Top 20 Merle Haggard Songs: California Cotton Fields (#2)

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When I began I said that most of these selections were hits but that there would be a couple of curve balls thrown in. For my second most-favorite Merle Haggard song I'm turning to an album cut. #2: California Cotton Fields But oh, what a fabulous song. I've known this song for eons, so I was rather surprised to discover that it wasn't ever released as a single. It should have been. This masterful song tells of a man, much like Haggard's father, who decided to attempt to escape the poverty of the midwest for the hope of California. Of course, as with so many others, those dreams turned out to be fruitless ("where labor camps were filled with worried men with broken dreams"). As Haggard delivered the line, "The only difference I remember seeing in my daddy was when his dark hair turned to silver gray" his voice fell off, as if he was singing it about his daddy. Again, amazingly enough, Haggard didn't write this. He knew how to pick 'em, though! California Cotton Fields Written by Dallas Frazier and Earl Montgomery From Someday We'll Look Back, 1971