[Applause] my first guest tonight this is interesting he has a record album Stardust
which is now in its 315th week on the uh top 100 uh country chart in America 350.
and uh here are two of his uh most recent albums I guess these are the two most recent
Willie Nelson angel eyes and Willie Nelson without a song well ladies and gentlemen it's
a terrific honor for us to introduce this man a legendary singer and a songwriter he
will be appearing with his family at Radio City Music Hall May 24th through the 29th
we're honored to have him with us please welcome Mr Willie Nelson
all right
[Music] on the road again I just can't wait to get on the road again the life I love is
making my friends and I can't wait to get on the road again on the road again going
places that I've never been seeing things that I may never see again I can't wait to
get on the road again off the road again [Music] is on the road again I just can't wait to
get on the road again the life I love is making music with my friends and I can't wait to
get on the road again
[Music] on the road again [Music] she's on the road again I just can't wait to get on
the road again the life I love is making music with my friends and I can't wait to get on
the road again
[Music] [Applause] [Music]
everybody
boy it's good to see you thank you thank you very much for being here I really appreciate
it and you sound terrific thank you very much let me ask you about the guitar this is the
guitar this is trigger Junior boy look at this what the heck happened here can we this
would look like some is that a that's not a bullet hole it's a hell of a wreck what's
the history behind this thing well this guitar is about 20 years old I guess and uh because
it's the tone is so exceptionally good I've tried to keep it and it doesn't have a pick
guard so over the years the pick has worn a hole in there and it looks kind of bad but
it sounds okay and uh it doesn't affect the soundness you have essentially two openings
there in the deal maybe ought to putty one of these up I don't no I think it kind of
enhances the sound a little bit we've had to reinforce it inside a little bit to keep
it from caving in yeah and you folks have signed on there who are some of these people
oh Roger Miller Kris Kristofferson uh just uh Leon Russell a lot of friends of mine have
you got this thing insured or no if you ever let it out of your sight are you careful with
it or you don't worry so much about it or how do you treat it uh well I don't worry
so much about it occasionally it crosses my mind what would I do and you know if something
happened to it but I don't think about that one yeah but this is the one night in night
out you're working with wherever you go now that wouldn't be traumatic if all of a sudden
it didn't turned up missing yeah I don't know where to go no no I'm not no I don't know
you take it back no you hang on to it but I mean it gets to be a but it's uh I mean
it gets to be a real part of you doesn't it yeah yeah sure uh listen we have to do a commercial
uh we'll be right back and talk some more with the Willie Nelson you're going to sing
another song aren't you terrific we'll be right back Willie Nelson is here you know
uh this afternoon when uh your people were here there's a lot you travel with a lot of
folks don't you when they were uh here setting up and so forth looking the place over a lot
of had shirts on it's a bad TV right now what is that that had anything to do with us or
is this now this is our own little in-house production that we have a camera and we take
pictures of ourselves throughout the day at the concert before and after and what have
you and we have some very interesting also we had a contest uh recently called the misconceived
contest and uh we have some film clips of that that maybe sometime in the future you
might like to show oh I'd love to show them what would we see if we would be able to get
that stuff on the air oh well just everyone in in the in the the group uh performed uh
in their bathing suits and they they look uh courageous and courageous yeah well you
could edit that stuff together we'd throw it right on that would be great that would
make them so happy I'm good uh now when you come to New York City you're going to be at
Radio City Musical for six nights yes and I understand it's already sold out uh do you
run when you're in town yes do you uh I I would if I was but I I'm not so I don't I
get it but uh but where do you go uh I'll run in the park a lot how much how much running
do you do well I did about seven miles today yeah wow that's amazing do you do that every
day well not every day you know Skip a day sometimes yeah the seven what's the longest
you've done uh I did 10 miles uh one time one day Mark and I Mark is my friend in manager
we did 21 miles and Kris Kristofferson was with us that day and we were trying to kill
him
now you bring up a good point he doesn't look like he you know he might uh he looks like
to kind of get a rather sleep late Chris yeah it's very deceiving though he's a fine Runner
no kidding yeah he's been great 21 miles that's admirable um now you're in town for six days
but do you still travel in a bus or have you progressed to bigger and better things do
you all roll in a well we have uh some buses that carry us they're about 30 of us so we've
got four buses and an airplane uh what kind of airplane a leer oh boy and uh I fly a net
sometimes I had a feeling you would be in there the feeling the guys in the t-shirts
aren't in the gym and dude so do you try and commute back and forth every night from a
gig if I'm close enough yeah yeah and if I'm close enough to either Austin or Denver which
is yeah what was your first job in Nashville my first job was playing guitar with uh Bobby
Sykes and we did a tour from Nashville it was a three-day tour went from Nashville to
uh Bangor Maine to Plattsburgh New York and back to Nashville this is grilling it's great
we've got a speeding ticket in Virginia and missed the first date yeah we were only getting
25 hours a day so they went half a good yeah yeah and then my next job was with uh Ray
Price Ray Price For Whom you wrote uh nightlife yes now can you tell the people what you sold
that song to him for actually the truth of the matter is right if you're listening I'm
sorry pal uh I wrote the song in uh when I was still living in Houston those few years
before I got to Nashville and uh Ray recorded it and I you know he did a great job only
but I had already recorded it myself before yeah but who who owns the rights to that now
I sold that song to uh three people
for a hundred dollars and uh it took all three of them together up a hundred dollars and
I sold another song called family bible for fifty dollars for the same three people yeah
no problem there no lawsuits no fist fights uh no not really because I really needed the
money at the time uh now you also started performing much earlier than that though when
you were six years old you were giving you were reading poetry for folks yes well actually
I was uh we would have on Sundays what they call all day singings and dinner on the ground
and everyone would bring a covered dish I was probably about five years old yeah and
I was wearing uh a little white sailor suit short britches and with red trim and I had
a poem to do and they was going to introduce me into this little Tabernacle where we all
would sing songs and and do whatever you know you could do so they introduced me and I got
up there but my nose had started to bleed I'd been picking my nose right five years
well five-year-old boys what are you gonna do yeah and yeah you're sitting around yeah
so you pick your nose and it started bleeding just as I started up to do my opinion so I
had to hold my nose and uh and do my poem which was what are you looking at me for I
ain't got nothing to say if you don't like the looks of me you just look the other way
that was my first one sure I ran from then on Show Business was for you yeah nothing
scared me from there we have uh I don't even know how old this is our head writer owns
this give you an idea of our head writer but uh it's a it's a plastic Willie Nelson guitar
and if you don't mind would you sign that for him his name is Steve O'Donnell sure yeah
we got a pen and also do we have when you were on that show with Barbara Walters anything
going on there with you and Barbara well not not on camera no
we have to uh pause for station identification uh Willie Nelson will be back he's going to
sing another song
uh oh uh once again ladies and gentlemen and we're very pleased about this uh here he is
Willie Nelson singing always on my mind [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
thank you while it's good
if I make you feel sacrifice
girl I'm sorry I was blind
but you were always on my mind
You Were Always On My Mind
hold you
all those long and lonely times
I guess I like and I've told you but I am so happy that you're mine [Music] little thing
cause I should have said and done
I just never took the time
but you were always on my mind [Music] you were always on my mind
tell me
tell me that your sweet love hasn't died
give me one more chance to keep you satisfied I'll keep you satisfied
foreign [Music] little things I should have said done
I just never took the time
but you were always on my mind [Music] always on my mind
You Were Always On My Mind [Applause] You Were Always On
my mind [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yes sir beautiful terrific job delicious very
nice Willie Nelson ladies and gentlemen you want to introduce the folks here sure yeah
I'd love to this is Mickey Raphael playing the harmonics Vicki nice to see you sir thank
you very much nice to see you sir call English play on the Drone nice job thank you very
much Jody Payne playing this guitar how are you doing sir Brady Martin ready and my sister
Bobby playing the piano Bobby how are you
Willie thank you very much terrific job really appreciate you being here we have to go away
we'll be right back really really folks