Hailed as a true “songwriter’s songwriter,” Beth Nielsen Chapman has penned a diverse array for hits throughout her four-decade career. Drawing from influences including James Taylor and Carole King, the Texas-born wordsmith taps into universal human emotions like newfound romantic bliss (Faith Hill’s “This Kiss”) and existential longing (Willie Nelson’s “Nothing I Can Do About It Now”). On this day (September 20) in 1989, the latter sat atop the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It marked the 14th number-one hit of the Red-Headed Stranger’s illustrious career.
Why Willie Nelson Specifically Requested a Song by Beth Nielsen Chapman
Willie Nelson found himself at a bit of a crossroads in the late 1980s. He’d recently divorced his third wife of 17 years, Connie Koepke, and had a newborn baby (singer-songwriter Lukas Nelson) with his fourth, Annie D’Angelo. And now, he was on a tight deadline to deliver a new song.
Then, Nelson heard the Tanya Tucker song “Strong Enough to Bend”, which reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart and received a Song of the Year nomination.
Whatever magic that song’s writers had conjured, the outlaw country legend wanted a piece. So Nelson’s producer, Fred Foster, called up the song’s co-writer, Beth Nielsen Chapman. (She co-wrote the track with Don Schlitz.)
Chapman recounted her conversation with the legendary producer — who signed both Kris Kristofferson and Dolly Parton — during a 2020 interview with storytelling nonprofit group The Moth.
“He calls me up and he goes, ’Hey, this is Fred, and I’m making an album with Willie Nelson,’” she recalled. “‘Now, Willie has been going through some stuff in his life. He’s got a deadline, and he hadn’t been writing a lot of songs. He’s got a new wife and a new baby and a lot of things going on. He just said to me the other day, ’Find out who wrote that ‘Strong Enough to Bend’ song, get them to write me one.’”
“This Is Not Happening”
Starstruck, Chapman agreed to have a brand-new track ready in three months’ time.
“I’m just listening to this on the phone going, ’This is not happening,’” she said. “Because I knew every Willie Nelson song. We had all his records. I mean, you could hold them up to the light and see through them, that’s how much I knew all of his songs.”
Hanging up the phone, Chapman immediately shifted into “supersonic songwriting mode.” To get the creative juices flowing, she headed for the local Y to jog around the indoor track.
Building the song around the famous “train beat” featured in Nelson’s signature song “On the Road Again”, Chapman knew she needed a great title.
Then, on the drive home, the phrase “There’s nothing I can do about it now,” popped into her head.
“And I thought, perfect. And then, I got really paranoid, because I thought, gosh, that’s such a good title, surely somebody’s going to write it out from under me before I get it done,” she said.
It took several hours to think up everything that rhymed with “now.” After using up the obvious ones — “allow,” “brow” — Chapman came up with the end of the second verse: And I’ve been dreaming like a child since the cradle broke the bough / And there’s nothing I can do about it now.
“I just felt like I’d crossed over the mountain of songwriting,” she said. “I’d gotten to the top and I knew that I had that song, and I finished the rest of it in 20 minutes.”
“The Best Song I’ve Ever Written”
While Chapman felt she’d just penned “the best song I’ve ever written,” she didn’t automatically expect Willie Nelson to cut it.
He did, however, releasing it in April 1989 as the lead single from his album A Horse Called Music.
Five months later, it hit number one.
Featured image by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
The post 37 Years Ago Today, Willie Nelson Scored His 14th No. 1 With This Introspective Hit Penned by Beth Nielsen Chapman appeared first on American Songwriter.
Author: Erinn Callahan
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