12-15-2016, 08:39 AM
(12-14-2016, 09:42 PM)Big Rock Wrote: These.
Especially the first 10 in bold. I saw Merle Haggard and The Strangers at the Country Club in Reseda California (San Fernando Valley) in 1980.
BEST concert I ever saw. Unbelievable.
I'm a Lonesome Fugitive
Mama Tried
Workin' Man's Blues
Honky Tonk Night Time Man
The Fightin' Side of Me
Sing Me Back Home
I Threw Away The Rose
The Bottle Let Me Down
Swinging Doors
Huntsville
Thanks.
I remember, from years ago, "Mama Tried" and it didn't make me want to hear a lot of his stuff. I'm sure many see it as a "value packed" tune meant to inspire us with those good ideals we learned at the feet of our mothers. Well....I guess I just didn't buy into it, but heard it more as a kind fo simplistic sermon. But, it was a big hit (I've learned) and my opinion is a minority, at least in the C&W world.
Curious too about his kind of "preachy" songs like "The Fightin' Side of Me". I fired up WIKI and found that later in life he not only smoked lots of Grass, but was addicted to Coke. And, his early life in The Joint was not exactly a model of good American values like those expressed in at least some of his songs.
But, I understand we all deal with our own devils and sometimes fail. I'll still download a couple of his tunes just for what they call the "Bakersfield Sound". Millions of C&W fans can't be wrong.
The beauty and wonder of music is that it is so subjective and it may not always be clear what "sound" appeals to us. Whaatever criticism I've voiced here doesn't mean I make any kind of judgements about your liking his stuff...only that we may have different tastes about C&W music.