GOOD COMMENTS ON MERLE
HAGGARD'S ANTI-WAR SONG

From Real Art comments, a couple of thoughts on Haggard's perceived retreat from the pro-establishment attitudes of his classic song "Okie from Muskogee" toward the anti-Bush attitudes of his new release "Rebuild America First":

That Merle Haggard is a hard guy to pin down...despite the jingoistic lyrics of "Okie..", he's pretty liberal about some other things.

He was one of the few artists in country music to come to the defense of The Dixie Chicks after their scandal, yet he also records and performs with Toby Keith. And he's good friends with Ultra-hippie-liberal Willie Nelson. And he's made anti-Bush comments about George Sr., too. Like most people, his politics don't fall on the right or the left...he's also a great songwriter and a damn soulful singer! I dig him....

Paul Drake

So Haggard is far more sophisticated than his down-home image might suggest. That's good to hear, and it makes sense because his music, as far as I can tell, is generally a cut above the average drunken adultery songs with which he competed on the record charts during his heyday. Why, the gentle tragedy of wasted youth, murder, and motherly love, juxtaposed against the uplifting melody of "Mamma Tried," covered by the Grateful Dead in concert for years, is one of the greatest C&W songs of all time, if only for its ironic complexities. But, wait, there's still more to this guy:

"Okie" and "Fightin' Side of Me" are both characters songs written in the voice of Merle's father and his father's friends...

Willie will often perform "Okie" during his encores and the line, "We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee, and we don't take our trips on L.S.D." always gets the biggest cheer from the hippies...

they are great songs...

Mike G. Switzer

They are great songs. And the concept of the "characters" tunes, where Haggard takes on the persona of people with whom he disagrees puts him on a level with Bob Dylan in terms of lyrical sophistication. I had heard this about Haggard, that "Okie" was something of a satire tune, once before, but didn't really believe it, if only because it was some guy I didn't know on a comment board somewhere, and because the song is utterly compelling in its sincerity. But Mike, I trust, for all things musical, at least: Haggard's one of us, someone from a red state with more to him than Bush family values.

God bless America--it spawned Merle Haggard.

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