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Merle Haggard, "Christmas Present"It's safe to say that Merle Haggard is emblematic of both outlaw country music and the American working class. Rugged, independent, outspoken. So, it's easy to forget that compared to peers such as Waylon Jennings or Hank Williams, Jr. - or even fellow Bakersfield icon Buck Owens - the music of Merle Haggard was often soft-spoken, dignified, almost genteel. Merle was just not the rowdy type - at least, not in the studio. Classics like "The Bottle Let Me Down" (1966), "Branded Man" (1967), and "Mama Tried" (1968) told vivid stories of wild ways, but they did so at moderate tempos and restrained volumes, punctuated by Roy Nichols' pithy, but understated lead guitar.

Unsurprisingly, then, Haggard's first and best holiday album, Christmas Present (Something Old, Something New) (1973), isn't really the barnburner you might otherwise expect. Recorded for Capitol Records, the label for which Haggard waxed all those classics, the album is divided into two parts: five Haggard originals accompanied by his crack band, the Strangers, and five traditional Christmas favorites backed by a conventional studio orchestra. The first half is pretty good - including one uncontested work of genius - but the second half is largely forgettable. Merle's warm, assured singing is fine throughout, but the holiday standards are predictable and their arrangements unremarkable.

Now, about those originals. Four out of five are relatively ordinary Haggard compositions - good, not great. But, one of them, "If We Make It Through December," is a towering achievement that ranks among the best songs he ever wrote. The American economy was in recession in 1973, and the song tells a plainspoken, quietly devastating story of a family struggling to make ends meet at Christmastime. Merle's been "laid off down at the factory," and he's facing with grim resignation the inevitable disappointment in his daughter's eyes when no presents are found under the tree. Like all working class heroes, though, he tenaciously clings to hope. "If we make it through December, we'll be fine," he insists.

Merle Haggard, "If We Make It Through December"The rest of Haggard's original songs touch on standard country music tropes, mostly without descending into cliché. "Daddy Won't Be Home Again For Christmas" is a weeper that tells much the same story as "December," but from a different perspective. The wry, touching "Bobby Wants A Puppy Dog For Christmas" borrows its melody from "Nuttin' For Christmas," while explaining that the boy in question lives on a big farm too distant to have any playmates. Hence, he needs the pooch. "Santa Claus And Popcorn" is playfully nostalgic while reinforcing Middle American family values. Only "Grandma's Homemade Christmas Card" goes too far down the maudlin path.

So, altogether, I would not call Christmas Present a classic. But, one way or another, your collection needs "If We Make It Through December." Not surprisingly, the song was a #1 hit on Billboard's County Singles chart, and in early 1974 it pulled extra duty as the title track of Haggard's next standard LP.

A few years after Christmas Present, Merle Haggard recorded a fine version of "Blue Christmas" for his 1977 MCA album My Farewell To Elvis, one of his first after ending his long relationship with Capitol Records. The album paid tribute to Elvis Presley not long after the King of Rock 'n Roll died, mostly by covering his best-known hits - including his most popular holiday song, waxed in 1957 for Elvis' Christmas Album but released as a single in 1964 when it hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100. But, My Farewell To Elvis also included a Haggard original, "From Graceland To The Promised Land." Merle would record another version "Blue Christmas" on his next holiday album (and yet another on the one after that), but this acoustic, homespun reading is far superior.

That album, Goin' Home For Christmas (1982) was recorded for Merle's next label, Epic Records. If Christmas Present is no classic, Goin' Home almost smacks of exploitation, since half of it consists of new recordings of the five original songs from his Capitol album. It is filled out with two new songs and three more equally predictable holiday standards - all of it slathered in the 80's pop sheen endemic to Nashville in the 1980's.

Merle Haggard, "Goin' Home For Christmas"After you toss out the remakes and standards, the title track is the main attraction. "Goin' Home For Christmas" is a lively performance of a Haggard original that survives despite the corny gimmick (Haggard doing his "grandpa" voice) and overly sweet production. "Lonely Night" is the only other original song - though it's not written by Haggard - and it's pretty good, too. It plays off "Silent Night" for melodramatic effect, but it suffers even more from the drippy arrangement - including a vocal chorus worthy of Lawrence Welk.

Happily, the 2003 CD reissue (and subsequent digital album) includes a bonus track that's better than anything on the 1982 LP. "White Christmas" is a delightful, two-guitar acoustic arrangement of Bing Crosby's old warhorse, complete with a touch of the jazzy swing that Haggard brought to a lot of his latter-day recordings. It was first released on the Epic compilation The Nashville Christmas Album (1986), though the Goin' Home liner notes identify it with a later album Nashville's Greatest Christmas Hits (1988), on which the song did, indeed, appear.

Haggard's tenure at Epic would continue until 1990 when his long string of hits finally sputtered out. He would continue recording and performing, however, almost until his death in 2016. During those years, he recorded a few stray Christmas tracks and one more album, I Wish I Was Santa Claus (2004). Haggard produced the album with Lou Bradley, who had a hand in engineering both of Merle's previous Christmas albums and had, in recent years, produced a number of his regular albums. Bradley was the longtime engineer at legendary Nashville studio Bradley's Barn, owned by legendary Nashville producer Owen Bradley (amazingly, no relation). One of the songs on I Wish I Was Santa Claus was, in fact, produced at Bradley's Barn, while the rest were produced in California at Hag's own studio.

Merle Haggard, "I Wish I Was Santa Claus"I Wish I Was Santa Claus starts out strong with two new songs (neither written by Haggard), a cover of Willie Nelson's "El Niño," and a version of "I'll Be Home For Christmas," which Haggard had yet to assay. After that, Merle retreated into very familiar territory - eight Christmas songs he'd already recorded at least once, including his fourth versions of "Santa Claus And Popcorn" and "If We Make It Through December." Regardless, I Wish I Was Santa Claus is not easy to find, having been released on a small Texas label, Smith Entertainment, and deleted long ago.

Consumer Notes

Merle Haggard's major label holiday catalog hasn't been treated too well in the digital age - often sold in generic, bare-bones packaging - but at least it's been fairly easy to find. Christmas Present (Something Old, Something New) has been reissued many times in many guises including on compact disc as A Christmas Present (Curb, 1990), Country Christmas With Merle Haggard (EMI Special Markets, 1995), and Hag's Christmas (Capitol, 2007). The latter (part of Capitol's extensive Icon series) is probably the best overall CD treatment of Christmas Present - nicely mastered with attractive packaging, including several pictures of the Hag in question. But, none of the compact discs include any annotation - no songwriter, musician, or technical credits whatsoever (see Discogs). Happily, Christmas Present was reissued with its original cover and title on vinyl and digital in 2016; the vinyl, at least, bears the original, minimal credits plus liner notes from "Santa Claus"....

Goin' Home For Christmas has been reissued many times, as well, with at least two different covers. But, be sure to look for the aforementioned 2003 reissue with the bonus track. And finally, there's also Pancho, Lefty, And Rudolph (1995), compiling five of Merle's Christmas songs for Epic with five of Willie Nelson's for Columbia - weak tea, if you ask me. [top of page]

Albums Albums

SongsEssential Songs

  • Blue Christmas (1977)
  • Bobby Wants A Puppy Dog For Christmas (1973)
  • Daddy Won't Be Home Again For Christmas (1973)
  • Goin' Home For Christmas (1982)
  • If We Make It Through December (1973) Top 100 Song
  • Lonely Night (1982)
  • Santa Claus And Popcorn (1973)
  • White Christmas (1986)

Further ListeningFurther Listening

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