Top 20 Merle Haggard Songs: The "Also-Rans"

Tweet

Before I reveal my all-time favorite Merle Haggard song, I should give a nod to the songs that didn't make the list. It's not that I don't like these songs (it's hard for me to find a Haggard song that I don't like!), but the list was just 20 (where it's usually ten so I made concessions to begin with!) and there's only 20 spaces to fill. Maybe next time I'll do a 20A and 20B entry with a list! There are some worthy songs that should be mention that didn't make it to the top of the list, though. I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me: I remember the first time my mom heard this song. With its opening line, "There's not much a man can do inside a prison, just take his memory trips and fight the pain," she automatically assumed it was yet another in his long list of songs about prison life. When the bridge came and he delivered the lines, "I wonder if they think I died of hunger in this rotten prison camp in Vietnam," her tune changed. One of the first songs to salute to POWs in Vietnam. That's the Way Love Goes: Originally a hit by Johnny Rodriguez, nobody remember that after Hag did the song. Actually, the first person who did the song was Lefty Frizzell (as he wrote it). It's a terrific love ballad. Dusty Memories: Hag never recorded this. He wrote it for another Bakersfield icon, Rose Maddox, and she recorded it on her Grammy-nominated $35 and a Dream album. Hag sang backing vocals on it. He really should have recorded it. It told the story of the Maddox family's pilgrimage from Alabama to California because of the Depression...the same trek that Haggard's family took (although they started from Oklahoma instead of Alabama). On the recording Don Maddox (the sole survivor of the 40s & 50s musical group) does a recitation about the Depression and going through Oklahoma on the way to California. You can almost hear Hag doing it. I Wonder Where I'll Find You At Tonight: Another song that Rose Maddox did on that $35 and a Dream album was originally written and recorded (in 1985) by Haggard. It's a great song about a man searching for his spouse by going to every honky tonk in town. Leonard: A loving tribute to the great songwriter Tommy Collins (ne Leonard Sipes), the man who wrote Hag's big hits "Carolyn" and "The Roots of My Raising," along with a boatload of other big hits (such as Porter Wagoner's "You Got-ta Have a License" and "If You Ain't Lovin' (You Ain't Livin')," which was a hit for both Faron Young and George Strait). I got to meet Tommy Collins a few years before he passed away, and that was a thrill! I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink: Ah, you gotta love this song. There's a rift between the man and his wife, so he opts for staying at the bar to going home and arguing. Working Man Blues: The anthem of the blue-collar world and the song that solidified Haggard as "the Poet of the Common Man." There's all these things to do, all these wishes to hope will come true...."but I'll keep on working." So in a minute I'll close out this look at the late, great Merle Haggard with my all-time favorite song of his. Meanwhile, here's Rose Maddox singing that great Merle Haggard song "Dusty Memories," which he sadly never recorded. If he had recorded it, it would definitely be in the top ten!