aforementioned "Always on My Mind," "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys," "On The Road Again," "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground," and of course "Crazy". Really, who doesn't know that one?

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