I'm a Lonesome Fugitive
I'm a Lonesome Fugitive | ||||
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Studio album by Merle Haggard and the Strangers | ||||
Released | March 4, 1967 | |||
Recorded | August and November 1966 | |||
Studio | Capitol (Hollywood) | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 31:02 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Producer | Ken Nelson | |||
Merle Haggard and the Strangers chronology | ||||
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Singles from I'm a Lonesome Fugitive | ||||
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I'm a Lonesome Fugitive is the third studio album by Merle Haggard and the Strangers released on Capitol Records in 1967.
Recording and composition
The song "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" brought Haggard country stardom. Although it sounds autobiographical (Haggard had done time at San Quentin), David Cantwell states in his book The Running Kind that it was actually written by Liz Anderson and her husband Casey while driving cross country and was inspired by the popular television show The Fugitive starring David Janssen as Richard Kimble. Haggard felt a connection to the song immediately and when it was released it became his first number one country hit. When Anderson played the song for Haggard, she was unaware about his prison stretch. "I guess I didn't realize how much the experience at San Quentin did to him, 'cause he never talked about it all that much," Bonnie Owens, Haggard's backup singer, and then-wife, is quoted in the liner notes to the 1994 retrospective, Down Every Road. "I could tell he was in a dark mood...and I said, 'Is everything okay?' And he said, 'I'm really scared.' And I said, 'Why?' And he said, 'Cause I'm afraid someday I'm gonna be out there...and there's gonna be some convict...some prisoner that was in there the same time I was in, stand up—and they're gonna be about the third row down—and say, 'What do you think you're doing, 45200?'"[1] Haggard would address the issue on his next album, Branded Man.
In 1996, I'm a Lonesome Fugitive was reissued by BGO Records along with Mama Tried.[2]
Reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [3] |
I'm a Lonesome Fugitive was released on March 4, 1967, and rose to number 3 on the Billboard country albums chart and made it to number 165 on the pop charts. As with his previous album Swinging Doors, Haggard wrote nearly all the songs himself. As David Cantwell observed in 2013, most of the songs find Haggard in some sort of trap, citing the prison song "Life in Prison" and "House of Memories" ("My house is a prison...") and describes the album as "hurtling and out of control even when standing still.[4] Merle can do nothing but sit and wait for phone calls that never come...It's a fantastic album, start to end..." George Bedard of AllMusic praises Haggard's cover of the Jimmie Rodgers classic "Rough and Rowdy Ways," insisting that Haggard "could evoke the Ghosts of Country Past in an absolutely convincing way without nostalgia or imitation."[3]
Track listing
All songs by Merle Haggard unless otherwise noted.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" | Liz Anderson, Casey Anderson | 2:56 |
2. | "All of Me Belongs to You" | 2:40 | |
3. | "House of Memories" | 2:47 | |
4. | "Life in Prison" | Jelly Sanders, Haggard | 3:02 |
5. | "Whatever Happened to Me" | 2:57 | |
6. | "Drink Up and Be Somebody" | 2:30 | |
7. | "Someone Told My Story" | 2:32 | |
8. | "If You Want to Be My Woman" | 2:16 | |
9. | "Mary's Mine" | Jerry Ward | 2:56 |
10. | "Skid Row" | 1:57 | |
11. | "My Rough and Rowdy Ways" | Jimmie Rodgers | 2:23 |
12. | "Mixed Up Mess of a Heart" | Tommy Collins, Haggard | 2:06 |
Personnel
- Merle Haggard – vocals, guitar
The Strangers:
- Roy Nichols – guitar
- Ralph Mooney – steel guitar
- George French – piano
- Jerry Ward – bass
- Eddie Burris – drums
with
- Lewis Talley – guitar
- Billy Mize – guitar
- Bonnie Owens – harmony vocals
and
- James Burton – guitar, dobro
- Glen Campbell – guitar
- Glen D. Hardin – piano
- Jim Gordon – drums
Chart positions
Chart (1967) | Peak position |
---|---|
Billboard Country Albums | 3 |
Billboard Pop Albums | 165 |
References
External links
- Capitol finally gets around to issuing 10 full-lengths from country legend Merle Haggard's 1965-71 peak era. Pitchfork Media
- 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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