Goodbye, Merle

[RidgeHunter]

I'm a sucker for perfect opening lines/verses.

each night i leave the bar room when it's over/not feelin any pain at closin' time/but tonight your memory found me much to sober/couldn't drink enough to keep you off my mind

first thing i remember knowin/was that lonesome whistle blowin

if we make it through december/everythings gonna be alright i know/it's the coldest time of winter/and i shiver when i see the falling snow

Merle had that knack for getting the point out and jerking the listener into paying attention.

Plus if you don't write at least a few songs sympathetic to criminals, you're not a country songwriter.

 

[SoonerP226]

Plus if you don't write at least a few songs sympathetic to criminals, you're not a country songwriter.

A few years ago, I saw an interview where he described how he got sent to prison. He and a buddy got so wasted that they tried to break into a bar; their biggest mistake was trying to do it while the bar was still open. The owner heard them trying to get in the back door, so he went out and held them 'til the cops arrived. He ended the story "and that's how I became the dumbass of San Quentin."

 

[vvvvvvv]

 

[n423]

RIP Merle, you're a legend!! Loved his music...

 

[Fredkrueger100]

Rip okie.

 

[Cohiba]

RIP Merle......


Brother you've recorded a few songs that were true to my life!!!

In our younger years when my wife and I were newly married isn't wasn't all "knocking boots"....we had a few ...ummm...knock down -drag outs!!!






Awesome song!!!





This was my granddad's favorite song.....the memories of my granddad and I hauling hay in the dead a** middle of the summer and stacking it in his old barns. Drinking Milwaukee's Best beer and driving in the hay fields and dusty ol' dirt roads.....grandad reachin' under the seat of your pickup for that pint of Sminoff vodka and passing it to me for a swig...cutting a plug off of Cotton Boll chewing tobacco....about 11, years old/1974.

 

[SdoubleA]

I became a Hag fan back in 66. I swear he wrote many songs about me or for me. He was real and earned everything the hard way. We both missed the proud old days when America didn't have so many ******* like today.

Cross that river Merle, for you have earned your rest and rewards.

 

[Burk Cornelius]

"In my next life, I want to be your hero
Somethin' better than I turned out to be" MH

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[LightningCrash]

he stopped loving her today!

 

[Cedar Creek]

"Now I'm payin' for the days of wine and roses,
Cause I drank the wine and threw away the rose."

That one and "All My Friends are Gonna be Strangers" were the first ones I remember in high school about '65 or '66, then the real hook for me was listening to "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" in a rugged-ass bar in LeFlore County. I guess I was 16 and really identified with Merle because my life was headed about the direction his did; maybe he helped me with a moment of clarity of epiphany. When I was in college late 60's & early 70's my old buddies and I stood out from the crowd because our 8 tracks were all Merle, Johnny, Hank & George. First professional music performance I saw was with my sister and my college room mate ate the Civic Center in OKC - spring of 1970. Package show with Waylon Jennings & Bill Anderson - Merle closed the show and came out during intermission in fron of the curtain where he sat on a stool and played an acoustic guitar and played several songs on his own. Final song was "Silver Wings".

Cedar Creek