I just saw some kind of tribute to Merle Haggard. Hey, let me get on the bandwagon.
Merle Haggard married Fiona something, some time
in the late fifties. I think she was about 15
at the time. Haggard spent some time in
prison before he was 20, for petty theft, passing bad checks, and so on. He wasn’t very nice to Fiona.
Merle had an affair with Buck Owen’s wife. Just one more little hypocrisy in the heartland of
America: country singers that claim to hold on to traditional values but actually behave
pretty well as badly as anyone else.
Merle Haggard wrote and sang “Okie From Muskogee”, which, besides
providing comfort and joy to rednecks like George Wallace, helped him wrangle a pardon
from California Governor Ronald Reagan-- yes, he of the “tough on crime”
reputation. And an invitation to play at
Pat’s birthday at the White House.
Did Haggard, espousing bedrock American values,
serve in the military?
Have you heard “Okie From Muskogee”? It has lines like:
We don’t burn our draft cards down on
Main Street…
We don’t let our hair grow long and shaggy…
... and I’m proud to be an Okie from Muskogee
No, of course not. He's a
Republican. We send other people to die for the cause and then lead
the parades, all misty-eyed and such. It's a bit weird how predictable
it all is -- Republicans and conservatives extolling the enduring virtues of
patriotism and courage and duty and you can't find a damn one of them that
actually served. All right-- maybe one. John McCain.
[added 2011-03-05]
Merle split from Bonnie Owens in 1975. He had a string of affairs. He did drugs and drank to excess. He had an affair with Liona Williams-- a backup
singer. But he finally found understanding
and encouragement in Theresa Lane, a woman 25 years younger than him.
He neglected his own children, except maybe the
ones by Theresa Lane. Now that he’s a
little older and less driven, I guess he finally has a little time to spend with the kids.
In the meantime, he squandered and gambled away
all of his money and went bankrupt.
What’s really great is seeing Merle Haggard,
long hair and beard, standing in front of a group of well-known country musicians, long
hair and beards, accepting induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Does he still sing “and we don’t let our
hair grow long and shaggy...”? Does he
say, “nothing personal” when he goes into “Okie”? Does he even sing it anymore? Yes, he does, looking a little sheepish as he
warbles those bedrock American values. It’s
all about family and true love and being a man and tradition and patriotism. For everyone else, I guess.
Clint
Black was among those paying tribute. Rightly
so. He has that same kind of non-descript
blandness to his voice that is
so characteristic of Haggard’s music. There’s
really not much to it. Simple, as if
simplicity without charm was a virtue. He's
like someone down the street, that you know, and with whom, Lord knows, you might one day
have an affair.
Copyright © 2001 Bill Van Dyk All rights
reserved.
