There are songs that try to fix pain—and then there are songs that simply sit with it, offering no easy answers but a hand to hold through the storm. Willie Nelson’s “Something You Get Through,” released in 2018 on his album Last Man Standing, belongs to the latter category. It is not a power ballad or a cry of anguish—it is a whispered truth from someone who’s lived long enough to know that some things don’t go away… but we go on anyway.
At the time of its release, Willie Nelson was 85 years old—an age where reflection, regret, and resilience often live side by side. Written by Willie and his longtime collaborator Buddy Cannon, this understated ballad delivers its message with grace: grief doesn’t disappear—but we learn how to carry it.
The lyrics are deceptively simple, but within them lies a profound emotional landscape.
“It’s not something you get over, but it’s something you get through.”
With just that line, Willie captures the essence of mourning—not just for those who have passed, but for the many small losses life brings. He’s not preaching. He’s not consoling. He’s bearing witness to what it feels like to keep living after someone you love is gone.
Musically, the arrangement is sparse, intimate, and beautifully restrained. Soft acoustic guitar, tender piano, and gentle steel accents give the track a late-night, confessional tone—as if Willie were sitting beside you, telling the truth you didn’t know you needed to hear. His voice, weathered yet unwavering, carries the song with the weight of experience, not performance.
“Something You Get Through” resonated with fans not just because of its lyrics, but because of who was singing them. At a time when Willie had already outlived many of his contemporaries—and had endured personal losses of his own—his words came not from imagination, but from a life lived full of love, heartbreak, and reflection.
The song has since become a modern hymn for the grieving, played at funerals, healing services, and quiet nights alone when memory becomes too much. It doesn’t claim to heal—but it helps us feel less alone in the hurt.
In the end, Willie Nelson reminds us that strength doesn’t always roar. Sometimes, it whispers, and keeps going. That’s not just something you get over. That’s something you get through.