\n\t\u201cBring us your tired and weak.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe opening lines of Willie Nelson<\/a>\u2019s \u201cLiving in the Promiseland,\u201d written by David Lynn Jones, paraphrase Emma Lazarus\u2019 words from a plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The national landmark was undergoing a renaissance when Nelson took \u201cPromiseland\u201d to No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s Hot Country Songs<\/a> chart dated June 28, 1986. It was still waving the flag at No. 15 on the July 5 list, ahead of his performance of the title on a statue-related TV special that aired on July 6, and held in the top 40 through the July 12 tally.<\/p>\n \n\tJones penned most of the song in 15 minutes, inspired by immigrants from Vietnam and Cuba in the 1970s and \u201880s. He finished it five years later, after a new publisher discovered the incomplete demo, and bassist Bee Spears subsequently passed a copy to Nelson on the golf course.<\/p>\n \n\tNelson has called it \u201cthe best patriotic song I ever heard,\u201d and he recorded it on Thanksgiving 1985. It debuted on the March 29, 1986 chart and sailed to country\u2019s promised land 12 weeks later.<\/p>\n \n\tThe timing was fortuitous. The Statue of Liberty had undergone a two-year restoration, and the scaffolding came down as the Lady in the Harbor officially reopened during Liberty Weekend, July 3-6, a week after \u201cPromiseland\u201d peaked. Nelson sang it as a duet with Jones during Farm Aid II on Independence Day in Austin, and he performed it again during the weekend\u2019s closing ceremony, aired as an ABC special from Giants Stadium in New Jersey.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cPromiseland\u201d returned to TV this year when Chris Stapleton, the final country artist featured on CBS\u2019 The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, sang it on May 6 with support from harmonica player Mickey Raphael, who backed Nelson on the original recording. Plus, a \u201cPromiseland\u201d clip launched Nelson\u2019s set when he played this year\u2019s Fourth of July Picnic in Austin.<\/p>\n \t<\/p>\n \t<\/a><\/p>\n Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox<\/p>\n