On 18 July 1982, Willie Nelson's album "Always On My Mind" topped the Billboard country albums chart for the second time that year, cementing one of the most beloved recordings of his career. The title track, written by Wayne Carson with Johnny Christopher and Mark James, became so closely associated with Nelson that he named his 27th studio album after it, even though he was far from the first artist to record the song.

The song's origins trace back to 1971, when Carson began writing it after a guilty phone call to his wife. Nelson first heard it during sessions for "Pancho & Lefty", his 1983 duet album with Merle Haggard, but while Nelson was immediately captivated, Haggard was unmoved and passed on it. Nelson booked extra studio time to record his own version, which spent two weeks at number one on the Hot Country Singles chart, reached number 5 on the Hot 100, and was Billboard's best-performing country single of 1982; the album itself also featured covers such as "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water".