HOWDY Y’ALL!
IT WAS JUST A FEW DAYS AGO when we all had learned ‘bout Our Willie getting’ better. An’ another great thing is hearin’ of news about his Family Concert Tour gettin’ the, “Go ahead.”
“Why don’t we honor both Willie and—his bestest of friends—Merle…”
SINCE I TRIED (in my own li’l-good-way) to pay tribute to Our Dear Willie just a few days ago. An’ Willie, by way of He Won’t Ever Be Gone paid homage to his best buddy, Merle. Why don’t we honor both Willie and—his bestest of friends—Merle with something fun, shall we?
“…their friendship, which Nelson calls “a bond that went a long way.”
BEFORE WE DO , let us check out this little Interview of Merle with Rolling Stones Magazine about his friend Willie in 2014:
“I love Willie and I think Willie loves me,” Haggard told Rolling Stone in 2014, detailing how the two bonded on the Nevada casino circuit in the Seventies. “We’d play a couple of long shows a day, then spend all night long jamming,” said Haggard. “There’s seldom a straight moment between us. He likes to pop a good funny, and so do I.” They went on to score a Number One hit with 1983’s “Pancho and Lefty.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4AgZST_TG8
As the two got older, Haggard came to admire Nelson’s work ethic as well as his talent. “That’s why we all admire Willie: because he doesn’t go out every six years. He goes out every six minutes, and he’s on all the time. Anytime you call on him, he can handle it. He can be Willie Nelson. He’s gonna do it till he drops. I guess I’m the same way.” Nelson spoke with Rolling Stone about their friendship, which Nelson calls “a bond that went a long way.”
“We can all sing this song along with them Boys. Shall we…?”
We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
We don’t take no trips on LSD
We don’t burn no 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 allWe don’t make a party out of lovin’;
We like holdin’ hands and pitchin’ wood;
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.That, was quite fun ‘aye?
SHORE WE MAY NOT be able to (with all the respect due) get Merle back but we still got Willie. So why don’t we all enjoy his company until we still can an’ watch an’ support all his Concerts!
THIS IS Our Kind of Country and, ALWAYS…
“MAY THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY BLESS US ALL AND SET US FREE!”
Tags
merle haggard, Willie Nelson