If You're Only Going to Buy One Greatests Hits Set From... Merle Haggard

Okay, we’re going wayyy into uncharted territory here.  I don’t listen to country music very much, and I have exactly one (1) Merle Haggard album (which will be delved into at greater length below).  But Haggard – who died Wednesday, April 6, on his 79^th birthday – is worth listening to, at least for one hits set.  He was a very complicated guy, for one thing – grew up in a broken family (his father died when he was eight), ran away at age 14, and spent three years in prison from ages 20 to 23 after being convicted on a robbery charge (and trying to escape from prison).  A Johnny Cash performance at San Quentin (along with an encounter with death row inmate Caryl Chessman) turned his life around, and he started touring not long after his release. 

And the man worked from there on out.  47 studio albums (he was with Capitol Records for the first part of his career, and went to MCA, Epic, a few other labels and some independent labels there on out), eight live albums, and goodness knows how many compilations.  He only charted on the Billboard pop charts seven times (and the first two were with unapologetically right-wing songs at a time when the country was completely split apart over the issues he took on).  His only top 40 hit was about a family dealing with such tough times they couldn’t afford Christmas gifts.  And as for his career on the country charts – 67 top 10 hits from 1964 through 1989, including 36 country #1s.  Most amazingly, 61 of those 67 top 10 hits were consecutive – every single he released between 1966 and 1985 hit the country top 10.

As you might guess, trying to find a representative Haggard greatest hits set is going to be pretty much impossible unless you want to drop a lot of money.  Capitol’s catalog is now owned by Universal Music Group (which has owned MCA’s catalog for years), so it might get a little easier as time goes along.  In the interim, I’ll make the best recommendations I can based on the assumption that anyone who’s buying is going to be looking for the greatest quantity at the lowest price.

40 #1 Hits

As you can imagine, trying to find one all-encompassing Hag album (given he was with three different record labels) is a challenge.  This album, along with the box set Down Every Road, does the best job.  40 hits (as the title says), all of which at least were big hits (no stuffing the album with newly-recorded items here).   Now, the bad news:  it’s not available for download – no doubt because UMG has other plans; they inherited this one from Capitol – and Amazon is out of stock right now (it's $16.87 for the two-disc set, and they claim they'll have it by next week).  I would hope UMG plans to continue manufacturing the album, but who knows?  You might want to look for a used copy.  And if someone knows for sure this is out of print, please let me know.

Warning:  There is another collection of Haggard’s called 40 Greatest Hits, released in 2004.  These are rerecordings made sometime in the 1990s, and they’re not to be trusted, even though it’s a low price.  iTunes kindly puts the rerecordings label right with the title so there’s no fooling anyone; Amazon does not.  Look for the Capitol records logo.

As you might expect, Haggard has had a billion greatest hits sets, so here’s a sampling.  The links go to the Wikipedia entries.

• The Best of Merle Haggard (1968) – Hey, how was Capitol to know the guy would keep charting for nearly half a century?  At this point, they might have figured they’d gotten lucky with an ex-con.  Anyway, this is long out of print – I’m not sure if it was even released on compact disc.  Capitol does have a 10-song sampler available with the same title on disc, but it’s not the same collection (and at $9.34, it’s not a good purchase anyway).
• The Best of the Best (1972) -  On the other hand, this one’s still available.  It’s far from perfect and it’s probably not even a half-hour long, but it does contain a few must-haves (“Okie From Muskogee,” albeit in a less-great live version, “The Fightin’ Side of Me,” and “Mama Tried’), and it’s super cheap right now on Amazon at $5.99 (that’s probably their “he’s dead now, so let’s try to sell a few more of these” price).  $8.99 on iTunes, $11.39 for the disc.
• Songs I’ll Always Sing (1977) – A two-LP set released right around the time he left Capitol for MCA, and it has all the Capitol classics on it.  Unavailable on disc or for download, but it’s for sale on Amazon on 8-track.  Seriously, if you’re a vinyl collector, this is probably a good option.  Be aware it’s not all hit singles, however.
• More of the Best (1990) – Huh.  Apparently Capitol released a 20-song set in the late 1980s and didn’t do a Volume 2, so Rhino (which is technically part of Warner Brothers, for whom Hag never recorded) stepped in to create this 18-song anthology, with Capitol and MCA songs included.  Usually the leavings from other sets means you’re going to find mostly minor hits and album cuts, but Capitol apparently missed a bunch of good songs – “Mama Tried,” “If We Make It Through December,” “If We’re Not Back in Love By Monday,” and “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” are here.  Unavailable for download and out of print, but you might find it in the used CD bin.
• Down Every Road (1996) – Four-disc box set.  This is all I have of Hag right now, and I got it (burned it from a library copy during a period where I would do that sort of illegal activity; I haven't done that in years) during a brief country music run where I got a bunch of box sets and hits (Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, Hank Williams, Marty Robbins); this is the one I play the most.  At 100 songs, it’s a lot of music, but it encompasses his run with all three major labels (Capitol, MCA, Epic – admittedly the last two are a little shortchanged, but it’s a pretty decent representation), and virtually every great hit is there.  Out of print on disc and not cheap ($47.49 for the download on Amazon, $49.99 on iTunes), but if you discover you like Hag, this is definitely a worthwhile option.
• 16 Greatest Hits (1996, rereleased 2009 with a new cover) – This would have gotten a nice recommendation due to Amazon’s cheap price ($3.98 used; it’s out of print) if I hadn’t read the reviews – all of the Capitol songs on this disc are rerecordings.  Very disappointing; Sony is usually much more trustworthy.  The Wikipedia entry doesn’t mention this fact, however.
• 20 Greatest Hits (2002) – a Capitol-only sampler.  I don’t know why they couldn’t make it 30 greatest hits; it wasn’t like Hag didn’t have that many, and only four of these songs clock in over three minutes so the total running time doesn’t come close to filling a CD.  But it’s got all the essentials, and it is cheap ($7.99 for the download, $8.39 for the disc).  I guess this would be one of my first choices for a one-disc option.
• The Essential Merle Haggard: The Epic Years (2004) – Well, give Sony credit; this only represents his output from 1981-1990, so you won’t find “If We Make It Through December” here (although there is a song called “The Okie From Muskogee’s Comin’ Home”).  $9.99 for the download on either Amazon or iTunes is a bit much for 14 songs, but $4.79 for the disc on Amazon isn’t bad.  Maybe you can toss that on the pile when you’re buying other things to get free shipping.
• Hag: The Best of Merle Haggard (2006) – 25 songs; mostly the Capitol hits again, with “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” and four non-hits to fill the disc.  $6.59 for the disc makes it a better buy than 20 Greatest Hits, but if you’re downloading, $9.49 on Amazon (iTunes doesn’t seem to have it) means 20 Greatest is probably better.
• The Definitive Collection (2007) – MCA’s entry into the compilation sweepstakes, although they appear to have leased songs from Capitol and Epic.  22 songs, $11.49 for the download and $10.49 for the disc on Amazon; not available on iTunes (although they do have a 12-song 20^th Century Collection for $7.99, it’s only MCA material).  I have a feeling, with the acquisition of Capitol’s catalog, you’ll probably see a few new hits sets coming from Hag in the next year or two.  In the meantime, this is actually a decent career overview, albeit a little expensive.
• Best of the Capitol Years (2016) – What a coinkidink; this is dated on iTunes two days after Haggard’s death.  19 songs, $9.99.  I would think 20 Greatest would be a better choice, but it does have the studio (hit) version of “Okie From Muskogee.”

Here’s a lengthy breakdown of Haggard’s country chart hits, and which ones are on Down Every Road and 40 #1s. 

Song Title	Billboard Country Charts	Down Every Road	40 #1s
Sing a Sad Song	19	Yes
Sam Hill	45	Yes
(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers	10	Yes
I'm Gonna Break Every Heart I Can	42	Yes
Swinging Doors	5	Yes
The Bottle Let Me Down	3	Yes
I'm a Lonesome Fugitive (The Fugitive)	1	Yes	Yes
I Threw Away the Rose	2	Yes
Branded Man	1	Yes	Yes
Sing Me Back Home	1	Yes	Yes
The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde	1	Yes	Yes
Mama Tried	1	Yes	Yes
I Take a Lot of Price in What I Am	3	Yes
Hungry Eyes	1	Yes	Yes
Workin' Man Blues	1	Yes	Yes
Okie From Muskogee	1	Yes	Yes
The Fightin' Side of Me	1	Yes	Yes
Street Singer	9
Jesus, Take a Hold	3
I Can't Be Myself	3
Soldier's Last Letter	3
Someday We'll Look Back	2	Yes
Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)	1	Yes	Yes
Carolyn	1	Yes	Yes
Grandma Harp	1	Yes	Yes
It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad)	1	Yes	Yes
I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me	1	Yes	Yes
The Emptiest Arms in the World	3	Yes
Everybody's Had the Blues	1	Yes	Yes
If We Make It Through December	1	Yes	Yes
Things Aren't Funny Anymore	1	Yes	Yes
Old Man From the Mountain	1		Yes
Kentucky Gambler	1	Yes	Yes
Always Wanting You	1	Yes	Yes
Movin' On	1		Yes
It's All in the Movies	1	Yes	Yes
The Roots of My Raising	1		Yes
Here Comes the Freedom Train	10
Cherokee Maiden	1		Yes
If We're Not Back in Love by Monday	2	Yes	Yes
Ramblin' Fever	2	Yes
From Graceland to the Promised Land	4
I'm Always on a Mountain When I Fall	2		Yes
It's Been a Great Afternoon	2	Yes
The Bull and The Beaver [with Leona Williams]	8
Red Bandana	4	Yes
My Own Kind of Hat	4	Yes
The Way I Am	2
Bar Room Buddies [with Clint Eastwood]	1		Yes
Misery and Gin	3	Yes
I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink	1	Yes	Yes
Leonard	9	Yes
Rainbow Stew	4	Yes
My Favorite Memory	1		Yes
Big City	1	Yes	Yes
Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)	2	Yes
Going Where the Lonely Go	1		Yes
You Take Me for Granted	1	Yes	Yes
What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life)	3
That's the Way Love Goes	1	Yes	Yes
Someday When Things Are Good	1	Yes	Yes
Let's Chase Each other Around the Room	1	Yes	Yes
A Place to Fall Apart [featuring Janie Fricke]	1		Yes
Natural High	1		Yes
Kern River	10	Yes
Amber Waves of Grain	36
American Waltz	60
I Had a Beautiful Time	5
A Friend in California	9
Out Among the Stars	21
Almost Persuaded	58
Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Star	1	Yes	Yes
Chill Factor	9
We Never Touch at All	22
You Babe	23
5:01 Blues	18
A Better Love Next Time	4
If You Want to Be My Woman	23
When It Rains It Pours	60
In My Next Life	58	Yes
That's the Way Love Goes [re-recording with Jewel]	56
Just Between the Two of Us [with Bonnie Owens]	28
Yesterday's Wine [with George Jones]	1		Yes
C.C. Waterback [with George Jones]	10
Reasons to Quit [with Willie Nelson]	6
Pancho and Lefty [with Willie Nelson]	1	Yes	Yes
We're Strangers Again [with Leona Williams]	42
If I Could Only Fly [with Willie Nelson]	58
It's All Going to Pot [with Willie Nelson]	48