Merle Haggard-The Best of The Best of Merle Haggard (1972)
Artist: Merle Haggard
Title: The Best of The Best of Merle Haggard
Year of Release: 1972
Country and Year of Edition: US Winchester Pressing (orange label, mid '70?)
Sell Price: $7.99
Sell Date: 3/20/26
Condition: VG+/VG+
Discogs Last Sold:2/27/26 VG/VG $2.00
Low: $2.00
Median: $6.00
Average: $6.52
High: $18.99
Current low price: $3.00 VG/VG
Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 21
Have/Want: 629/33
Where Sold: Detroit Lakes, MN
Time It Took To Sell: 3 years
Where and When Bought: Facebook marketplace $3 lot
Gwiz-gau Grade: A+
Sad To See It Go: No
The Rock world had an appreciation of Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash because first and foremost they were ex-cons. Merle did time for a 1957 armed robbery in San Quentin several years. You can't really sugarcoat the "rebel" aspect with effete blather about great songs. Yeah, the songs are Great, as this best of the best lays plain, but in the Rock canon, greatness and influence are two different things. In plain speak, the people want a bad boy resume and Jelly Roll fits that model today. Wink, wink that white lightnin' ain't legal.
1970 white prison politics abound here and that means hard right with all the fixins. Hippies and their long hair are derided as lowdown and suspicious even if the daughter is marrying one of them. In a sensitive moment he realizes he'll have to get over it at least until the divoerce is filed. The biggest hits open and close the record: "Okie From Muskogie" and "The Fightin' Side of Me." Those squirrely guys better look out cuz Merle's got some punches for you. His lunch box is made of steel and can hold a thermos that'll last for years. He's not gonna waste his hot soup on your face. He'll doesn't need a hammer from the tool box, he will bare knuckle it as he dole out his punishment. Respect your college Dean while you're at it! Merle has no time for harpin', gripin' and preaching against his point of view. Hoss, you can take that shit to San Francisco with your marijuana and LSD. The working man drinks his beer in a tavern and takes pride in never being seen taking welfare. Think he's got a problem drinking? He's got no reason to quit. Daddy may be blind but he picks a mean guitar.
One thing that should be noted is these politics as discussed are primarily white vs white. The politics may have existed in attitudes toward other races and ethnicities, but these songs are more a document of regional class war. The clank of the working man just like the clank in Jimmy Dean's "Big Bad John." Small town vs big city. Bakersfield, Muskogee and the Rebel Flag heritage again the Northern big cities and all they stand for. Times and generations changed the meaning of these politics somewhat, but if you want to know what is going on today and where it came from, you can gain some insight here.
I think Merle mellowed out in later years. He went on the road with Dylan and was working with labels more associated with the academics like ANTI and Vanguard toward the end of his career up until his death in 2016. You could make the argument that once the major label machine that hosted him for decades could no longer make hits for him even in Country Music, the people that kept his career alive were they type of educated elitists he railed against in "Okie From Muskogie." He became a living relic studied in the same way one might study an ancient battle or a long deceased King. What isn't current inevitable becomes history. Johnny Cash, ever the populist, somewhat avoided this fate at the end. Hags pop culture base--the million people that bought him in the 70's and 80's--moved on to things like Florida Georgia Line in the Obama era he passed in. The 2007 album he did with Willie Nelson and Ray Price sums it up: Last Of The Breed.
The more times change the more they remain the same.
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