Top 20 Merle Haggard Songs: I Take A Lot of Pride in What I Am (#5)

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I was off yesterday because of (a) sleeping late (sleeping off the medication for my stomach), (b) going to work, and (c) leaving right from work to go to Cincinnati for the Robbie Fulks concert. (A quick aside: last year I saw Robbie at Southgate House with Redd Volkaert, who was Merle Haggard's guitarist for many years). I'm back to finish off my 20 favorite Haggard songs with the big ones. #5: I Take A Lot of Pride in What I Am You can find great philosophy in songs. This is a prime example of that. In this song Haggard sings of hobo and the education his life gave him ("things I learned in a hobo jungle were things they never taught me in a classroom"). He's a loner ("I never travel in a hurry 'cause I've got nobody waiting for me anywhere") who seems to accept his lot in life and, while admitting it's not the best in the world, accepts it graciously ("home is anyplace I'm living, if it's sleeping on some vacant bench in a city square or just working on some road gang or just living off the fat of our great land"). My favorite line from this song: "I've never been nobody's idol, but at least I've got a title, and I take a lot of pride in what I am." May we all take a lot of pride in what we are. I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am Written by Merle Haggard From Pride in What What I Am, 1968