Big City

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Big City
Studio album by Merle Haggard

Publication
(s)

October 1981

Label (s) Epic Records

Format (s)

CD, LP

Genre (s)

Country

Title (number)

10

running time

39:28

occupation

production

Lewis Talley and Merle Haggard

Studio (s)

Britannia Studios, Hollywood, California

chronology
Songs for the Mama That Tried
(1980) 		Big City A Taste of Yesterday's Wine (with George Jones )
(1982)
Single releases
Sep 1981 My Favorite Memory
Jan 1982 Big City
May 1982 Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)

Big City is the 33rd studio album by country singer Merle Haggard . It was released in October 1981 and was his first album for Epic Records after he left MCA .

History of origin

Big City came into being during a difficult period for Merle Haggard. It had been a while since his prison years and in the meantime he became a respected country singer who was even allowed to perform his songs in the White House . Shortly before, his marriage to singer Leona Williams failed . Although the divorce did not become final until 1983, the couple were separated and Merle Haggard moved away from Reno . In addition, he had just left his old record company MCA Records and signed a new contract with Epic Records. Nevertheless, or perhaps because of it, Haggard was in a creative high phase. In July 1981 he went to Britannia Studios, Hollywood, California with his band The Stranger. Within 48 hours he recorded both this album and the follow-up Going Where the Lonely Go with them . Merle Haggard also appeared as a producer and was assisted by Lewis Talley .

The album cover shows Merle Haggard on a bed with a guitar. Behind him is a window that offers a view of the street.

Track list

The album was

  1. Big City (Merle Haggard, Dean Holloway) - 2:59
  2. My Favorite Memory (Haggard) - 3:06
  3. Good Old American Guest (Haggard) - 2:36
  4. I Think I'm Gonna Live Forever (Benny Binion, Haggard, Dennis Hromek) - 2:29
  5. This Song Is Mine (Haggard) - 2:33
  6. Stop The World & Let Me Off ( Carl Belew , WS Stevenson) - 3:18
  7. Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver) (Haggard) - 4:14
  8. Texas Fiddle Song ( Leona Williams ) - 2:19
  9. You Don't Have Very Far to Go (Haggard, Red Simpson ) - 3:14
  10. I Always Get Lucky With You (Gary Church, Haggard, Freddy Powers) - 3:31
Bonus tracks
  1. Call Me (Uncredited) - 4:18
  2. I Won't Give Up My Train (Mark Yeary) - 4:43

Both bonus tracks were recorded while the album was being recorded. I Won't Give Up My Train is a duet with Roger Miller .

Music style and songs

Musically, Merle Haggard and his band The Strangers move within the typical framework. However, there are some jazzy passages. The title song, now a Haggard classic, is played in the style of a shuffle . He had to be persuaded by co-author Dean Holloway to do this, because he used to have to play shuffles all the time in the clubs where his career began and he was tired of them. The song is reminiscent of Ray Price . I Always Get Lucky with You also has a jazzy touch and is a ballad.

Haggard wrote eight of the 10 songs on the album himself, some with support. His still-wife took part as a background singer on the album. She also wrote the lyrics for the Texas Fiddle Song . You Don't Have Very Far to Go , written by Merle Haggard and Red Simpson together, is an old title from the 1960s. The album itself deals with recurring themes that Haggard has already worked on: personal freedom and the life of a hard-working man in America under the sign of ubiquitous urbanization . With Are the Good Times Really Over for Good (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver) he played into the hands of his critics, who considered him a reactionary redneck. The song is an elegy on "old America" ​​with no drugs and a stable economy, but in the end it expresses hope.

occupation

success

The album reached number 161 on the US Billboard 200 and stayed in the charts for a total of 28 weeks. It reached number 3 in the country charts determined by Billboard. The two single releases Big City and My Favorite Memory reached number 1 in the country charts. The single Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver) reached # 2. Haggard also won the Academy of Country Music's Song of the Year award for this song , both as a composer and as an artist.

Thom Jurek named the album on Allmusic as one of Merle Haggard's best albums and awarded five stars out of five. In his opinion, the album contains some of Haggard's best songs, with some known as classics and others should have become classics. Robert Christgau calls the album a cult classic, but it also contains some filler material.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Liner Notes by Daniel Cooper . In: Booklet of the 1999 republication . Sony Music , June 1999, pp. 4th f .
  2. ↑ a b c Review by Thom Jurek at Allmusic (English). Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  3. ↑ Merkle Haggard. Billboard.com , accessed April 29, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Past winners. Academy of Country Music , accessed April 29, 2017 .
  5. ^ Robert Christgau: Merle Haggard. Official website, accessed April 30, 2017 .