Merle Haggard – I’m A Lonesome Fugitive

Whenever I hear this man’s voice, it takes me back to my dad, who would listen to his songs in our red Plymouth Valiant. Songs like Sam Hill, Swinging Doors, and others, he would have blasting at 7 in the morning. 

Merle was genuine through and through. He didn’t run from his past but used it to tell stories and warn people about going the wrong way. Merle wasn’t posing; he was the real deal. This song helped shape the outlaw country movement before it had a name.

Most people know that he spent his early adulthood behind bars for a failed attempt at robbery. While in San Quentin State Prison, Haggard wrote many songs while dreaming of freedom and life beyond the bars of a cell.

He knew a couple of inmates, James Rabbit and Caryl Chessman. Haggard and James Rabbit hatched a plan one night to escape (they would hide inside a desk he was building in the prison furniture factory), though at the last moment, Rabbit advised Haggard not to take part in the plan. Rabbit escaped, was recaptured, killed an officer, and was brought back to San Quentin to be executed. It was the first of many events to change something in Haggard’s criminal ways.

What is surprising is that Merle did not write this song. It was written by Liz Anderson and her husband, Casey Anderson, a songwriting couple who were fans of Haggard and knew of his prison past. When they sent the song his way, it clicked instantly. Haggard later said he related to it so personally that he felt like it had to be his.

The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts, and the album of the same name peaked at #3 on the Billboard Country Album Charts. 

One of my biggest concert regrets is that I never saw this great artist live. 

I’m A Lonesome Fugitive

Down every road there’s always one more cityI’m on the run, the highway is my home

I raised a lot of cane back in my younger daysWhile mama used to pray my crops would failNow I’m a hunted fugitive with just two waysOutrun the law or spend my life in jail

I’d like to settle down but they won’t let meA fugitive must be a rolling stoneDown every road there’s always one more cityI’m on the run, the highway is my home

I’m lonely but I can’t afford the luxuryOf having one I love to come alongShe’d only slow me down and they’d catch up with meFor he who travels fastest goes alone

I’d like to settle down but they won’t let meA fugitive must be a rolling stoneDown every road there’s always one more cityI’m on the run, the highway is my homeI’m on the run, the highway is my home

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

45 thoughts on “Merle Haggard – I’m A Lonesome Fugitive”

  2. He was a master. My housemate went to see him in 1971 – only time I ever saw Fred in a cowboy hat. I didn’t get to see him for many years but did eventually see him at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in Gilroy, CA (home of the Garlic Festival).

    That voice! And such great songs. Short stories set to music. Sing me back home before I die.

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    1. I had chances if I would have been alert on who was coming. I so regret that. “only time I ever saw Fred in a cowboy hat” ….that is a fan.

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  3. Great song, both versions. When you mentioned The Waltons show a while ago, I was looking through some of the episodes, and completely forgot that Merle was in one or two.

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    1. Yes…he played a dad getting over the loss of his son…which was Ron Howard earlier. I will have to watch that one soon.

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    1. OH dang! I didn’t say anything on my post…I’ll go back and say that. Thank you! Happy Easter to you and your family as well!

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  9. You hit two big notes with CCR and Merle this morning. Merle is the King (Along with Duke and a few others) in my books. I was lucky to catch him. Great band, great music., great night. All the years of touring and he didnt mail it in. That tells a story.

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    1. The Peter Wolf book got me on him again…I don’t need anything to do that but it’s a good thing. Yes you are lucky to have seen him. A truly genuine guy in a business of not so genuine guys.

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      1. My best friend’s first car in high school was a silver Valiant with maroon top and interior. She drove that car for many years until it finally gave out.

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      2. They did last a long time. My sister had a Vega and that thing kept on ticking. When I said ticking… I mean the engine, but it ran.

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  11. He’s one of those country artist that I liked back in the day when I hated country. So many good songs…Back in Love by Monday…Think I’ll stay Here and Drink…That’s the Way Love Goes. A wonderful songwriter and, perhaps, and even better interpreter and musician.

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    1. Thats me as well…I liked him when I didn’t like a lot of country’s sound. I just read about a song that Peter Wolf and him did in Wolf’s book…and I didn’t need a reason but it got me on him again.

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    1. Yes…well written and no crying in his beer…I love this.
      I just looked up Plymouth Barracuda…some of those were really cool muscle looking cars.

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  13. Haggard was real country, like Buck, he had that Bakersfield twang and that little octave break in his voice. When I listen to country, it’s the classic songs like him and the others. We all know who they are, or were. A surfing buddy of mine had a Barracuda with that sun-room back window and hatch, his board barely fit. I drove a VW Bus Pop Top Camper. Slow but got me there.

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    1. He was real country and him I liked with a select few others.
      the Barracuda I saw looked really cool but that could have been another edition of it. Too bad you still don’t have that bus…they are worth a fortune.

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