Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings from the Road

by Willie Nelson, Kinky Friedman (Foreword by), Michah Nelson (Illustrator)

Overview

“Nelson’s unmistakable voice shines through . . . funny, inspirational and bawdy, with a well-honed sense of humor.” —Kirkus Reviews

In Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die, Willie Nelson muses about his greatest influences and the things that are most important to him, and celebrates the family, friends, and colleagues who have blessed his remarkable journey. Willie riffs on everything, from music to poker, Texas to Nashville, and more. He shares the outlaw wisdom he has acquired over the course of eight decades, along with favorite jokes and insights from family, bandmates, and close friends. Rare family photographs, beautiful artwork created by his son, Micah Nelson, and lyrics to classic songs punctuate these charming and poignant memories.

A road journal written in Willie Nelson’s inimitable, homespun voice and a fitting tribute to America’s greatest traveling bard, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die—introduced by another favorite son of Texas, Kinky Friedman—is a deeply personal look into the heart and soul of a unique man and one of the greatest artists of our time, a songwriter and performer whose legacy will endure for generations to come.

“An irreverent, entertaining read. Humble, optimistic, and quick to give credit to those around him for contributing to his success, Nelson is a charming narrator.” —Publishers Weekly

“Nelson takes us for a rollicking ride along the highways and byways of his long life and career in this rambunctious, hilarious, reflective, and loving memoir.” —American Songwriter

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062193650
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	150
Sales rank:	200,901
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Willie Nelson is one of the most popular, prolific, and influential songwriters and singers in the history of American music. He has recorded more than one hundred albums over six decades, appeared in several films, and written two New York Times bestsellers: Willie: An Autobiography and The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes.

Kinky Friedman is an author, musician, defender of strays, cigar smoker, and the governor of the heart of Texas.

Read an Excerpt

Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die

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By Willie Nelson

HarperCollins Publishers

Copyright © 2012 Willie Nelson
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-06-219364-3

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Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

EARLY MEMORIES

I'm flashing back to my first memories; they are of a blacksmith shop in Abbott, Texas. My grandfather is shoeing a horse. He is heating the horseshoe in the roaring hot coals in the furnace. I'm standing on my tiptoes turning the bellows that blows the air on the furnace, keeping the fire going. He heats the horseshoe till it is red hot, then fits it to the horse's hoof, cools it off in water, and nails it onto the horse's hoof. A horse kicked him one day and ruptured his stomach.

He wore a truss the rest of his life until he died from pneumonia at fifty-six. I was seven years old at the time my grandfather died. The next memory is my first introduction to gospel music. It is of a tabernacle that sat next to my house, where in the summertime we had revivals. The Methodists, the Baptists, and the Church of Christ all held their church services in the tabernacle. I am sitting at the table looking out the window, listening to them all. My first performance in church was when I was about five. I was wearing a white sailor suit with red trim. I start to recite a poem my grandmother taught me, but I have been picking my nose, which now starts to bleed. I hold my nose with one finger and while blood runs all over my little white sailor suit I recite my poem:

    What are you looking at me for?
    I ain't got nothin' to say
    If you don't likes the looks of me
    Just look the other way

My next memory is of our bumblebee fights. On Sundays we would all go out and fight bumblebees. I was ten years old. The farmers around Abbott would run into bumblebee nests during the week while they worked their fields. They would let us know where to go, and eight or ten of us boys would go out and fight the bees. Some days I would come home with both eyes swollen shut from bee stings.

What fun we had!

We made paddles, sawed out of wooden boxes, that looked like Ping-Pong paddles with holes. One of us would go in and shake the nest and stir up the bees. Then, when the bees were swarming, everyone would start swinging. The bees always headed for your eyes. The next memory is when we (the same bee-hunting boys and me) are all hiding behind a billboard sign on the main road, Highway 81, that runs through Abbott, which is between Waco and Dallas. We have tied a string to a lady's purse that we laid in the middle of the highway. A car would come by, see the purse, hit the brakes, stop, and back up to get the purse. At that moment we would pull the purse back to us behind the billboard sign. The driver would then realize that it was a prank, give us the finger, and speed away. We laughed a lot.

Another great Sunday!
(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die by Willie Nelson. Copyright © 2012 by Willie Nelson. Excerpted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

With his career stuttering and his personal life in shreds, Nelson wasn't facing the greatest Christmas in 1971; even his house burned down. So he decided to change everything, shrugging off pressures to sound Nashville and heading in a whole new creative direction. A memoir-cum-inspirational tale that's right for the holidays; with a 125,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal

The latest in a collection of anecdotes and essays from singer-songwriter Nelson (The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes) serves to reinforce his image as a sentimental country veteran who isn't averse to firing up the occasional joint or two. A mix of mundane diary entries ("It's a nice plane ride.... Thanks, American"); philosophic musings ("They say there are no ex-wives, only additional wives"; "once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results"); the stories behind songs like "Shotgun Willie"; and pointed essays on the Occupy movement and Farm Aid, peppered with the occasional dirty joke, the book makes for an irreverent, entertaining read. Humble, optimistic, and quick to give credit to those around him for contributing to his success, Nelson is a charming narrator, lurching from subject to subject, but always with a point in mind. Readers interested in linear recounting of Nelson's colorful life are better served by his 2000 autobiography, but those who want to know him will do well to seek out this volume. It's the next best thing to an audience with the star performer. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Nelson’s unmistakable voice shines through . . . funny, inspirational and bawdy, with a well-honed sense of humor.” — Kirkus Reviews

“An irreverent, entertaining read. Humble, optimistic, and quick to give credit to those around him for contributing to his success, Nelson is a charming narrator.” — Publishers Weekly

“Nelson takes us for a rollicking ride along the highways and byways of his long life and career in this rambunctious, hilarious, reflective, and loving memoir.” — American Songwriter

“Compelling page-turner . . . for all his fame and accessibility, he still has so much wisdom left to share.” — Jambands.com

“So many decades into his fabled life and career, Willie fans pretty much know what to expect from him. And he does not let his readers down with his Musings From the Road. ” — Country Music Television, Nashville Skyline blog

From the Publisher

So many decades into his fabled life and career, Willie fans pretty much know what to expect from him. And he does not let his readers down with his Musings From the Road.

Country Music Television

Compelling page-turner . . . for all his fame and accessibility, he still has so much wisdom left to share.

Jambands.com

Nelson takes us for a rollicking ride along the highways and byways of his long life and career in this rambunctious, hilarious, reflective, and loving memoir.

American Songwriter

Legendary musician Nelson and his friends share a year's worth of stories, lyrics, riffs and dirty jokes. At age 79, the prolific Nelson (A Tale Out of Luck, 2008, etc.) shows no signs of slowing down as he continues to travel the world with his "band of gypsies." This funny, heartwarming collection doesn't quite capture the experience of being on the road with the circus, but Nelson's unmistakable voice shines through. The songwriter shares tales from the road, thoughts of the day, early memories, classic lyrics, and recollections of people like Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, among a host of lesser-known collaborators. Sister Bobbie Nelson and various children also chime in, while Kinky Friedman offers an affectionate foreword and Nelson's son Micah contributes some terrific portraits of everyone from Ray Charles to Django Reinhardt. There are some semi-serious moments, but the best characteristic about the book is its sense of being mostly unplanned. Page by page, you might get a list of the best pickers Willie has ever heard, the lyrics and the inspiration for "Shotgun Willie," or musings on golf, addiction, biodiesel, Farm Aid or the Occupy movement. However, it is neither as immaterial as The Tao of Willie (2006) nor as essential as his autobiography. Like another collection, The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes (2001), how closely readers follow Nelson's meandering path may largely depend on their own lucidity at the time. Just one volume in Nelson's long story that remains much like its author: funny, inspirational and bawdy, with a well-honed sense of humor.

Kirkus Reviews