So yep, it s the 80s alright. This approximately hour-and-a-half DVD has almost everything you truly need to see and hear Haggard perform, and then some. Too bad it s not more inspired.
Haggard sings plenty of covers, and does so respectfully, in addition to his own repertoire. He gives Jimmie Rogers TB Blues a go, as well as Johnny Cash s Folsom Prison Blues (misspelled Fulsom Prison Blues on the DVD package), and Bob Wills San Antonio Rose , to name some noteworthy examples. But it s Haggard s own songs that make him so special.
He can muse about romance with works like Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star and Today I Started Loving You Again . But he s even more effective when being topical. Workin Man Blues opposes the welfare state while it salutes hardworking blue collar employees.
Similarly, Big City speaks about that illusive social security system, but mostly focuses on escaping the rat race. Haggard also gets personal with his lyrics. This ex-con did some time in prison, which is why he can bring Mamma Tried to life.
And his reflection on aging gracefully in Footlights , is a most illuminating song, indeed. It was almost certainly inspired by Johnny Cash s experiences, as he was thrown off the Grand Ole Opry for literally kicking out that stage s footlights. But for Haggard, the song represents his desire to retain that rebel spirit, which keeps him alive and vital.
One of the song s lines talks about how he sometimes must force himself to flash that instamatic smile , even though he doesn t really feel like smiling. Haggard fits in just as well at a dancehall as he does in a honky-tonk. Hot-steppers like Ida Red , and Take Me Back to Tulsa , are rhythmic exercises, which bring back to life Bob Wills jazzy fiddle workouts.
It s hard to listen to these tunes without at least tapping one s toes. But when he performs the confessional The Bottle Let Me Down kind of song, one cannot picture anything other than a forlorn loser on a barstool, at a bar, with a beer. This show closes with Okie from Muskogee and The Fighting Side of Me , which are two songs that have given Haggard a reactionary conservative reputation.
But much of his more recent work is far less John Birch Society-esque. Take, for example That s The News , from his So yep, it s the 80s alright.
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