Merle Haggard Quotes

37 Sourced Quotes

I had different views in the '70s. As a human being, I've learned.... I have more culture now. I was dumb as a rock when I wrote 'Okie from Muskogee'.

Merle Haggard
I've lived at the very end of what must have been a wonderful country.

Merle Haggard
I don't understand how we can be so stupid to [not] realize that we have to have the lungs of the earth, the earth has to breathe. And if we do away with the trees. [pause] We have to quit burning things. We have the mentality of a firecracker, you know? We're still in the woods lighting fires.

Merle Haggard
First thing I remember knowing
Was a lonesome whistle blowing
And a youngun's dream of growing up to ride
On a freight train leaving town
Not knowing where I'm bound
No one could change my mind but Mama tried.

Merle Haggard
Politicians do all the talking, soldiers pay the dues,
Suddenly the war's over, that's the news.

Merle Haggard
Everybody's had the blues sometimes
And everybody knows the tune
And everybody knows the way I'm feelin'
Cause everybody's had the blues.

Merle Haggard
They got laws for the white man and laws for the black man — we all know that.

Merle Haggard
We don't make a 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.

Merle Haggard
One and only rebel child
From a family meek and mild
My mama seemed to know what lay in store
Despite all the Sunday learning
Towards the bad I kept on turning
Til Mama couldn't hold me anymore.

Merle Haggard
Songs, I think, are more important than human beings. They really are. They live on forever.

Merle Haggard
Lefty Frizzell said you don't have to experience everything to sing about it. But you've got to believe it.

Merle Haggard
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.

Merle Haggard