About The Song
“Pretty Paper” is a song performed by Willie Nelson, released in 1964 as a single on Monument Records, later included on the 1979 album Pretty Paper on Columbia Records. Written by Willie Nelson and inspired by a street vendor in Fort Worth, Texas, the song was first recorded by Roy Orbison, reaching No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963. Nelson’s version peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in December 1964 and charted for 12 weeks. The 2:22 track portrays a holiday scene with a melancholic twist, with lyrics like: “Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue / Wrap your presents to your darling from you.”
Nelson recorded the song in 1964 at Monument Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, produced by Fred Foster. The session featured session musicians, including Grady Martin on guitar and Hargus “Pig” Robbins on piano, with Nelson on vocals and guitar. The arrangement includes a simple guitar line, piano accents, and a string section, creating a festive yet wistful tone suited for the holiday season. The 1979 album Pretty Paper, a collection of seasonal and earlier tracks, reached No. 7 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and sold over 500,000 copies by 1981, earning gold certification from the RIAA.
The song’s creation stemmed from Nelson observing a disabled street vendor selling paper during the Christmas season in Fort Worth, prompting him to write the lyrics. Nelson sold the song to Orbison, who recorded it first, but Nelson’s 1964 version established it as a country holiday classic. In a 1979 interview with Country Music magazine, Nelson said: “I saw that man on the street, and the song just came to me.” The track gained annual prominence through its inclusion in the 1964 television special The Country Music Christmas Show, aired on NBC, featuring a live performance.
Covers of the song include Orbison’s 1963 hit and a 1971 version by Gene Watson on Love in the Hot Afternoon. Nelson’s take inspired later renditions, including a 1982 recording by The Oak Ridge Boys on Christmas and a 1997 version by Randy Travis on A Very Special Christmas, per SecondHandSongs. A live performance from a 1980 Austin City Limits holiday episode was released on the 2006 album Live at Austin City Limits. The song appeared in the 1990 film Home Alone, used in a holiday shopping scene, and in a 2019 episode of The Voice, performed by a contestant.
Nelson included “Pretty Paper” in his live sets, notably at the 1979 Fourth of July Picnic in Austin, Texas, where he performed it as a holiday encore. A 1997 duet with Aaron Neville was recorded for the album Christmas with Willie Nelson, released in 1998. The song was featured at Farm Aid 1988, Nelson’s benefit concert for farmers, during a holiday segment, and included in a 2017 documentary, Willie Nelson: Holiday Traditions, aired on PBS, exploring his seasonal music. The track remains a holiday staple in Nelson’s performances, often paired with other Christmas songs.
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Lyric
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Wrap your presents to your darling from you
Pretty pencils to write “I love you”
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blueCrowded street, busy feet, hustle by him
Downtown shoppers, Christmas is nigh
There he sits all alone on the sidewalk
Hoping that you won’t pass him byShould you stop? Better not, much too busy
You’re in a hurry, my how time does fly
In the distance the ringing of laughter
And in the midst of the laughter he criesPretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Wrap your presents to your darling from you
Pretty pencils to write “I love you”
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue