On The Road Again - Live

This was written on the spur of the moment on an airsickness bag when Nelson was on a plane with Jerry Schatzberg, the director of the movie Honeysuckle Rose and its executive producer Sydney Pollack. He recalled to Uncut magazine: "They were looking for songs for the movie and they asked me if I had any idea. I said, 'What do you want the song to say?' and Sydney said, 'Can it be something about being on the road?' It just started to click. I said 'You mean like, On the road again, I can't wait to get on the road again?; They said, 'That's great. What's the melody?' I said, 'I don't know yet.'"

This was a #1 Country hit for Willie Nelson, and also one of his biggest crossovers, reaching #20 on the Hot 100, his highest placing at the time. As a writer, Nelson crossed over with the Patsy Cline hit "Crazy," which reached #9 on the Hot 100 in 1961 and even reached the UK singles chart, placing at #14. He had many other hits as a writer, but his biggest hit as an artist is a song he didn't write: "Always On My Mind," which reached #5 in 1982 and sold over a million copies.

Nelson starred in the 1980 movie Honeysuckle Rose, for which this was written. The movie was not a big success.