I'm Proud to be an Okie from Misgoukee - - WTF???

[absyntheNsugar]

Just going through the company MP3 collection and came across this little Merle Haggard ditty - WTF????

Boomers - - was this what you guys were up against? Any thoughts or observations from those who heard this crapola at the time?

[ulysses]

1. Muskogee. n/t

[Bucky]

22. The actual lyrics

Can be found here and below.

For the record, however, let me just state that I have cousins in Muskogee and the ones between 30 and 50 most certainly have smoked marijuana.

We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
An' we don't take our trips on LSD.
We don't burn no draft cards down on Main Street;
We like livin' right, an' bein' free.

We don't make no 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.

Hey, leather boots are still in style for manly footwear;
Beads and Roman sandals won't be seen.
An' football's still the roughest thing on campus,
And the kids there still respect the college dean.

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.

And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all,
In Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA.

[leftofthedial]

2. don't be dissing Merle, punk

;-)

[absyntheNsugar]

3. Actually - that's what I found kinda ironic

Isn't Merle a lefty? Did he go through some kind of transformation like Paul of Tarsus (or at least David Brock of Freeperville?)

[greatauntoftriplets]

21. Yes, he is.

Some Oklahomans are lefties. Not one of Merle's better efforts.

[leftofthedial]

25. I take it as a portrait of the well meaning redneck of the era

I don't think it was ever intended as a self portrait by merle.

Merle is a radical guy.

[henslee]

7. don't be gettin' on the fightin' side of "leftofthedial", now.

[leftofthedial]

24. LOL!

merle's the man.

[HuckleB]

4. The world wasn't and isn't that one way or another...

and neither is Merle's song.

[absyntheNsugar]

6. OK...now I'm dizzy

was the song irony in itself?

It almost could be taken that way - as a joke. Context is everything - and being that I was not of the boomer generation, I'm kinda clueless as to the context part.

[HuckleB]

8. Perhaps this will help a bit...

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn1126.html

" ---- From a CounterPuncher: "This is worthless as news, but interesting as gossip. I remember hearing back in the 70's that various Maoist activists (RCP probably) were talking to Merle a lot. Who knows what the truth was or what came of this, but it's enough to say that Merle was never the jingoist that his songs made him out to be. "Okie From Muskogee" was a goof, after all, that became a big hit by accident. I always thought that Fighting Side was a marketing ploy, like those other lousy follow-up songs that pop artists were constantly recording in the 60's. Merle is true to his roots in an era when other country stars don't even have them. Go listen to White Line Fever or Branded. That's the guy who wants to punch Ashcroft in the mouth."

To which Dave Marsh comments: "does ANYONE out there pay attention to the contradictions of populism? He meant ALL those songs--and the ones he's singing now, too." ----- "

One could surmise all day long, of course, but Haggard tends to look at things from the viewpoint of the average "workin' man," if you will. At that time during Viet Nam, some felt that the troops were being "abused" by some war protesters, when they returned home -- and sometimes, in fact, they were. Merle's a guy who's going to stand up for the troops who were drafted, who didn't have a choice in the why of the war. The rest of the equation is hard to put into one song, at any rate, and so that's the time when he wrote "Muskogee" and "Fightin' Side." Anyway, Marsh's point is well taken.

[argyl]

10. Rumor has it that Merle was blasted when he wrote this song.

He did have a substance abuse problem for a few years.It's definitely tongue in cheek.Merle's a lot closer to Steve Earle than he is to Toby Keith,both in talent and political persuasion.He's written many songs full of compassion for people just working to get by and those down on their luck.

Hell,he even lives outside of Redding,CA instead of Nashville.

[cally]

20. Have you ever been to Redding?

I have no knowledge what the song means, but Redding, Ca. is very rightwing. Beautiful, great activities, but very righty.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

30. Yes, we always took it as a joke. Everyone in OK at that time

was a stoner.

[ScreamingMeemie]

5. I love this song. I love Merle. Can't mess with him.

:)It's a great song to sing over a case of beer.

[roughsatori]

9. I agree listening to that song drunk with friends

can be a transcendental experience. Particularly if one was raised in an economically deprived rural area and is getting drunk in the same environs.

I even have "A Merle Haggard Christmas." It is a great tear-jerker Christmas CD.

[Snow]

11. It was taken seriously by a lot of people, came to be a bit of an

anthem. For the real thing, though, I dunno - "Convoy", maybe?

[HereSince1628]

12. A kid in my unit WAS the okee

Comparing him to the song, I gotta think Merle knew what the hell he was writing about.

[Faygo Kid]

13. We don't smoke marijuana, in Muskogee.

Ah, memories. An eminently hummable tune, unlike the wailing we get from this "American Idol" era. Politics? Well, we don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee. But, Grandmas DO sit in chairs, and reminisce. We still fly Old Glory down at the Courthouse. And Republicans (like then) still make me pi**ed.

[reknewcomer]

14. It was a lot like reffer madness

Good for a laugh and nothing more.

[Faygo Kid]

17. "Reffer?" You mean Reefer?

Must be smoking a big one tonight.

[reknewcomer]

18. I'll refer you to my empty stash

Sorry about the spliff speelling.

[Maddy McCall]

15. Merle Haggard...I adored him...you need to listen to him...

He and Waylon were country music's "outlaw" rebels when country TRULY was country. Not this Shania Twain crap you hear today. Country then had an edge.

[randr]

16. Anti hippie anthem

that it was. The song was played more often than the National Anthem. It represented a sense hillbilly pride I guess.
Funny thing is a few years back I heard an interview with ol Merle hisself and he discribed the writing of the song. Seems the boys were on tour out in the heartland and had picked up a local paper which had an article about some rednecks and the problems they were having with some hippies. Some of the boys in the band of course were black and they most always to acception to the actions of anyone displaying any form of prejudice. Well Merle claimed that since they had been smoking some killer hash that day they started joking on the article and before long a song was born. He swears he had no idea it would become the anthem to many people he personally found lacking.
I think the interview may have been on FreshAir w/Terry Gross. It would be fun to see if it is still around and resurrect it.

[Swede]

19. Hey Merle's on our side!

In July, Dixie Chicks contributed $100,000 to Rock the Vote -- the largest single band donation in the nonprofit's history. Maines says that she hopes the London incident will help rally eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old women to vote. "I had gotten too comfortable in my life," she says. "And I wasn't necessarily active for things that I believed in. It inspired me." Maines' experience may have scared some musicians away from speaking out, but it angered others enough to get involved. Merle Haggard, who recorded his own anti-war song, "That's the News," this year, says that the attacks on the Chicks "reminded me of things I'd read about Berlin in 1938. It pissed me off."

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=19029

[liberalhistorian]

23. 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' the life and bein' free

We don't make a party out of lovin'
We like holding hands and (could never make it out!)
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
Football's still the roughest thing on campus
And white lightening's still the biggest thrill of all

Leather boots are still in style for footwear
Beads and Roman Sandles won't be seen
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse
(I'm drawing a blank, so someone else fill it in!)

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 lightening's still the biggest thrill of all!

We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse
In Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA!!!

[leftofthedial]

26. I even wrote this song into a song of my own

kind of an homage, and a reference to the 60's and 70's.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

27. Well I'll change your flat tire, Merle

As I drove down old 65
I was cruising down that old grapevine
Well I must have been doing at least about ninety five
Right there on the side of the road all broke down
Well who do you think was a-standing around
But the greatest country singer alive

Chorus
Well I'll change your flat tire, Merle
Don't you get your sweet country picking fingers
All covered with 'erl'
'Cause you're a honky I know, but Merle you got soul
And I'll fix your flat tire Merle

Well I hear you had an adventurous youth
Making love in a telephone booth
And I even hear you did a little stretch in jail
But now you got a big ranch house with a bar
And eight, nine, ten of them fancy cars
And every other week a cheque coming in the mail

(chorus)

Well I heard all them records you did
Making fun of us long-haired kids
And now you know we don't care what you think
'Cause Merle, if you're gonna call the world your home
You know you're gonna have to go out and get stoned
And it's better with a joint than a drink
I think
(chorus)

(Big Brother And The Holding Company )

[Elidor]

28. Merle was heavy into drugs when this was written.

He was making fun of a hick town. Like randr said above, he was pleasantly shocked by its success.

Saw him in concert at Frontier Days in Colorado about 1977. Only country concert I've ever been to, but it was a good, solid show. (He couldn't play in Denver because of the time he did too much coke and couldn't perform-he was banned from the city's big arena.) I was a fan for a while. Still am, I guess, but I haven't listened in years. "Eatin' rainbow stew with a silver spoon..." Mom turned me onto him.

[Bridget Burke]

29. Merle is & was great, but some guys had NO sense of humor....

Down in Houston, sixties & early seventies, it could be rough. Longhaired guys seriously risked getting beaten up by rednecks & you could get life for possessing one joint. (Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators got himself committed to the State Hospital rather than do a long sentence--he was never the same.)

KPFT, Houston's Pacifica Station, went on the air in 1970. Then they went off the air because of the transmitter being blown up. They resumed in a couple of months only to get bombed again. (They came back & are still on the air although various Pacifica personnel continued to get bombed from time to time.) A little hippy restaurant I worked at was fire-bombed. It happened at night & very little damage occurred but it was, like, real heavy, y'know?

Things changed. Some of the "rednecks" came back from Vietnam with different ideas. Willie Nelson moved to Austin, grew his hair long & got the hippies listening to country music.

I believe Merle once pointed out he'd never actually smoked marijuana IN Muskogee.

[Ellen Forradalom]

31. Heard a news story about a Muslim girl in Muskogee

being suspended from middle school for wearing the head scarf, and thought that the song needs updating to be 'Proud to be Hijabi from Muskogee/A place where even Muslims have a ball...'

on edit: added 'from middle school'