Jordan Karlesson
Willie Nelson seems like a pretty happy-go-lucky, mild-mannered guy. But in his new memoir, the Red-Headed Stranger reflects on a suicide attempt — likely to the surprise of at least some fans.
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The 89-year-old country-music legend opens up about his near-tragedy in Me and Paul: Untold Tales of a Fabled Friendship, according to People. The book, a tribute to Willie Nelson’s late drummer and best friend Paul English, hits bookshelves Tuesday.
Willie Nelson reportedly recalls a painful period in his life during which he drank excessively.
“Looking back over my life, my early days in Nashville were a definite low point,” Willie Nelson recounts. “I’m not one to easily fall prey to depression, but depression had me in its grips. Throwing back bourbon on a freezing cold night at Tootsie’s, I thought about an old song I’d heard Lightnin’ Hopkins cut back at Gold Studios in Houston. He sang about feeling so bad until he lay his head on some lonesome railroad line and let it ease his troubled mind. So why not?”
Willie Nelson continues, according to People: “It had started snowing. There wasn’t any railroad in sight, but there was Broadway — the city’s main thoroughfare. Why not go out there, lie down in the middle of the street, and let some souped-up Plymouth Barracuda ease my troubled mind?”
The excerpt ends: “So I did. I lay, prepared to stay. Eyes closed. Ready to move on and move out. If this world wasn’t working, maybe the next one would. I lay for five minutes, then ten, then fifteen. Don’t know why — maybe it was the bad weather and the late hour — but there was hardly any traffic. If one or two drivers saw me, they swerved out of the way. Was I relieved? Was I disappointed? Can’t say for sure. All I know is that I got up, went back to Tootsie’s, and had another drink.”
Rumors of Willie Nelson’s demise circled in recent years, likely to the chagrin of the man himself. Their ever-pervasiveness even inspired the singer to pen the song “Still Not Dead” in his 2017 collection, God’s Problem Child.
