Merle Haggard: The Running Kind

297 Pages·2013·9.657 MB·English

by  David Cantwell

Merle Haggard
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American Music Series
Peter Blackstock and David Menconi, Editors
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TH E R U N N I N G K I N D
David Cantwell
University of Texas Press Austin
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The publication of this book was supported in part by the
Brad and Michele Moore Roots Music Series Endowment.
Copyright © 2013 by David Cantwell
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2013
Requests for permission to reproduce material
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of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper).
Design by Lindsay Starr
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cantwell, David.
Merle Haggard : the running kind / by David Cantwell. —
First edition.
p. cm. — (American music series)
Includes discography.
ISBN 978-0-292-71771-8 (paperback : alkaline paper)
1. Haggard, Merle. 2. Country musicians—Biography.
3. Country music—History and criticism. I. Title.
II. Series: American music series (Austin, Tex.)
ML420.H115C36 2013
782.421642092—dc23
[B] 2013008526
doi:10.7560/717718
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His wild kind has been among us always, since the beginning:
a young man with his temptations, a hero without wings.
Owen Wister
Everything in a life depends on how that life accepts its limits . . .
James Baldwin
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Contents
Introduction: “Silver Wings” ....................................... 1
Kansas City, Missouri, September 14, 2001
1. “Hungry Eyes,” 1969 ........................................................ 11
2. Th e Roots of His Raising ................................................... 14
3. “Mama Tried,” 1968 .......................................................... 38
4. Toward the Bad He Kept on Turnin’ ................................ 41
5. He Loves Th em So ............................................................. 57
A Playlist of Early Infl uences
6. “Leonard,” 1981 ................................................................ 78
7. Th e Bakersfi eld Sound and Fury ...................................... 83
8. Someone Told His Story in a Song ................................... 96
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viii merle haggard
9. “I Started Loving You Again,” 1968 ................................ 107
10. Th e Legend of Bonnie and Him ...................................... 112
11. “Sing Me Back Home,” 1967 ........................................... 119
12. He’s Living in the Good Old Days .................................. 125
13. He Likes Living Right and Being Free ........................... 145
14. “Irma Jackson,” 1969 ...................................................... 159
15. His Fightin’ Side ............................................................. 164
16. He’d Rather Be Gone ...................................................... 176
17. “It’s Not Love (But It’s Not Bad),” 1972 ........................ 186
18. He Wishes He Was Santa Claus .................................... 188
19. He Takes a Lot of Pride in What He Is .......................... 194
(Hint: He’s a White Boy)
20. “A Working Man Can’t Get Nowhere Today,” 1977 ....... 204
21. His Country Girl with Hot Pants On ............................. 206
22. He’s Always on a Mountain When He Falls ................... 211
23. “Rainbow Stew,” 1981 .................................................... 219
24. He Wishes a Buck Was Still Silver (Not Really) and
Likes the Taste of Yesterday’s Wine (Really) ................. 221
25. “Kern River,” 1985 ........................................................... 237
26. He’s Going Where the Lonely Go ................................... 240
27. “Me and Crippled Soldiers,” 1990 .................................. 245
28. Th e Hag versus the Man in Black ................................... 248
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contents ix
29. If He Could Only Fly ....................................................... 262
Merle Haggard in the Twenty-First Century
30. Cuba, Missouri ................................................................ 271
July 15, 2010
Selected Discography ................................................... 275
Acknowledgments ....................................................... 281
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