Merle Haggard Album: “Hurtin'”

Description :

All tracks have been digitally remastered. <p>Perhaps taking a cue from Columbia's theme-centered 2000 series of Johnny Cash compilations (GOD, MURDER, LOVE), Capitol gave Merle Haggard's work a similar treatment in 2001. Like Cash, Haggard was always regarded as a poet of the working class, and the four volumes of this series (HURTIN', DRINKIN', CHEATIN', and PRISON) reflect the proletarian ethos the hard-living Haggard knows so much about. The fact that his Capitol tenure encapsulated Haggard's most commercially and aesthetically successful recording years means that much more impact for this quartet of honky-tonk treasures. <p>HURTIN' focuses on the dark side of love, and as a man who's been through his share of marriages, Merle knows a thing or two about heartbreak. Things kick off with "Sing a Sad Song," a sad-sack anthem written by Haggard's famed Bakersfield peer Wynn Stewart. "Silver Wings," one of Merle's best-loved songs, adds a technological twist to its country tale of sadness by placing the singer's love interest on a plane headed far away. Haggard makes the Jimmy Work classic "Making Believe" his own, lending an authoritative air to the sorrowful story of denial. The string-laced "Every Fool Has a Rainbow" ends things on a bittersweet note, kissing off this batch of sad stories with elegance.

This is a great collection, and it has several really great cuts, and the rest aren't bad, either. Sing a Sad Song is one of Merle's first hits. It is from his very first LP. The pedal steel, and Merle's voice--if it doesn't break your heart, you're heartless. Other songs on this level are Every Fool Has a Rainbow, Always Wanting You, and the masterpiece that is What Have You Got Planned Tonight, Diana? This tells a story of two lovers reunited after the man is released from prison. It could be about love, or perhaps something darker? Very subtle and nuanced.