REASONS TO QUIT
WILLIE NELSON & MERLE HAGGARD
SONGWRITERS: MERLE HAGGARD
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: PANCHO & LEFTY
LABEL: EPIC RECORDS
GENRE: COUNTRY
YEAR: 1983
Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 –
April 6, 2016) was an American country singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler.
Haggard was born in Oildale,
California, during the Great Depression.
His childhood was
troubled after the death of his father, and he was incarcerated several times
in his youth. After being released from San Quentin State Prison in 1960, he
managed to turn his life around and launch a successful country music career.
He gained popularity with his songs about the working class that occasionally
contained conformist and jingoistic themes contrary to the prevailing anti-Vietnam War sentiment of much popular music of the time. Between the 1960s and
the 1980s, he had 38 number-one hits on the US country charts, several of which
also made the Billboard all-genre singles chart.
Haggard continued to
release successful albums into the 2000s.
He received many honors and awards for his
music, including a Kennedy
Center Honor (2010), a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2006), a BMI Icon Award (2006), and induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), Country Music Hall of Fame (1994) and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame (1997). He
died on April 6, 2016—his 79th birthday—at his ranch in Shasta County, California, having
recently suffered from double pneumonia.
Willie
Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American musician, actor, and
activist. The critical success of the álbum Shotgun Willie (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of Red
Headed Stranger (1975) and Stardust (1978), made Nelson one of
the most recognized artists in country music. He was one of the main figures of
outlaw country,
a subgenre of country music that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to
the conservative restrictions of the Nashville
sound. Nelson has acted in over 30 films,
co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization
of marijuana.
Born during the Great Depression and raised by his grandparents, Nelson wrote his first song at age
seven and joined his first band at ten. During high school, he toured locally with the
Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitar player. After
graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the U.S. Air Force but was later discharged due to back problems. After his return,
Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out because he was succeeding in music.
During this time, he worked as a disc
jockey in Texas radio
stations and a singer in honky-tonks.
Nelson moved to Vancouver,
Washington, where he wrote "Family
Bible" and recorded the song
"Lumberjack" in 1956. He also worked as a disc jockey at various
radio stations in Vancouver and nearby Portland,
Oregon. In 1958, he moved to Houston, Texas,
after signing a contract with D Records.
He sang at the Esquire Ballroom weekly and he worked as a disk jockey. During that time, he wrote songs
that would become country standards, including "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Hello
Walls", "Pretty Paper", and "Crazy". In 1960
he moved to Nashville,
Tennessee, and later signed a publishing contract with
Pamper Music which allowed him to join Ray
Price's band as a bassist. In 1962, he
recorded his first album, ...And
Then I Wrote. Due to this success, Nelson
signed in 1964 with RCA Victor and joined the Grand
Ole Opry the following year. After mid-chart
hits in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Nelson retired in 1972 and moved to
Austin, Texas.
The ongoing music scene of Austin motivated Nelson to return from retirement,
performing frequently at the Armadillo World Headquarters.
In 1973, after signing with Atlantic Records,
Nelson turned to outlaw country, including albums such as Shotgun Willie and Phases
and Stages. In 1975,
he switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded the critically acclaimed
album Red Headed Stranger. The same year, he recorded
another outlaw country album, Wanted!
The Outlaws, along with Waylon Jennings,
Jessi Colter,
and Tompall Glaser.
During the mid-1980s, while creating hit albums like Honeysuckle Rose and recording
hit songs like "On the Road Again",
"To All the Girls I've Loved Before",
and "Pancho and Lefty",
he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen, along with fellow singers Johnny Cash,
Waylon Jennings,
and Kris
Kristofferson.
Pancho & Lefty is a honky tonk album by outlaw country musicians Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson,
released in 1983.
Original vinyl copies from 1983 give the album's title as "Poncho &
Lefty" on the cover, as well as on the inner sleeve and the record label;
the album's title track is similarly rendered "Poncho & Lefty" on
the cover, inner sleeve, and label. Later editions correct the title to the intended
"Pancho & Lefty". They are backed by Don Markham of The Strangers.
Reasons to quit the smoke and beer don't do me like before
And I'm hardley ever sober and my ole friends
Don't come round much anymore
Reasons to quit the low is always lower than the high
And the reasons for quitin' dont outnumber all the reasons why
So we keep smokin and we keep drinkin
Havin fun and never thinkin'
Laughin' at the price tags the we pay
And we keep roarin down the fast lane
Like two young men feelin no pain
And the reasons for quitin' are gettin bigger each day
Reasons to quit I cant afford the habit all the time
And I need be sober I gotta write some new songs that will rhyme
Reasons to quit there ain't no rhyme or reason when your high
And the reasons for quitin' don't outnumber all the reasons why
So we keep smokin and we keep drinkin
Havin fun and never thinkin'
Laughin' at the price tags the we pay
And we keep roarin down the fast lane
Like two young men feelin no pain
And the reasons for quitin' are gettin bigger each day.
Postagens
