Songs I'll Always Sing
Songs I'll Always Sing | ||||
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Compilation album by Merle Haggard and the Strangers | ||||
Released | 1977 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Producer | Ken Nelson, Fuzzy Owen | |||
Merle Haggard and the Strangers chronology | ||||
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Songs I'll Always Sing is a two-record compilation album by American country music singer and songwriter Merle Haggard, released in 1977.[1][2] It reached No. 15 on the US Country Charts.[3] The album collects many of Haggard's best known recordings during his successful run at Capitol Records, including nine of his twenty-four No. 1 hits, dating back to 1966.
Critical reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [4] |
Christgau's Record Guide | A−[5] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [6] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [7] |
AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote in his review: "Though many compilations have followed it since it was first released in 1976, Songs I'll Always Sing remains one of the definitive Merle Haggard compilations. Relying not only on hit singles, the 20-track double-album set features a number of album tracks and obscurities - such as 'Love and Honor,' 'Silver Wings,' 'Honky Tonk Night Time Man,' 'Things Aren't Funny Anymore,' and 'I Forget You Every Day' - which give a more rounded and accurate picture of Hag's classic Capitol recordings."[4]
In 2002, Rolling Stone listed Songs I'll Always Sing as the 42nd "coolest" album of all time.[8] Salt Lake City Weekly deemed it "one of the single-best country records available."[9]
Track listing
All songs by Merle Haggard unless otherwise noted.
Side 1
- "Okie from Muskogee" (Merle Haggard, Eddie Burris) – 2:53 - 1969 #1
- "The Emptiest Arms in the World" – 2:50 - 1973
- "Mama Tried" – 2:10 - 1968 #1
- "Swinging Doors" – 2:51 - 1966
- "Uncle Lem" (Glenn Martin) – 2:54 - 1974
Side 2
- "The Fightin' Side of Me" – 2:48 - 1970 #1
- "Sing Me Back Home" – 2:45 - 1968 #1
- "Silver Wings" – 2:53 - 1968
- "Sing a Sad Song" (Wynn Stewart) – 2:30 - 1963
- "Honky Tonk Night Time Man" – 2:38 - 1974
Side 3
- "Kentucky Gambler" (Dolly Parton) – 2:39 - 1974 #1
- "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" (Liz Anderson, Casey Anderson) – 2:55 - 1967 #1
- "Things Aren't Funny Anymore" – 2:40 - 1974 #1
- "Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)" – 3:10 - 1971 #1
- "I Forget You Every Day" – 2:52 - 1973
Side 4
- "Workin' Man Blues" – 2:33 - 1969 #1
- "Love and Honor" – 2:47 - 1974
- "Branded Man" – 3:04 - 1967
- "Someday We'll Look Back" – 2:28 - 1971
- "I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am" – 2:47 - 1968
Personnel
- Merle Haggard – vocals, guitar
The Strangers:
- Roy Nichols – lead guitar
- Norman Hamlet – steel guitar
- Tiny Moore – mandolin, fiddle
- Eldon Shamblin– guitar
- Ralph Mooney – steel guitar
- Gene Price – bass
- Gordon Terry - fiddle
- Ronnie Reno – guitar
- Bobby Wayne – guitar
- Marcia Nichols – guitar
- Clint Strong – guitar
- Mark Yeary – piano
- George French – piano
- Dennis Hromek – bass
- James Tittle – bass
- Johnny Meeks - bass
- Jerry Ward – bass
- Wayne Durham – bass
- Biff Adam – drums
- Eddie Burris – drums
- Don Markham – saxophone
- Jimmy Belkin – fiddle
- Gary Church – horns
Production
- Produced by Ken Nelson & Fuzzy Owen
References
- ^ Crouch, Gene (22 Apr 1977). "On Record". El Paso Herald-Post. p. 9.
- ^ "Haggard Tour Rides Success of Current Live Album". Chattanooga Times Free Press. April 30, 2000. p. E1.
- ^ "Merle Haggard". Billboard. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Songs I'll Always Sing > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: H". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 24, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press.
- ^ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. pp. 299, 300.
- ^ Donovan, Patrick (22 Mar 2002). "Nothing cooler on earth than white hot Velvets". The Age. p. 7.
- ^ "Missed Masterpieces: Merle Haggard". Music. Salt Lake City Weekly. June 28, 2011.
- v
- t
- e
- The Strangers
- Biff Adam
- Jimmy Belken
- Eddie Burris
- Gary Church
- Wayne Durham
- George French
- Dennis Hromek
- Don Markham
- Johnny Meeks
- Marcia Nichols
- Ronnie Reno
- Clint Strong
- Jim Tittle
- Jerry Ward
- Bobby Wayne
- Mark Yeary
- Strangers
- Swinging Doors ‡
- I'm a Lonesome Fugitive ‡
- Branded Man ‡
- Sing Me Back Home ‡
- The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde ‡
- Mama Tried ‡
- Pride in What I Am ‡
- Same Train, a Different Time ‡
- A Portrait of Merle Haggard ‡
- A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills) ‡
- Hag ‡
- Someday We'll Look Back ‡
- Let Me Tell You About a Song ‡
- It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad) ‡
- If We Make It Through December ‡
- Merle Haggard Presents His 30th Album ‡
- Keep Movin' On ‡
- It's All in the Movies ‡
- My Love Affair with Trains ‡
- The Roots of My Raising ‡
- Ramblin' Fever
- A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today ‡
- My Farewell to Elvis
- I'm Always on a Mountain When I Fall
- Serving 190 Proof
- The Way I Am
- Back to the Barrooms
- Big City
- Going Where the Lonely Go
- That's the Way Love Goes
- It's All in the Game
- Kern River
- Out Among the Stars
- A Friend in California
- Chill Factor
- 5:01 Blues
- Blue Jungle
- 1994
- 1996
- If I Could Only Fly
- Roots, Volume 1
- The Peer Sessions
- Haggard Like Never Before
- Unforgettable
- Chicago Wind
- The Bluegrass Sessions
- I Am What I Am
- Working in Tennessee
- Songs I'll Always Sing
- Merle Haggard's Greatest Hits
- His Epic Hits: The First 11 (To Be Continued...)
- Down Every Road 1962–1994
- 16 Biggest Hits
- Hag: The Best of Merle Haggard
- Okie from Muskogee ‡
- The Fightin' Side of Me ‡
- I Love Dixie Blues ‡
- Rainbow Stew Live at Anaheim Stadium
- The Epic Collection (Recorded Live)
- Amber Waves of Grain
- The Land of Many Churches ‡
- Songs for the Mama That Tried
- Cabin in the Hills
- Two Old Friends (with Albert E. Brumley, Jr.)
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