Willie Nelson • Do You Realize?? • 2024

https://willienelson.com/

Willie Nelson is now in his 7th decade as a songwriter, performer and recording artist, but one of his most underrated talents is song interpretation. Over his career he has tackled songs from across the world of music, making each his own. Now for his 76th solo studio album and 153rd album overall as he celebrates his 91st year, Willie turns his gaze to a collection of songs by rock legends, idiosyncratic singer songwriters, altrock heroes and indie folk artists.

 

The second single from the album is Willie’s take on “Do You Realize??” One of The Flaming Lips’ most enduring songs is an existentialist masterpiece well-suited to the tao of Willie. From their perspective, the Lips loved it. “He’s just such a unique singer,” lead singer Wayne Coyne says. “You hear one second of his voice, and you go, that’s him.” Fellow bandmember and song co-writer Steven Drozd says his only regret is that his late father won’t get to hear it: “I wish he was still alive to see this happening, that Willie Nelson is doing a Flaming Lips song I had a part in co-writing. He’d be very proud.”