Willie Nelson's Moment of Forever

Willie Nelson might have recorded Kris Kristofferson’s “Moment of Forever” years ago, if he could have taken it seriously. The song, which is the title track of Nelson’s new album and one that Kristofferson sang at Johnny Cash’s funeral, begins like this:

Was it wonderful for you?
Was it holy as it was for me?
Did you feel the hand of destiny
That was guiding us together?

“It’s not the sort of song you want to look at your buddy and sing,” Nelson says. So when Kristofferson sang it for Nelson at his Maui home years ago, the two of them couldn’t stop laughing. It took Buddy Cannon, who co-produced Moment of Forever with Kenny Chesney, to make Nelson listen with fresh ears.

“Once I heard it again, I thought, ‘What the hell was I thinking?’” Nelson says. “I should have cut it last year.”

By the way, if you haven’t seen the video for Nelson's cover of Dave Matthews' "Gravedigger," you should.