Ten Favorite Mother Songs: Mama Tried (#2)

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Good morning! I’m worn out from watching severe weather coverage in Oklahoma yesterday, so I can only imagine what the poor people who live there feel like after an intense day of rain, rain, tornadoes, and still more rain. Praying for them! To distract me, here’s another song on my list of favorites with “mother” in the title. #2: Mama Tried - Merle Haggard I’m sure everyone saw this one coming, too. The Hag, the Poet of the Common Man, was indeed a convicted felon. While serving time in San Quentin he saw a Johnny Cash concert. That made him change his ways. While he wasn’t “doing life without parole” for robbery and escape, Hag knew what he was talking about when he wrote this song of a black sheep only child who seemed destined to end up in prison (“In spite of all my Sunday learnin’ toward the bad I kept on turnin’”). While many people may not know or like country music, Merle Haggard is a name that most people recognize, and the title of this classic tune is also easily recognizable. Mama Tried Written by Merle Haggard Recorded by Merle Haggard From Mama Tried, 1968 But I refused: