Both Sides Now

Both Sides Now is the tenth studio album by country singer Willie Nelson, released in 1970. Background With the dawn of the new decade, Nelson had not achieved the commercial success at RCA that he had hoped for. He gained a measure of fame writing songs that were hits for Faron Young ("Hello Walls"), Billy Walker ("Funny How Time Slips Away"), Patsy Cline ("Crazy"), and Roy Orbison ("Pretty Paper"), but most of his singles stalled on the charts, his biggest single at RCA being the Vegas-styled cover "Bring Me Sunshine," which hit number 13. His producer, RCA head Chet Atkins, had tried various approaches, from a live LP to a Texas-themed concept album, but success remained elusive. After the underwhelming performance of the album My Own Peculiar Way, a year passed before the November 1969 sessions began for Both Sides Now. Recording and composition As he had in the past, Atkins turned production duties on Nelson over to Felton Jarvis, who had started producing Elvis Presley. Unlike Atkins, Jarvis let Nelson record on his own terms and bring along Billy English, Paul English's nineteen-year-old brother, on drums, David Zettner on guitar and bass, Shirley Nelson on vocals (her last collaboration with her husband), and Jimmy Day on bass. The album contains a new version of "I Gotta Get Drunk," a song Nelson wrote in Houston before moving to Nashville in 1960, as well as "Bloody Mary Morning," a tune destined to become a highlight in the Texan's live shows. In his 2015 autobiography, Nelson admitted the song was taken from his own unhappy experiences as a drinker: "Bloody Mary Morning" was another boozy song about this boozy period of my life. Its origins might be found in those days on the road when I was living a double life...I was a lousy drunk, a foolish drunk, a fighting drunk, a drunk who did himself much damage. But I was caught up in the culture of drinking. That's what country singers did, right? That's what pickers did. That was the life.