Move Over Dixie Chicks
Merle Haggard on Hillary: ‘Let’s Put a Woman in Charge’
By Courtney Lowery, 2-14-07
About half-way through his set at Spokane’s INB Performing Arts Center Monday night almost 70-year-old country star, Merle Haggard played a song he told the audience he’d just finished up that morning.
It had a one-word title, he said, and was likely to “piss off” at least half of the audience. A few might even walk out, he said. But, an assistant brought out a music stand and Merle started crooning about a woman named “Hillary.”
“The country needs to be honest,” he sang. “Change needs to be large.”
“Let’s put a woman in charge.”
A few in the crowd, (including our neighbors who complained all throughout Haggard’s opening act, Neko Case, because they “didn’t buy tickets to see Jewel") scoffed at Merle’s tribute while others wondered if he was serious. “How did you take it?” we overheard one cowboy asking another as we left the show.
Haggard had, afterall, brought the crowd to their feet just a few songs earlier with “The Fightin’ Side of Me,” his pro-America Vietnam-based tune from 1970.
But if the country legend’s take on current politics—especially in regard to the current war—he’s serious. Haggard got some flack in 2003 with his song “That’s the News,” which criticized coverage of the Iraq war and he later came to the aid of the Dixie Chicks when they came under fire for their comments about President George Bush at a concert.
On Monday, when he finished “Hillary” (which I’m assuming is the song’s one-word title), Haggard lamented that, “a song like that will never get played.”
Then he moved right into a rousing rendition of, “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink,” and any grumbling about “Hillary” began to fade.
Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.
Comments
Add your comment below
We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
We don't take our trips on LSD
We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street;
We like livin' right, and bein' free.
I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all
We don't make a party out of lovin';
We like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo;
We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy,
Like the hippies out in San Francisco do.
And I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball.
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all.
Leather boots are still in style for manly footwear;
Beads and Roman sandals won't be seen.
Football's still the roughest thing on campus,
And the kids here still respect the college dean.
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
In Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA.
On a more serious note, I am, however, afraid of a woman candidate at this time. An incredible amount of damage has been done to America, by the current administration, over the past six years. The thought of a continuation of this kind of ideologically twisted and functionally incompetent GOP rule is just horrrific. Another four years of this kind of mess will put us in a world of hurt.
With that said, I believe that the Democratic Party must be realistic about the flaws, prejudices, and immaturities of many in the electorate, as amply demonstrated by the various postings to this website, and select their best shot for success in '08. I also watched GOP money being funneled into the Green Party in 2000 and 2004; I am well aware of the lengths to which the GOP will go to spread confusion and miscues. I do not want to see the Democratic Party picking our candidate on the advice of someone as unreliable as a formerly rednecked entertainer.
is setting new records every day. Does anyone honestly believe that we can continue borrowing billions upon billions of dollars every month forever???? Try that on a personal level and see where you wind up. And this stupid "War on Terror" is a joke. All it has accomplished is a president that has virtully used the Constitution as toilet paper and massive amounts of money squandered. Bill Clinton got a blow job and lied about it and they tried to hang him--but no one died from his lie. George Bush lied to get us into this unnecessary war and ten's of thousands of humans have died--but this is o.k.-- he fighting terror. George W.
terrrifies me. I'm seventy years old and I've never observed such
insanity by an adminstration. This is by any measure the worst bunch of liars, crooks, thieves and general misfits that ever held office in this nation--and I doubt that the democrats are any better. The democrats had better produce some sane and reasonable policies to reverse the insanity we have had for the past 6 years or they or this nation will not survive. I have great
respect for "The Office of the President of the United States of America" I wish George W. Bush had a little respect for it.
That may be why you see progressive ideas labeled as socialist or liberal so much. These are labels that they don't understand. Few of todays Republicans could give a real definition of Socialism and I'm convinced that no conservative that uses the label Liberalism knows that it means an ideology that holds liberty as the primary political value. Many Republicans preach socialist and liberal values and don't know it.
My head hurts, my feet stink, and I don't love Jesus (oh my lordy it's that...)
It's that kind of mornin'
Really was that kind of night
Tryin' to tell myself that my condition is improvin'
And if I don't die by Thursday I'll be roarin' Friday night
Went down to the snake pit
To drink a little beer
Listen to the jukebox
Merle was comin' in clear
All of a sudden I wad'n alone
Pickin' country music with ol' Joe Bones
Duval Street was rockin'
My eyes they starting poppin'
Because there she sat at the corner of the bar
As I broke another string on my ol' guitar
Someone call a cab
Lady won'tcha pay my tab
Look at the stock market with it's steady climb, many, many of us have our IRAs in the stock market.
Despite the best efforts of the left, insisting around the world that our leader is dumb, nontheless they learned from the first time that is is dumb like a fox and terrirsts have not been able to hit us again.
It would be nice if we could talk the terrorists around the world into being nice, but since we can't they need to be afraid to try again or thwarted if they do. They can and will if possible destroy our country, at least the poeple in it.
I too am 70 and I have never seen the country and the free world having to deal with terrorism on the scale it has become over the last 20 years. One grandson has done 2 tours in Iraq, and another is finishing training and will probably end up there. I pray for them every night, but they feel this country is worth saving, and so do I.
situation by the stock market--the market is Alice in Wonderland.
Get out in the real world and observe the pressure the middle class is under trying to survive and live the "American dream".
You will find that things are not so rosey---and and don't buy the
bull---t that inflation is in check. Every thing I purchase in my business has increased in price substantially--and has for many months. This is the greatest country in the worlld and I want it to remain that way but I'm worried about what we are leaving for our
children and grandchildren. WCS
was s great advancement for mandkind. But what we have now is a sham--a con game by which stock is sold and obscene amounts of the proposed investment capital is taken by countless CEO's and Vice presidents--in many cases hundreds of millions of dollars annually for individuals--when we all know that no human on this planet is worth this amount of renumeration. Investors seldom consider "dividens"--they want a "growth stock"which is a stock that increases in value many times in value with little but hype to support the supposed value. The founders of the market never
envisoned a situation like we now have. And now we have "globalization" which translates to this: send our production jobs to some arm-pit on the planet where big business can work people for low wages with little or no environmental or human rights, then bring the products in the USA with little or no import dutys---(free trade)---It is destroying the middle class USA.
Jobs change and evolve all of the time, and always have, there are still lots of jobs in this country.
I have to disagree with you that the middle class is disappearing, I think it is growing. What gives you the idea that it is disappearing?
A song by Dr Bruce L. Thiessen, aka, Dr. BLT of Bakersfield, California, paying tribute to Merle Haggard's fighting side is climbing this chart, jumping over 1200 notches in one week to land at number 243 this week:
http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwsongspage.html
The Dr. BLT song that proceeded it, Neil Young (Have you Forgotten), hit #1 on this chart back in July of 2006 and now rests at #155. It was also named the # 8 Best Record of 2006 by Blogcritics magazine writer, Al Barger here:
http://www.morethings.com/music/best_songs_2006.htm
The Merle Haggard tribute song can be heard and downloaded for free at the site of the chart or here.
Merle Hasn't Lost His Fightin' Side
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr Bruce L. Thiessen, aka Dr. BLT (c) 2007
http://www.drblt.net/music/MerleVeryLast.mp3
"Sonically, Dr. BLT offers up a mix of country, folk and rockabilly, while vocally he tends to come off as a Dylan with clear diction. No, scratch that. I liked the line so much I had to include it, but Dr. B's voice is smoother and clearer than that. Especially on what I think is the best cut, "Merle Hasn't Lost His Fighting Side." I hear slight hints toward country legend John Anderson in that one." (Junkyard Blog)
Bryan Preston, National Review Writer
And by the eay, Liberals are not wimps any more than the Conservatives are. Conservatives just like to talk tough. It's all a bunch of crap. Grow up, for Pete's sake. I mean, REALLY.
I don't know or care whether the things you claim about Clinton are true. George W. Bush has shown himself to be at least as crooked. It's a shame that the truth is so hard to sort out from all the b.s.
It there are any sharp shooters left in America, they will be treated to some straight shooting as well in the easy read.
From a person in a position to known the worst of how American government works, and how business works, it's clear that a woman can do the man-sized job that is required to run the nation, and Hillary is the only viable candidate with experience to do it.
That she did not sit on the sidelines while her husband ran it has turned out to be the extra asset that makes her the best man, not the best woman for the job. That's probably what she would like to say, but doesn't except to the astute intuitive.
If Iacocca is right, and America tears walls down rather than builds them, the Presidency is one wall that should come down for women, and Iacocca apparently agrees.
Military strength no longer works in these situations, you need diplomacy.
You know, the attacks of 911 happened on Bush's watch. In the end, he has profited wildly from it. In starting the war with Iraq, which he had planned before he even took office, he created this false oil crisis, which has caused every American who doesn't happen to own oil stock great hardship.
I was really just trying to be polite before, but that is obviously passe'. Don't talk to me about voter tests. You are obviously underqualified for the position to which you have appointed yourself: judge. The fact is, there is plenty of bs on both sides. The difference is that the conservatives are gigantic hyprocrites and cowards. Yes, we all know that Bush dodged the draft by having Daddy pull strings for him to keep him out of hazardous duty. And we all know that he was AWOL during his time in the Air Nat'l Guard. It seems to me that being AWOL during wartime is a pretty serious offense, but he got away with it.
I'm no big fan of Bill Clinton. I think NAFTA, for example, was big mistake. But nobody can deny that he was as much a self-made man as anyone. And no one can say the same about Bush.
I believe the war was planned before Bush took office. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfawitz, etc went looking for Georgie to get him elected so the could get a war going with Saddam cause he tried to have George Sr assassinated. Do you really believe Iraq had anything to do with terrorism. It was perpetrated by Bush and cronies to revenge Daddies mistake. Also it has made tons of money for Haliburton(Cheneys retirement fund) and others. No way oil doesn't factor in to the whole equation. Meanwhile the head terrorist is still running around doing business and mocking you, while you are mired up to you ass in a war you can't win. Mean while the Chinese own you, and you stick up for Isreal who are no better than the other terrorists. So how can you ever gain any prestige by the rest of the world. I will admit you are generous, but you tend to blow your own horn too much as you just did. You must have you head in the sand.