Mickey Raphael on "The Words Don't Fit the Picture"
One by Willie
John Spong
4.6 • 898 Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2022
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Willie’s longtime harmonica player, Mickey Raphael, talks about a song Willie cut not long before leaving Nashville for good in 1972, the aptly titled “The Words Don’t Fit the Picture.” Mickey was just a sideman on the Dallas folkie scene when he first heard it, and it’s the song that made him want to play with Willie. He talks about that experience, plus what his fifty-plus years with Willie have been like, from joining the band to shows they played until dawn, mysterious stowaways who spent days on the bus, he and Willie’s onstage telepathy...and how their half-century of friendship changed his life.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Texas Monthly. |
| 0:07.0 | Hey there, I'm John Spong with Texas Monthly magazine, and this is One by Willie, a podcast in which I talk each week to one notable Willie Nelson fan about one Willie's song that they really |
| 0:22.2 | love. This week, we talk with Willie's longtime harmonica player Mickey Raphael, a musician who's |
| 0:28.5 | playing is as vital to Willie's sound as trigger in Willie's own voice. He's here to discuss |
| 0:33.7 | a fairly forgotten cut from Willie's last days in Nashville. The words don't fit the picture, |
| 0:39.2 | which is a song that predates Mickey even meeting Willie, but it's also the song that made him |
| 0:43.7 | first hope there was a place for him in Willie's band. From there, he touches on the truly |
| 0:48.0 | freaky photo of Willie that's on that album's cover. Man, talk about words not fitting pictures. Check |
| 0:53.9 | that one out. Before giving an |
| 0:55.9 | eyewitness look at life inside Willie World, describing things like the unlikely way he was invited |
| 1:01.3 | to join the family, concerts in which the band decided to just keep playing till dawn, stowaways |
| 1:07.3 | on Willie's bus, and so on. Oh, and he also talks about how much his 50-year friendship with Willie means to him. |
| 1:13.8 | Let's do it. |
| 1:15.9 | Hey, it's art. |
| 1:21.2 | If this is a game we play, |
| 1:26.2 | I know. a game we play. |
| 1:34.4 | And if this is a role I play. |
| 1:39.3 | What's so cool about the song, the words don't fit the picture? |
| 1:48.3 | Well, you know, I've got to say that just first off, the first thing that caught me was the harmonica. |
| 1:51.7 | Charlie McCoy is playing harmonic on it. |
| 1:58.4 | And the heart part is just so, it's not overplayed. |
| 2:05.3 | Charlie's one of these guys that plays, doesn't play any notes that don't absolutely have to be there. |
... |
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