When one hears the name Merle Haggard, "Sing Me Back Home" comes to mind, not so much the album, but it's his signature song where Merle tells a story about his time spent in San Quentin for 2 years and nine months, while just turning twenty one and locked behind bars. The lyrics of the first line tell it all...the warden led a prisoner down the hallway to his doom, I stood up to say goodbye like all the rest...another prime example of the brilliant songwriting of Merle Haggard, the man never fails to paint a picture in the listeners mind. This album "Sing Me Back Home" is the sixth Capitol album for "the Hag", debuted in 1968, also his third album to reach the Country Billboard Charts and the title song was the third number one hit for the maverick singer, the best track on this cd. Eight of the twelve tracks are Haggard originals, some co-written, "My Past Is Present", written with Haggard's mentor Wynn Stewart, another fine singer from the Bakersfield era. You gotta love the distinctive chickin pickin' on the early Haggard cuts, - "I'll Leave The Bottle On The Bar", "Seeing Eye Dog" are perfect examples. "Sing Me Back Home", a milestone accomplishment for "the Hag", you can't replace his early Capitol recordings, always standing tall and strong in the Country Music archives.
THIS IS A SONG FEW DON'T UDERSTAND UNLESS U HAVE BEEN IN A PRISON AND SEEN SOMEONE BEING LEAAD TO DEATH ROW, AND WHEN THAT OH GETTIN UP MORNING COMES, AN A GUITAR PLAYS THIS SONG IN THE BACK GROUND, IT TEARS UR HEART OUT.
