OldiesButGoodies

Country

Marty Haggard – “Okie from Muskogee”

Introduction:

Marty Robbins’s “El Paso” was a massive hit in 1959, reaching #1 on the Billboard country chart and crossing over to the pop charts as well. It spawned countless imitations, cashing in on the song’s dramatic, novelistic storytelling and catchy melody. One of the most successful of these was Marty Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee,” released in 1969.

Haggard, a son of the Dust Bowl and a former convict, had become a country music superstar by the late 1960s. His songs often reflected the lives of working-class Americans, and “Okie from Muskogee” was no exception. The song is a first-person narrative by a proud Oklahoman who is deeply skeptical of the counterculture movement of the 1960s. He criticizes long-haired hippies for smoking marijuana and protesting the Vietnam War, declaring that “we don’t take to drugs or dirty sheets.

The song was a massive hit, reaching #1 on the country charts and crossing over to the pop charts as well. It became an anthem for many Americans who were uncomfortable with the social and political changes of the time. However, it also drew criticism from those who saw it as a racist and homophobic attack on the counterculture.

Haggard himself was ambivalent about the song’s message. In later years, he acknowledged that it was a product of its time and that he didn’t necessarily agree with all of its lyrics. However, he also defended the song’s right to exist, arguing that it was simply a reflection of the views of many Americans.

“Okie from Muskogee” remains a controversial song, but it is also an important document of American history. It captures the anxieties and divisions of a nation in the midst of profound social and political change.

Video:

https://youtu.be/aOVTITMHWsc?si=Wh7BcpLkjmXeuWKA

 

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Merle Haggard’s childhood was becoming increasingly chaotic when something entered his life that would eventually change everything: a guitar. His older brother Lowell gave him one when Merle was around 12. Merle began teaching himself, absorbing the records and styles of country heroes such as Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams. There were no expensive lessons preparing him for Nashville. There was simply a troubled California kid listening closely and learning how another man’s sadness could live inside a melody. Merle would still make plenty of mistakes. Music didn’t instantly rescue him from running away, juvenile detention or eventually prison. But the guitar remained. Years later, millions would recognize Merle’s voice within seconds. Perhaps that’s because he wasn’t merely learning how to sing songs as a boy. He was slowly learning how to tell the truth about his own life.

Merle Haggard rarely needed to invent heartbreak. He had known it since childhood. In 1946, when Merle was only nine years old, his father, James Haggard, died following a stroke. For a boy who deeply needed his father’s presence, the loss became a turning point. His mother, Flossie, worked to support the family. Merle, meanwhile, became increasingly restless. He skipped school, ran away, got into trouble, and began a long journey through juvenile institutions that eventually led somewhere far darker. Looking back at his life, it is difficult not to see that nine-year-old boy behind many of the adult Merle Haggard’s songs. People later called him a rebel, an outlaw and a survivor. But before any of those labels existed, there was simply a grieving boy who had lost his dad—and never seemed to completely outrun that loss.

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