Once again I say, only Willie Nelson…
The 39th President Jimmy Carter, the longest-living president in U.S. history, passed away at 100 yrs old yesterday, and I think many of us have heard the incredible story of Willie smoking weed with President Jimmy Carter’s son Chip on the roof of the White House… but what happened just two days before makes the story that much more fascinating and intriguing.
On a tour with Hank Cochran in 1977, after 10 straight nights, sometimes playing two shows a night, when they finally got a two-day break, Willie and Hank headed for the Bahamas to do some deep-sea fishing on Cochran’s boat.
They were so late to the airport that their luggage didn’t make it onto their flight, and while preparing to go through customs, Willie realized there actually might be an issue and he detailed what went down in his 2015 memoir It’s a Long Story: My Life:
“I’d slipped a small bag of feed in the pocket of a pair of jeans. That got me to worrying. But since worrying never has solved anything, I let the worry go.”
The next morning, they got a call that their luggage arrived, and they just had to go to the airport and get it… yeah, you can probably see where this is going.
The agent asked Willie if it was his suitcase, and when he opened it, Willie had a pair of jeans on top where the pot was. He was promptly arrested, and Willie said there was “no chance” to call a lawyer, and he didn’t know any in the Bahamas anyways.
Hank (jokingly) assured him he would come visit him in jail.
And even though Willie found himself in a jail cell in a foreign country, he still wasn’t panicking. He knew his friend would find a way to get him out of it. Hank went to see Willie during visiting hours, telling him they’d set bail “at some ridiculous amount,” and he would have to go back home and get enough cash.
He also brought Willie a six-pack of beer, though (the 70’s were clearly different time), and while Willie had mostly given up drinking by this point, he says in this instance, he was more than willing to make an exception… fair enough.
Not long after that visit, Hank returned to bail Willie out… but Willie was so drunk from drinking all the beer Hank brought earlier, that he took a tumble and found himself in an emergency room, if you can believe it:
“The second we left the jailhouse and the sunlight hit my eyes, I hollered hallelujah and jumped off the porch of the jail. Given my inebriation, I took a nasty tumble and broke my left foot.
I spent the next five hours in an emergency room. When I left, I was walking on crutches. Hungover and hobbling, I appeared before a judge. Hank had found a lawyer who started telling his honor about all the charitable work I did back in the States. His honor did not give a s**t.”
Not exactly what they were hoping for…
Willie Gets Banned From The Bahamas
The judge did agree to let him go, though, on one very specific (and kind of unfortunate) condition:
“‘We’re letting your client go on one condition,’ said the judge. ‘He’s never to return to the Bahamas.’ ‘Deal,’ I blurted out before the attorney had a chance to speak. And that was it.”
I mean, that kinda sucks, but also worth the sacrifice to not have to stay in jail in a foreign country for any second longer.
And guess what happened two days later?
Mr. Nelson went hobbling into the White House, as President and Mrs. Carter had invited him to perform. They had also invited Willie and his family to spend the night there, and the concert went off without a hitch, Willie says.
President Carter hardly mentioned Willie’s adventures, slyly saying:
“I’m glad everything turned out well for you in the Bahamas, Willie.”
Of course, going from a Bahamian jail to the White House in just a few short days doesn’t even sound possible, and Willie recalled just how incredible that moment was:
“Getting stoned on the roof of the White House, you can’t help but turn inward. Certain philosophical questions come to mind, like… ‘How the f*** did I get here?’…
There I was, smoking weed and watching the city lights flicker like fireflies, thinking back to where I had started, thinking of the twists and turns of my crazy career, thinking how I had somehow managed to stay half sane.
I had to offer up a prayer that consisted of no more than two words: ‘Thank you.'”
I’m not sure if the ban ever got dropped (I’d love to know), but what an incredible backstory to the iconic tale of Willie smoking weed on the roof of the White House that has long been a fan-favorite, and for good reason.
Long live the Red Headed Stranger…
On The White House Roof
A 2020 documentary dove into the the life and legacy of the 39th President of the United States, and since we all know that Jimmy wasn’t exactly known for being the greatest President (most rankings, from either side of the aisle, land him in the bottom half of US Presidents), this documentary gave viewers a different look at President Carter… his love of music.
Titled, Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President, the documentary chronicles former President Carter’s affinity for all kinds of music, and how he developed friendships with a number of legendary artists like Bob Dylan, Bono, Garth Brooks, Jimmy Buffett, among others. And it also features his Willie Nelson, who Carter referred to as “one of his best friends.”
“Bob Dylan has been one of my best friends, along with Willie Nelson.”
If you haven’t seen it, it’s probably worth the watch, especially given the fact that Carter has just passed away, but the trailer alone also reveals confirmation of another notorious piece of Willie Nelson lore… the time he lit up a joint on the White House roof. Willie first revealed that he smoked at the White House back in his 1988 autobiography, Willie: An Autobiography, which was written by Willie himself, along with help from author Bud Shrake.
In the book, Willie says he was let on the roof by an “anonymous servant” at the White House, and sets the scene as himself being up on the roof with “a beer in one hand and a fat Austin Torpedo in the other.” But then in 2015, Willie confirmed that the alleged “anonymous servant” wasn’t a servant at all… it was President Carter’s son, Chip.
And in the new documentary, Jimmy Carter confirms it himself, almost as if he knew all along.
“When Willie Nelson wrote his autobiography he confessed that he smoked pot in the White House and he says that his companion was one of the servants at the White House… actually it was one of my sons.”
RIP President Carter.
