Willie Nelson and his son Micah released an ode to weed called “Die When I’m High (Halfway To Heaven),” reported Forbes.
“If I die when I’m high, I’ll be halfway to Heaven, or I might have a long way to fall,” the song begins.
“Released just ahead of Father’s Day, it’s a loving tribute to country icon Nelson,” said Jon Freeman wrote for Rolling Stone. “A gentle, lilting waltz, 'Die When I’m High' starts with Micah singing lines that sound like they have his father in mind, while Willie’s signature guitar accents chime in.”
Micah, AKA Particle Kid, said work on the song started at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
“Sometime back in December 2020, in between endless rounds of chess and dominos, my dad looked up at me and said, ‘If I die when I’m high I’ll be halfway to heaven,’” Micah remembers. “It took me a second to process, but I said, ‘Dad, that's the best song title I ever heard. You better write the rest of it quick.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you write it?’ So, I did. That night I wrote it for him, about him. It’s really just a love letter to him. A tribute.”
Micah explained that although the new song is a tribute to his father, there is also a message for those who blast him for not being enough like his music icon and weed activist father.
“I realized it’s also a sort of ‘fuck you’ to anyone who ever thought of me as some lost prodigal son who doesn’t understand him or respect his legacy just because I’ve never imitated his style or pandered to his audience. HE is the one who gave me my Particle Kid moniker after all," said Micah.
"We are both freaks, in our time. I’m no prodigal son. I am HIS Particle Kid. I would never try to be him, or even pretend, because nobody will ever be him. But believe it or not, I do relate to the Willie fans because I am one of them. They know how incredible and one-of-a-kind he is. So this song is for the real Willie fans too. They get it.”
Willie Nelson and his son will give performances across the U.S. starting June 24 as part of the Outlaw Music Festival, through September.
Photo: Courtesy of Randy Miramontez via Shutterstock
