I'm sorry, but Merle Haggard was a right-wing reactionary unAmerican asshole

[jpak]

and I am quite certain his stupid song incited violence against those that did not look, or act, or believed in the stoopid shit he espoused.

yup

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. You got the wrong Merle Haggard...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/3/4/1368652/-Merle-Haggard-To-Rolling-Stone-It-s-Almost-Criminal-What-They-Do-To-President-Obama

"It's really almost criminal what they do with our President. There seems to be no shame or anything. They call him all kinds of names all day long, saying he's doing certain things that he's not. It's just a big old political game that I don't want to be part of. There are people spending their lives putting him down. I'm sure some of it's true and some of it's not. I was very surprised to find the man very humble and he had a nice handshake. His wife was very cordial to the guests and especially me. They made a special effort to make me feel welcome. It was not at all the way the media described him to be."

Also...

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/waxing-lyrical/?_r=0


He was one of my beloved husband's favorites, and I will miss him.

yup

He voted in 84 for Reagan and '08 for Clinton.

[TM99]

3. I think Haggard was a mix of things

and changed as he got older. Not all good and certainly not all bad.

For me, it is just the saddens of another creative musical voice snuffed out.

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. He was an independent thinker for sure

[Major Nikon]

13. He repudiated a lot of what he wrote about in the 60's and 70's

He actually came out in favor of cannabis legalization before the bandwagon ever really got started.

[jpak]

16. Yeah, he cashed in both ways

Doesn't work for me.

[Major Nikon]

18. Then so did Joan Baez when she covered his songs

I suspect it had more to do with hanging around Willie Nelson.

[jpak]

20. Baez sold out

yup

[Major Nikon]

23. Good luck getting anyone to buy that

I guess Willie must have sold out too by the same logic.

[jpak]

25. He did

yup

[Major Nikon]

27. Well you certainly make a convincing argument

yup

[jpak]

41. Tricky Dick concurs

yup

[Major Nikon]

98. Nobody concurs with you

Yup

[Eleanors38]

112. This OP reminds me: Never underestimate the power of a fart joke...

...I'm glad that this foul wind has mostly left the Gungeon. Too bad for everyone else.

Yours for a successful search for virgins, E38

[jpak]

137. Merle Haggard thought gun nuts were assholes

so sez revisionist history...

[kcdoug1]

155. Don't think

You have a clue how "show business " works

[TM99]

29. Good to know.

I focused much more on his musical talents than I did his politics.

[yellowcanine]

67. He also claimed the Okie from Muskogie was satire......

And I believe him. I thought it was satire when it came out. (I know that dates me).

[socialist_n_TN]

71. Yeah, I heard that too when I moved to Nashville in '79.....

The story goes that he wrote it as a joke (and that he was high when he did) and it took off and he kind of got stuck with it and the follow up ("Fightin' Side of Me&quot for a little while. There might be something to that too. The Tennessean this morning described it as a "point of view" song implying that it wasn't about him.

Regardless whether that one (or two) tunes were satire or not, his entire career was an homage to people who worked for a living. And I'll take that life-long career over a couple of "iffy" tunes.

[Eleanors38]

113. A free beer for you whenever in Austin.

[socialist_n_TN]

162. Why thank you!........

Never can tell I might take you up on that.

Oh, and I will add that one of my first bands, hard core rockers with hair down to our asses and beards to match in 1971 or so, played Okie From Muskogee as part of our set. And I KNOW we were doing it satirically. And high.

[skip fox]

124. I never understood why he'd write this song.

When I heard he said it was satire I felt stupid for not realizing this at once, but then I heard it from so many sources who played it not as satire, but as an anthem against the counter-culture. That's my only excuse.

The man was real.

[HuckleB]

128. These bands certainly saw it as satire, as well.

The Grateful Dead, The Beach Boys, Phil Ochs, String Cheese Incident and The Melvins all recorded it.

[skip fox]

144. And it's really funny as satire.

[jpak]

160. It was not presented as satire in 1969

It was affirmation of Nixon's (racist pro-war anti-hippie) Victory in 1968

yup

[HuckleB]

164. Keep ignoring the full story, so ...

Whatever.

[jpak]

167. What press release from Haggart or from Billboard in 1969 defined it as

Novelty or "Satire"

zero

It wuz RW skreed...

yup

[HuckleB]

179. Derp.

This is not new. Grow up.

[jpak]

180. Okie from Muskogee was RW screed

that is a fact

grow up

yup

[HuckleB]

183. Derp.

[djg21]

196. This is an over-simplification that is not correct.

It really isn't that simple.

in an effort to claim Haggard as one of their own, some of these critics are arguing that Nixon, Reagan, and the song's fans in middle America missed its deeper meaning. "Okie from Muskogee," they say, was intended as a light satire of provincialism, and its audience just didn't get it.

. . . .

Even writers more sympathetic to country music's fans assert that "Okie" wasn't meant to be taken literally. "He wrote a song as a lark, kind of a gentle joke, and he became the biggest star in country music," writes Paul Kingsbury, editor of the Journal of Country Music, in the book The Grand Ole Opry History of Country Music. Similarly, the editors of Country Music magazine describe "Okie" in the 500-page Illustrated History of Country Music as "the infamous hippie-baiting song which he claimed to have written as a joke."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-battle-over-quotokie-from-muskogee/article/8361

Then, in 1969, came the song that would become Haggard's biggest pop hit, "Okie from Muskogee," and that would change his career once more. "It probably set it back about forty years," he mutters.

There are, says Haggard, "about seventeen hundred ways to take that song," and over his career he has alternately endorsed and sidestepped most of them. In it, the narrator he was thinking of—I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee—was some version of his father. On the surface, and to some extent beneath it, the song was a celebration of traditional conservative American values at a time of great turbulence—short-haired, drug-free Americans who believe in the flag, don't burn their draft cards, and are proud to be square if square is what they are.

But Haggard says he regretted the song almost immediately. He feels, with reason, that it pushed away a part of his audience and that it brought him attention he never wanted; the segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace, presumably sniffing a kindred spirit, made overtures to him, albeit ones that were rejected. If there were two paths his career could have taken from there, the one he had chosen was cemented by his next single. He had suggested a song called "Irma Jackson," a thoughtful tale of an interracial romance, but he was argued out of it. Instead, he released "The Fightin' Side of Me"—a wonderful, defiant roar of a song, but one that helped fix him in the public imagination as the champion of angry, proud conservatives who had had enough:

When they're runnin' down our country, man,
They're walkin' on the fightin' side of me.

These days, Haggard seems to reduce much of the fuss about "Okie from Muskogee" to its position on marijuana, perhaps because it is the part of the song his subsequent life most completely disavowed. We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee, the song begins, and at the time, this was true for Haggard: He had smoked it neither there nor anywhere else. He didn't until he was 41, when he was advised to do so by a physician. "I didn't like the way it made me feel at first," he says, "so they coad me and showed me." Soon the cure took hold. "The only thing they didn't tell me," he says, "was how habit-forming it was."

http://www.gq.com/story/merle-haggard-profile-chris-heath

[TM99]

2. Yes, he was.

And if I did not read, watch, or listen to anything from anyone who didn't follow exactly my political philosophy and ethical approach to life, my existence would be a bubble of mediocrity and boredom.

Haggard was still an incredible musician who wrote some amazing classical country tunes. I will miss that creativity.

[redstateblues]

4. He became a lot better person in his later years.

[El Supremo]

5. Holy crap!

You never knew him.

[jpak]

9. I was around when 'Okie From Muskogee' was a hit

were you?

[El Supremo]

12. Long before you.

It was satire, you fool.

[jpak]

15. No it was not

It was an anti-hippie pro-war screed.

yup

[6000eliot]

50. You weren't listening, then.

The song was intended to be ironic, but it was also sympathetic to common people who were having trouble keeping up with the changes. Also, the hippies loved him. The Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers covered several of his songs.

[jpak]

56. Everyone I know from My Generation knows exactly what it was about

Phil Ochs he was not

yup

[Act_of_Reparation]

79. Well, then. You and everyone you know must obviously be right.

Never has there been a better measure of truth than majority consensus. Q.E.D.

[Amimnoch]

92. lol.

[Eleanors38]

115. Wrong. I used the song in a media education seminar to show how content could be...

...misunderstood (1975).

Another example: "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother," R. W. Hubbard

[jpak]

161. RW gun nuts are easily confused by pretty things

that justify their FUed ideology.

Just ask Limbaugh and Beck and Hannity

yup

[Eleanors38]

193. Prohibitionists offer suffer from Gunneria.

[skip fox]

127. Wait a minute. I'm from this generation (born in 1946) and although

I originally took it at face value in the war between the hard hats and the counter-culture, that doesn't make it so.

Just because many Fox News types (years before Fox News) promoted this and country-western stations played it doesn't mean it was intended to be anti-weed and anti-counter-culture.

[madinmaryland]

28. I'm with you on this one, Elway.

I see you have the flip-flopping avatar back!!

BTW. The Bucco's swept the Cardinals to start the season!!

[yellowcanine]

68. I thought it was satire at the time and Haggard claimed that it was.

Actually quite good satire apparently as it fooled a lot of people. I thought he was making fun of the hippie bashers.

[PatrickforO]

33. Hmm...an anti-drug, pro-war screed...well, let's take a look:

"Okie From Muskogee"

We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
We don't take no trips on LSD
We don't burn no draft cards down on Main Street;
We like livin' right, and bein' free.

I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all

We don't make a party out of lovin';
We like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo;
We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy,
Like the hippies out in San Francisco do.

And I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball.
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all.

Leather boots are still in style for manly footwear;
Beads and Roman sandals won't be seen.
Football's still the roughest thing on campus,
And the kids here still respect the college dean.

We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
In Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA.

I remember the 60s. I can remember when Dad was watching the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 and the Beatles pranced out on stage...he was leaning toward the TV to turn the channel right then, saying, "God damned long hairs!" Our country was divided back then and Merle's voice represented those people like my dad who may have sympathized with things like the civil rights movement but couldn't get over how uncomfortable it made him feel.

Funny, our generation won the culture war but then frittered away the victory over the next four decades. Now, our children are fighting those same battles again, all against the backdrop of a capitalist system that has nearly sucked our treasury dry.

[alarimer]

86. There is so much more to his catalog than this.

But in fact, he said he wrote this from his father's point of view, not necessarily his own.

[rpannier]

168. I was

I was around and saw when he sang it with Willie Nelson

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. We are well on our way to a Laura Braniganesque evening

[spanone]

7. you have no clue.

judge/dismiss an entire career by one song from forty odd years ago.

nope

[jpak]

24. I'm sorry - that one song defined him

yup

[Recursion]

26. That's "Pancho and Lefty" you're thinking of. (nt)

[djg21]

37. He didn't write Pancho & Lefty

That was Townes Van Zandt.

Merle was largely apolitical. Okie from Muskogee wasn't written as a political screed; it was coopted by the right. The guy had his own demons, and seemed more libertarian than anything else.

[jpak]

45. Ouch

[Recursion]

48. What "ouch"? I love Townes

I also think the cover was better. Happens to lots of good songwriters.

[djg21]

194. Best covers of Pancho & Lefty

IMO,

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle.

[Recursion]

47. And Springsteen didn't write "Jersey Girl" (though he did write "Because the Night")

It's still a song each singer is identified with.

Townes' version never worked for me, though I love most of his stuff.

[djg21]

195. Tom Waits is one of my heros.

Last edited Mon Apr 11, 2016, 08:42 PM - Edit history (1)

I like Bruce, but the only people who identify Jersey Girl with Bruce are the ones who are too young or too "mainstream" to know and/or appreciate Tom Waits. Closing Time, Blue Valentine, Heart of Saturday Night and Heartattack & Vine are classics even if you don't appreciate Wait's later avante garde material.

BTW, Bruce started writing Because the Night but never finished it and decided not to record it. He gave it to Patti Smith, who essentially re-wrote the lyrics keeping just the chorus. I last saw Bruce a few months ago on his River tour, and he played the song, told the brief story about writing it, and effusively praised and credited Patti Smith.

[spanone]

30. like i said, you have no clue. but that's your right!

[HuckleB]

123. "Mama Tried." "Silver Wings."

Which one?

[oneshooter]

188. I agree with you.

You are sorry.

[yourpaljoey]

8. Can't stand him

His sickening voice or his shallow songs.
No loss at all.

[AngryAmish]

19. Hurrah. You win grave pisser of the day

This is your life. Go yell your kids what you said online. Let. Them. Know.

[yourpaljoey]

21. What does that mean?

Why would I yell at my kids... they don't sing like a hillbilly!

[Separation]

83. What exactly is wrong with being a hillbilly?

Something wrong with that?

[HuckleB]

165. +1,000 ... 000

[alarimer]

85. You are so, so very wrong.

Kern River
If we make it through December
Mama's Hungry Eyes (this one kills me every single time).
Tulare Dust
Big City
Sing Me Back Home
Silver Wings

[yourpaljoey]

97. Let us agree to disagree

I find his music depressing without proverb,
positive counsel, or resolution. Alternately, depressing songs
such as Sloe Gin and Falling to Pieces have resolution.

I just don't like the guy.
Thanks for the references, however.
I did give them a listen.

[alfredo]

135. Much country is cry in you beer music, at least was.

[yourpaljoey]

147. Even Jones thought that was a terrible song... for once he was correct.

Buck Owens was no gem either.
Dwight Yoakam, Hank Williams III,
Lyle Lovett... complete zeroes.

[islandmkl]

166. your lack of exposure is showing...however, to quote Buck Owens..

in 'Streets of Bakersfield':

"you don't know me...but you don't like me...

and you say you care less how i feel"...

he's talking to you...

[yourpaljoey]

169. right

Lyrics written by a ten-year-old... what nonsense.
He should have tried writing COMPLETE songs... about something.
Little too late.

[islandmkl]

172. before you continue, i suggest you at least look up the lyrics so you don't continue to post

drivel...but then again..those who can, do...those who can't criticize...

here's your ten-year-old's lyrics:

"Streets of Bakersfield" - Buck Owens

I came here looking for something
I couldn't find anywhere else
Hey, I'm not trying to be nobody
I just want a chance to be myself

I've spent a thousand miles of thumbin'
Yes I've worn blisters on my heels
Trying to find me something better
Here on the streets of Bakersfield

Hey you don't know me, but you don't like me
You say you care less how I feel
But how many of you that sit and judge me
Have ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?

Spent sometime in San Francisco
I spent a night there in the can
They threw this drunk man in my jail cell
I took fifteen dollars from that man

Left him my watch and my old house key
Don't want folks thinkin' that I'd steal
Then I thanked him as I was leaving
And I headed out for Bakersfield

Hey you don't know me, but you don't like me
You say you care less how I feel
But how many of you that sit and judge me
Ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?

Hey you don't know me, but you don't like me
You say you care less how I feel
But how many of you that sit and judge me
Ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?

How many of you that sit and judge me
Ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?


and whatever age you are...you are still having trouble with complete sentences, cogent thoughts...

[alfredo]

177. I'm not a country music fan, but I understand its appeal. Fan loyalty is so important.

That loyalty goes both way. Country music is story driven. You don't have to be the best singer, but you better be able to play your guitar, and you have to have some authenticity.

&nohtml5=False

Nashville has the best weed

[Maedhros]

132. At some point you will learn not to define your artistic tastes by what you hate.

Once I stopped doing that, the world became a much more enjoyable place.

[mattvermont]

11. At times he was

He even spoke negative of Bob Dylan when he was opening for him maybe 5 years ago?

He also wrote and performed some fantastic music. If I had to judge, I would side with the music.

[jpak]

14. He was the reason I rejected country music

et al.,

He cashed in on RW racist pro-war '60's bullshit

yup

[alarimer]

87. Wow. Such narrow-minded bullshit

You are not even worth arguing with, but you are 100% incorrect.

[Straw Man]

93. Racist?

He cashed in on RW racist pro-war '60's bullshit

yup

Nope.

IRMA JACKSON

I'd love to shout my feelin's from a mountain high
And tell the world I love her and I will till I die
There's no way the world will understand that love is color blind
That's why Irma Jackson can't be mine

I remember when no one cared about us bein' friends
We were only children and it really didn't matter then
But we grew up too quickly in a world that draws a line
Where they say, Irma Jackson can't be mine

If my lovin' Irma Jackson is a sin
Then I don't understand this crazy world we're livin' in
There's a muddy wall between us standin' high
But I'll love Irma Jackson till I die

She tells me she's decided that she'll go away
And I guess it's right but she alone should have the final say
But in spite of her decision forcin' us to say goodbye
I'll still love Irma Jackson till I die

--Merle Haggard

[pintobean]

17. Sometimes I think DU is having a contest

to see who can be the biggest reactionary unAmerican asshole.

The internet sure can be a fucked-up place.

[ScreamingMeemie]

22. Word...

[Hekate]

34. +1

[Brickbat]

102. Well said.

[jpak]

170. and wut wuz the most Progressive lyric from 'Okie From Muskogee'

waiting...

[pintobean]

187. You win.

[jpak]

31. Just a reminder...

[pintobean]

35. Love it. Always did

There were very few country artists that I liked, but he was one of them. I mostly listen to rock n roll.

[jpak]

39. ack

[pintobean]

42. It's just a song.

Hardly worth holding a grudge for four and a half decades.

[jpak]

43. Nope - back in the day it was a powerful political statement

yup

[pintobean]

54. Grateful Dead with the Beach Boys April 27th, 1971

a powerful political statement

[jpak]

58. Irony is lost on the....ahem

yup

[pintobean]

59. No, they got it.

[jpak]

60. Yeah that was the day the GD and BB renounced drugs, long hair, Roman Sandals, beads

and announced their fealty to Nixon

[jpak]

96. So is 'Dixie' - speaking of grudges...

n/t

[pintobean]

99. Dixie been getting any airplay?

[jpak]

141. It got played - with enthusiasm - at many SEC football games

back in the day

yup

[Warpy]

57. I can't remember where or when

but I vaguely remember on some late night interview, he said that song was supposed to be satire and everybody took it seriously.

[leftofcool]

32. And I am just so sure he would give a shit at what you think of him.

[Inkfreak]

36. Whoopty-fukin-do...

Yup

[Punkingal]

38. You should read his autobiography.

He was brutally honest about himself and his own short-comings. I can respect a person like that. And having lived in Nashville for many years, I heard all the gossip about the stars, and he was one of the nice ones.

And he had a beautiful voice that only improved with age.

[aikoaiko]

40. Please proceed. Tell us more

[jpak]

44. Lee Atwater proceeds from this song

yup

[aikoaiko]

46. The horror. The horror.

That awful song must terrorize you.

Yuppie.

[jpak]

52. back in the day it was a powerful anti-hippie statement

and it was a terrorist screed

yup

[aikoaiko]

63. I guess one had to be there. Songs don't scare me.

[yellowcanine]

69. I was there and thought it was satire. Still do.

[snooper2]

110. That wasn't what did it! It was this movie...

[LannyDeVaney]

49. 99.9% of country singers, no matter how talented, are simply playing to their audience ...

which is the deep-red, redneck, under educated South.

(Alert trolls - I am born, raised, and live in Alabama)

I have Outlaw Country playing all the time. I love it. Give me some David Alan Coe.

[kentauros]

72. I listen to soma fm's "Boot Liquor" every now and then.

You might like it

[font size="4"]Boot Liquor[/font]
Americana Roots music for Cowhands, Cowpokes and Cowtippers

About the Music on Boot Liquor:
Music that showcases the ongoing hopelessness in your otherwise dreary life. Americana roots music (or what they used to call Country Western) at its core, stuff that's both musically and lyrically unique. Consider it a musical intervention for your bedraggled soul.

[FrodosPet]

91. Are you familiar with "Dewberry Jam Community Radio"?

It's a high quality low power AM hobby station, based in San Antonio, TX, and simulcasting on the Internet, which plays an incredible selection of country, rock, reggae, and occasionally hip hop.

http://www.am1670.org/

[Stinky The Clown]

51. He was a complicated man. As are most of us. His talent was singular.

He was a singer. An artist. Judge on that. It is what he did. In the 60s, nothing was on an even keel.

Late in life he was buddies with Willie. 'Nuff sed.

[rug]

53. Oh, what the hell, this thread needs more cowbell , , , .

[jpak]

55. Merle!!!!

[rockfordfile]

178. That's some of the worst crap on the planet

I enjoy some country music. I like the Dixie Chicks but they can any kind of music. Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. There are others.

[doc03]

61. I don't care what his politics were he was a great talent.

I don't quit watching Clint Eastwood movies because he is a rightwing asshole. That is the shallow stuff
Republicans do. A Republican I know also a Catholic said the Pope should stay out of politics and called
him a fucking asshole.

[840high]

62. .that^ X100

[Trajan]

139. Actually, I did stop watching Clint Eastwood movies

Fuck'm ... He's got your money, not mine ...

[ballabosh]

184. Man, you missed a great line there

Fuck 'em High!

That said I will watch GBU any time it is on.

[rockfordfile]

176. I never really watched any of the idiot's movies.

But I would never pay to see one of his films. I would never pay to see or hear a pos toby keith noise. I would rather listen to a 24HR stream of fingers on a chalkboard.

[VOX]

64. Lyrics to his anti-Bush admin. song, "America First" (2005)

"America First"

Why don't we liberate these United States,
We're the ones that need it worst.
Let the rest of the world help us for a change,
And let's rebuild America first.

Our highways an' bridges are fallin' apart:
Who's blessed an' who has been cursed?
There's things to be done all over the world,
But let's rebuild America first.

Who's on the Hill and who's watchin' the valley?
An' who's in charge of it all?
God bless the army an' God bless our liberty,
And dadgum the rest of it all.

Yeah, men in position are backin' away:
Freedom is stuck in reverse.
Let's get out of Iraq an' get back on the track,
And let's rebuild America first.

Why don't we liberate these United States,
We're the ones who need it the most.
You think I'm blowin smoke? Boys it ain't no joke.
I make twenty trips a year from coast to coast.

[Eleanors38]

116. Thanks. Used to play that on the juke at the Horseshoe. Didn't get the flak

like the Chicks.

But you don't fuck with the Hag Man.

[Odin2005]

65. I bet OP is an middle class urbanite who thinks all us rural people are "dumb hicks", too.

[alarimer]

88. And everybody in the south is a racist redneck.

Probably thinks Texas should be nuked from orbit.

[jpak]

101. LOL

Not everyone in the South is a racist redneck - but there are a lot of them...and they loves them some Okie from Muskogee

and not all of Texas - just everything outside of Austin or maybe San Antonio...

[jpak]

100. I bet you are wrong - and for the record I do not like the following country "artists"

Toby Keith
Hank Williams Jr.
Lee Greenwood

for the same reasons as the OP

yup

[LanternWaste]

103. It can be difficult for an irrational mind to separate the art from the artist.

It can be difficult for an irrational mind to separate the art from the artist; yet simple enough to rationalize it in such a way as to believe it themselves, regardless of its unreasonable premise. I look forward to the latter...

[Angel Martin]

107. agree completely

assessing artistic merit by the politics of the artist is about as clueless as it gets...

Paul Robeson is a communist, therefore he can't sing...

Richard Wagner was an anti-semite, so his operas are not significant...

[Javaman]

66. please don't start a statement with "I'm sorry" when you really aren't.

it's a tired over used verbal crutch.

[kentauros]

73. Of course, we can figure that out

simply with the use of the word "but" as its purpose is usually to negate what was uttered before it

[Inkfreak]

142. It's one of the most annoying ways to start a sentence. Ever.

Usually followed by nothing of substance.

[SixString]

70. You're wrong.

[Zorra]

74. Merle EVOLVED, like so many others we're 'splained to about.

Except that Merle's evolution was genuine.

[Duppers]

150. I think you're right. Good article here...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/merle-haggard-sometimes-i-wish-i-hadnt-written-okie-from-muskoge/

[L. Coyote]

75. 1700 views and no recs. America has more than one A-h

and to avoid being lumped in that group, the use of an erudite vocabulary helps a lot

Great words to substitute for asshole:

List to long to append here

[jpak]

143. It got one

[hobbit709]

76. You obviously know nothing

[Hoyt]

77. Not big a fan, saw him open for Bob Dylan once. But, never saw him with a confederate flag.

That says a lot to me. Too many "country" and other musicians are into that racist crud.

[islandmkl]

78. That one song defines him..."

you have either limited musical range genre-wise, or are merely enjoying starting a thread with a lot of responses...

your statement nearly disqualifies any judgement you would espouse...'nearly' only because i don't want to not leave room for your possible awareness growth...

in my life and work musically, i always find that people who exclude artists, genres, styles, etc. based on something as shallow as your OP all have one thing in common:

they don't know what they are missing...

[BellaLuna]

80. LOL

Honestly.. you really should do some reading on folks, the times they lived in and how they evolved through life before basing your opinion on one song he himself admitted was pretty stupid after a while.

[islandmkl]

81. pretty funny that you get all 'anti-hippie' about Merle...

all my hippie friends and I dug his music...you know, like back in the '60s and '70s...a bunch of us even went to see him in MUSKOGEE of all places in '73 or so...you and your pals just must have taken one look and made your minds up...which was very liberal of you, i guess...

why don't you spend some time on the 'net and see if any other Rightwing-types liked Merle...you know, like Jerry Garcia or Bruce Springsteen or Warren Haynes or....ahh, fuck it...i'm talking to a brick...

[ghostsinthemachine]

82. It's all going to pot! Let's hope if a song can incite something

That this is it!

[HuckleB]

130. The fact that Merle and Willie were such good friends ought to tell anyone all they need to know.

[DustyJoe]

84. SSDD

Grave Dancers as usual are alive and well.

[underahedgerow]

89. I worked on a couple of his shows waaaay back in the day. In all my years as a 'crew chick' he

was the only 'star' to ever lewdly and crudely hit on me. Without exception, everyone else I ever worked with treated me professionally, even the guys in Van Halen, and I have some stories there .

Just sayin'.

[FrodosPet]

90. From one satire fan to another!

[scioto99]

94. Am i the only one who dislikes, "I'm sorry, but" as an opener?

It's disingenuous. The poster is clearly not feeling any particular remorse.

In the future, please say your piece and delete the phony apologies. Is this a weird new figure of speech? A bizarre attempt to stave off disagreement by acting nicey-nice?

Blecch. Unappetizing use of the English language.

[YoungDemCA]

95. Wut

[KamaAina]

104. Mmmmkay. 'Splain this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027744322

Merle Haggard:
"It's really almost criminal what they do with our President. There seems to be no shame or anything. They call him all kinds of names all day long, saying he's doing certain things that he's not. It's just a big old political game that I don't want to be part of. There are people spending their lives putting him down. I'm sure some of it's true and some of it's not. I was very surprised to find the man very humble and he had a nice handshake. His wife was very cordial to the guests and especially me. They made a special effort to make me feel welcome. It was not at all the way the media described him to be."

[KamaAina]

105. And this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027744481

Haggard, himself, added to his political ambiguity. He wanted to put out his interracial love song “Irma Jackson” as a single, but this was vetoed by Capitol. He was asked to endorse reactionary presidential candidate George Wallace, but refused. He returned to San Quentin to perform for the inmates in 1971.

Always a rugged individualist who resisted political labels, Haggard remained an outspoken American patriot. He opposed the war in Iraq in 2003 and defended the Dixie Chicks’ free-speech rights. He endorsed Hillary Clinton’s presidential aspirations in 2007, then wrote a song expressing hope for Barak Obama’s inauguration. In recent years, he became interested in conservation and environmental issues. He did yoga, smoked pot, dabbled in herbal medicine and believed in UFO’s and extraterrestrial life.

[HuckleB]

131. +1,000,000 ... 000

Merle had his opinions, but he never dehumanized others. That's something to which we should all aspire.

[hollowdweller]

106. I can't hate him just because I disagreed with SOME of his views.

Everybody is entitled to his opinion and their life is colored by their upbringing and circumstances.

I liked a lot of his songs too.

[Throd]

108. I admit to liking some of Ted Nugent's tunes.

I also think he is a crazy idiot.

[HuckleB]

140. Merle Haggard is not Ted Nugent.

Not even close.

Just to clarify.

[Throd]

151. Not sayin' he is.

Just saying I'm able to separate the art from the artist.

[rockfordfile]

175. Ted "racist" Nugent's music is terrible. Not to mention the guy is a pos.

[hamsterjill]

109. Well, he's dead now.

Is it really necessary to be so ugly about him? Regardless of your opinion of him, he can't do anything more to you now.

Let go of some of the anger. It'll make you feel better!

[PatrickforO]

111. You know, there's a continuum.

I'd put Merle a little to the right of center, maybe singing to Nixon's 'silent majority,' but I wouldn't call him a right-wing reactionary, and certainly not un-American.

You want that, think Ted Nugent, because he's all of that and more, including the bag of greasy, disgusting chips.

Anyway, Merle is dead now - he's gone to wherever people go when they transition on. Let us respect him and wish him peace because when we ourselves die, we will hope people wish us that.

Forgiveness is a good thing, jpak. It really is.

[napkinz]

114. "I was dumb as a rock when I wrote 'Okie From Muskogee,'" Mr. Haggard told the Americana

music magazine No Depression in 2003. "I sing with a different intention now.'"

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/arts/music/merle-haggard-country-musics-outlaw-hero-dies-at-79.html


people evolve, change

[HuckleB]

126. The guy was a great human, acknowledged his own foibles.

To bash him is to bash the best traits of humans.

[napkinz]

129. exactly!

[TheManInTheMac]

117. You must remember that no one give a damn what you care about,

don't you?

Yup.

[TransitJohn]

118. His song?

Which one of the hundreds do you mean?

[HuckleB]

125. I'd go with this one, myself.

[bluedigger]

119. I'm sorry, but you have no clue.

Merle Haggard was an American Master. If Merle is no good because of "Okie", then I guess Bruce is under the bus as well, because I sure do remember a lot of "Born in the USA" played jingoisitically as well. Aside from his unquestionable artistic merit, Merle serves as a tribute to the power of Progressive thought, as his views shifted to the left over the years on many important issues.

[book_worm]

120. Did you know he was a Democrat? probably should have done some research

before posting. I can't say if he was a dem all of his life but he was certainly for the last several years.

[whistler162]

121. Hope you have a big roll of Charmin!

[HuckleB]

122. So the Grateful Dead, Beach Boys, Phil Ochs, String Cheese Incident and The Melvins...

are also reactionary assholes?

They all recorded the song.

I don't care what you think about Merle.

He was a complicated man who wrote songs about the common person's experience, and who understood that people were individuals.

You don't even know the history of the song in question, so whatever.

[B Calm]

133. Wow don't tell Willy Nelson that, he was a close friend of Merle.

[napkinz]

134. wow, your thread got ONE REC ... your own!

[jpak]

182. Hooray!

[fishwax]

136. aw, bless your heart!

[jpak]

138. and yours too

[KamaAina]

145. I believe fishwax is taking a shot at you

In the South, the phrase "bless your heart" can have an ironic negative connotation.

[jpak]

148. I know that - it was a rebuttal

[jpak]

146. Merle's target audience circa 1969

What they wuz fussin' about...



this is what happened the following spring...

?1

I'm sorry, but anyone that cashes in on RW hate is an asshole...

yup

[spanone]

149. your hatred is noted.

it's sad, really.

[jpak]

153. How so?

[Duppers]

152. He did evolve. Read this...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/merle-haggard-sometimes-i-wish-i-hadnt-written-okie-from-muskoge/

[jpak]

154. So did George Wallace - but that does not excuse either of them

damage done

yup

[kwassa]

156. So, do you like Merle or not? Stop beating about the bush.

[jpak]

159. Money grubbing yes - but politically no

If you were subject to RW "volunteer" "civic duty" hippie hatin' Law & Order Draft Boards

back in the day maybe you would understand the zeitgeist of this song...

[dubyadiprecession]

157. People on the right and the left cross over as fans regardless...

Remember chris christie likes bruce springsteen. There's nothing wrong with that.

I like clint eastwood movies, It doesn't mean i have to agree with him politically.

[Mike Nelson]

158. That song was funny...

...my mom loved it and voted all-Democratic all her life. It made people laugh.

[jpak]

163. becuz it justified and exposed everything that the Silent Majority stood for

Last edited Thu Apr 7, 2016, 09:52 PM - Edit history (1)

and the Silent Majority embraced it with a vengeance...

yup

[Bluenorthwest]

173. Like the right wing embraces 'Born in the USA' because they are idiots, not because the song sukcs.

Same thing. And I never trust anyone who says 'yup' because they are all savagely bigoted right wingers. It defines them.

[jpak]

174. That is why Christie is so in Luv with Springsteen

the "yup" thang is a RW taunt..

(and I will not say "yup&quot



I need to make a Snake Flag emblazoned with the YUP

[islandmkl]

171. the only real question on this idiot post (I did not say idiot's) is trying to figure out...

if 'yup' was this reactionary-professed-liberal's sig line...or he had to type it after every fucking retort...

it appears that it wasn't automatic, not a sig line...

which means he thought it was some really clever show-stopper to end his posts with...most of the time...

personally, i couldn't determine which posts he felt deserved the 'yup'...maybe he was just too busy cranking up the clever...

anyway, OP got what he wanted...was the star of the show...his show, anyway...

as for Merle:

"Footlights"

I live the kinda life most men only dream of
I make my livin' writin' songs and singin' them
But I'm forty-one years old and I ain't got no place to go
When it's over
So I hide my age and make the stage and
Try to kick the footlights out again.

I throw my old guitar across the stage and
Then my bassman takes the ball
And the crowd goes nearly wild to see
My guitar nearly fall
After twenty years of pickin' we're still alive
And kickin' and kickin' down the wall
Tonight we'll kick the footlights out
And walk away without a curtain call.

Tonight we'll kick the footlights out again
And try to hide the mood we're really in
Might not put on our old Instamatic grin
Tonight we'll kick the footlights out again.

I live the kinda life most men only dream of
And I make my livin' writin' songs and singin' them
But I'm fortysome years old and I ain't got no place to go
When it's over
So I hide my age and make the stage and
Try to kick the footlights out again...

[jpak]

181. please post and justify the lyrics of Okie from Muskogee

and analysis of Contemporary Amerikan History

yup

[islandmkl]

185. you've seen them above...and i have no need to justify anything concerning another person's

lyrics, poem, book, music, etc. to you...

your interpretation is merely that...and you have no knowledge, can have no knowledge, of what the writer intended without some discussion with that writer...anything else is simply conjecture...

like a critic, you know, just an opinion...in this case, with no justification other than your personal taste and limited historical perspective...

i really doubt that OFM had any affect on you back in the day other than you felt it was some kind of right-wing anthem in its nature which is how you continue to see it...

you have that right...but your defense of the OP based on your acknowledged, and obvious, lack of exposure, let alone awareness, of Merle Haggard and his songs is frivolous at best...

i'd ask to see your musical favorites playlist, but it would probably be contrived to appear relevant in some manner lost on everyone excepting yourself...

but hey...you got a lot of responses...

yup, you did alright...yup

[jpak]

186. My play list would not include MG or any other RW douchebaggery

such as...

Toby kkkeith

or

Blo-cephus

or

Gen.R.Lee Greenwood

yup

[cemaphonic]

189. I've been listening to a Merle Haggard retrospective on the radio tonight

Lots of songs about the hard and unfair life of poor people working the farms and labor camps in mid-century California, lots of songs about life on the road, and one about the sorrow of having to keep an interracial relationship closeted. Even if you're intent on taking "Okie from Muskogee" at face value, it's not really the sum of his career.

[bemildred]

190. +1. nt

[sendero]

191. Like most people (and artists)...

... Merle wore neither a halo nor a horn. Stuff like "The Fighting Side of Me" leaves me cold. Stuff like "Mama Tried" is pure genius.

May he rest in peace.

[hobbit709]

192. Pretty pitiful when you rec your own OP after 191 replies and 0 recs

[tularetom]

197. My dad was an actual Okie from Muskogee

He thought the song was silly but he loved Merle Haggard's music about the 30's migration to CA.

"California Cottonfields", "Tulare Dust", "Mama Tried", all of those and many others, really hit home with him.

I'm sure there were racists among the depression era migrants to CA, but my dad was not one of them. I'm pretty sure Haggard wasn't either.