I was just listening to Silver Wings by him yesterday...for the guitar players out there, learning his Workingman Blues opened up the middle of the fretboard for me when I was starting out...I warm up with it in several keys sometimes. Great poet and country legend! RIP Merle!
Probably the greatest voice In country music after George Jones. I grew up with his music because my dad was a huge Bakersfield Country fan. The song If We Make It Through December takes me to a place where you're about to lose everything you have but you have to hold on. Yes. I lived that song growing up. And it still makes me cry.
As I drove down on 65, I was cruisin' down that old Grapevine Well, I must have been doin' at least about 95 Well out there on the side of the road all broke down And Who do you think was standin' around But the greatest country singer alive! I'll fix your flat tire Merle Don't ya get your sweet country pickin' fingers all Covered with erl Cause you're a honky, I know, but Merle you got soul And I'll fix your flat tire Merle Well I hear you had an adventurous youth, makin' love In a telephone booth And I even hear you did a little stretch in jail But now you got a big ranch house with a bar And eight, nine, ten of them fancy cars And every other little check comin' in the mail I'll fix your flat tire Merle Don't ya get your sweet country pickin' fingers all Covered with erl Cause you're a honky, I know, but Merle you got soul And I'll fix your flat tire Merle Now I heard all them records ya did, makin' fun of us Long haired kids And now ya know we don't care what ya think... Merle, If you're gonna call the world your home Ya know you're gonna have to get out and get stoned An' it's better with a joint than with a drink, I think So I'll fix your flat tire Merle Don't ya get your sweet country pickin' fingers all Covered with erl Cause you're a honky, I know, but Merle you got soul And I'll fix your flat tire Merle So I'll fix your flat tire Merle
I really appreciate when people do this. It's kinda fun checking out an old pioneer cemetery, reading the tombstones, seeing the families buried together. Some groups of plots are sad when you see beside the graves of mom and dad the smaller graves of their kids who passed in childhood. And sometimes you look at the dates on the tombstone to figure out how old they were when they passed. The ones that are the easiest to figure are the ones that passed on their birthdays.
I like country music I love country girls I like Willie Nelson And don't forget about Merle There's only one thing that I hate, Cause it's a bunch of crap I hate rap I like NASCAR racing Richard Petty's still the king Yeah, they call me a red neck, But you know that's a beautiful thing There's only one thing that I hate, Cause it's a bunch of crap I hate rap There's only one thing that I hate, Cause it's a bunch of crap I hate rap There's only one thing that I hate, Cause it's a bunch of crap I hate rap Rap is crap Rap is crap RIP in Peace, Merle
My grandfather passed on his birthday a while back. He was 93. His own father had died on my grandfathers 7th birthday.
I like Dorothy Parker's epitaph on her gravestone. "Pardon My Dust." Or how about Jacques Brel's last words when he was dying from cancer. "That album cover is shit." Or better yet, Oscar Wildes's famous quote "This wallpaper is terrible.... one of us will have to go." Life's a zero sum so you give it the middle finger. As much possible. That's what dying on your birthday is about!
I got married at a pretty young age, and to say my wife and I didn't have a whole lot of money is to be generous. But, God bless her, my wife always managed to squirrel away 10 bucks a month so I could have a night out with my younger brother. Our idea of a good time was to meet up at our favorite tavern (pubs were a foreign idea in those days) and drink beer and play foosball till the money ran out. Literally, EVERY time we went there the first thing my brother did was put a quarter in the juke box and select "North To Alaska" by Johnny Horton, "I Gotta Know" by Elvis and "Mama Tried" by Merle. And then he'd sing along to each one, sounding absolutely exactly like that particular artist. His gift for mimicry was eerie. Sadly, my brother passed away 17 years ago this month at far too young of an age. But whenever I want to have him right beside me, I put on a Merle Haggard CD. To this day, "Mama Tried" remains one of my all time favorite songs and always brings back wonderful memories. The Hag always sang from the heart and was a genuine gift to music in general (especially when he was sober). God rest his soul.
