Let Me Tell You About a Song

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Let Me Tell You About a Song
Ken Nelson
Merle Haggard and The Strangers chronology
The Land of Many Churches
(1971) 		Let Me Tell You About a Song
(1972) 		It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad)
(1972)

Let Me Tell You About a Song is the fourteenth studio album by American country singer Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1972. It reached No. 7 on the Billboard Country album chart and #166 on the Pop album chart. The lead-off singles were "Grandma Harp" and "Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)" — both reached No. 1.

Background

The album includes Haggard explaining the origins of each song with spoken introductions while praising the talents of those who inspired him, such as Tommy Collins and Bob Wills. Compositionally, the album is split between Haggard originals and cover songs written by Collins, Wills, Red Foley and Joe Simpson, and also contains two #1 country hits, "Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)" and "Grandma Harp," both penned by Haggard. According to the liner notes to the 1994 box set Down Every Road, "Daddy Frank" derived from stories his wife Bonnie Owens had told him about her own mother, who had a hearing problem, and her father, who wasn't blind but loved to play harmonica. Haggard wed their story to that of the Maddox Brothers and Rose, who had moved from Alabama to California by boxcar during the Depression before forming their famous hillbilly boogie band. The young voices heard on "Daddy Frank" are those of his daughter Dana and of his manager Fuzzy Owen's daughter Cindy.

The album also contains "

Ken Nelson, who was also head of the country division at Capitol at the time, never interfered with his music but "this one time he came out and said, 'Merle...I don't believe the world is ready for this yet'...And he might have been right. I might've canceled out where I was headed in my career."[1]

As Haggard relates in his spoken introduction to the song, "They're Tearin' the Labor Camps Down" is about the disappearance of labor camps like the one he had spent time at in Houston, California when he was a boy. The camps were homes for transplanted "

Steinbeck thought they were. My aunt and uncle...lived in a canvass-covered cabin beside the railroad track in Houston, California, and I got to visit them once in a while and really get to know those people and see the impact that the Depression had on them..."[citation needed
]

Let Me Tell You About a Song was reissued along with Hag on CD by Beat Goes On Records in 2002.[2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[4]

AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote of the album, "It's quite a journey, and it's yet another excellent record from an artist who at this time in his career seemed capable of delivering nothing less."[3] Music critic Robert Christgau wrote "But despite its mawkish moments—especially Tommy Collins's dead-mommy song—the material defines Haggard's sensibility in a winning way, and since not one of the songs is great in itself I guess the commentary must do it."[4]

Track listing

All songs by Merle Haggard unless otherwise noted:

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)" 3:23
2."They're Tearin' the Labor Camps Down" 3:33
3."Man Who Picked the Wildwood Flower"Tommy Collins3:26
4."Recitation" The Proudest Fiddle in the World (A Maiden's Prayer)"Bob Wills2:34
5."Bill Woods from Bakersfield"Joe Simpson3:15
6."Old Doc Brown"Red Foley3:26
7."Grandma Harp" 3:11
8."Turnin' Off a Memory" 2:48
9."Irma Jackson" 2:56
10."The Funeral"Collins3:18
11."Bring It on Down to My House, Honey"Wills2:49

Personnel

The Strangers:

  • Roy Nichols – lead guitar
  • Norman Hamlet – steel guitar, dobro
  • Bobby Wayne - rhythm guitar, harmony vocals
  • Dennis Hromek – bass, background vocals
  • Biff Adam – drums

with

and

Charts

References

  1. ^ Bernstein, Jonathan (December 23, 2014). "Flashback: Merle Haggard Reluctantly Unveils 'The Fightin' Side of Me'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  2. ^ Allmusic entry for Hag/Let Me Tell You About a Song. Retrieved December 2009.
  3. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Let Me Tell You About a Song > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  4. ^
    ISBN 089919026X
    . Retrieved February 24, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  5. ^ "Merle Haggard Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  6. ^ "Merle Haggard Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  7. ^ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 1972". Billboard. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
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