merle haggard was singing about tommy collins in the song leonard.
merle haggard was singing about tommy collins in the song leonard.
who is merle haggard singing about in the song leonard?
tommy collins
haggard had recorded "sing a sad song" for tally, first hearing the wynn stewart composition when he played bass for stewart in 1962. the song made it to number 19 on the billboard country singles chart in 1963, but haggard's first top 10 hit was the liz anderson-penned "(my friends are gonna be) strangers." in his 1981 autobiography "merle haggard: sing me back home", haggard recalls having been talked into visiting anderson—a woman he didn't know—at her house to hear her sing some songs she had written. "if there was anything i didn't wanna do, it was sit around some danged woman's house and listen to her cute little songs. but i went anyway. she was a pleasant enough lady, pretty, with a nice smile, but i was all set to be bored to death, even more so when she got out a whole bunch of songs and went over to an old pump organ...there they were. my god, one hit right after another. there must have been four or five number one songs there..." anderson also wrote "the worst is yet to come" and would be responsible for haggard's future hit "i'm a lonesome fugitive." haggard wrote or co-wrote half the songs on the lp, as he had been developing his own skills as a songwriter under owen's tutelage at the time. at haggard's first capitol recording session in april 1965, he cut "if i had left it up to you" and "i'm gonna break every heart i can." the "strangers" album is composed of new capitol recordings, his early singles, and a couple of tally leftovers. "sam hill," for example, had peaked at number forty-five after its june 1964 release. the song, written by friend and mentor tommy collins, was not one of haggard's favorites, with the singer recalling in his 1999 memoir "my house of memories", "i'm glad 'sam hill' wasn't a big hit. i didn't much like the song and had it been a giant hit i would have hated to have sung it for the next fifty years." although haggard came from the harder-edged bakersfield sound, five of the twelve songs are sweetened by strings, one of the hallmarks of the nashville sound. in addition, a marty robbins influence is clearly evident in haggard's singing on "i'd trade all of my tomorrows" and "you don't even try."
strangers (merle haggard album)
natural high (merle haggard song)









































"natural high" is a song written by freddy powers, and recorded by american country music artist merle haggard backed by the strangers. it was released in march 1985 as the third single from the album "it's all in the game". "natural high" was merle haggard's thirty-third number one single on the country chart as a solo artist. the single featuring harmony vocals by janie fricke went to number one for one week and spent a total of twelve weeks on the country chart.









































section::::personnel.









































bullet::::- merle haggard– vocals, guitar, fiddle









































the strangers:
natural high (merle haggard song)