"Mama Tried" - by Debra Esolen
I had to struggle a bit to decide on a song for this week, with “justice” as our word. The fact is there aren’t many songs about that specific topic to choose from unless we veer into the realm of social protest music, which by its topical nature often doesn’t outlive the cause it is written to serve. Then I thought, what better time to revisit Country and Western music, with its focus on some of the big virtues and their counterparts, the big vices? Surely we can find some justice there!
And Boom! This week’s song came to mind. “Mama Tried” is a classic of its era in country and western music, composed and recorded by one of the great country songwriters of the second half of the 20th century, Merle Haggard. It’s also a masterpiece in the sub-genre of prison song which is so common in gospel and country music. “Mama Tried” is what some people would call an “iconic” song. It won the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999 and is included in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Best Songs of All Time. It was a great cross-over hit for Merle Haggard in 1968, winning him a place on the Pop as well as the C&W Billboard charts, right up there with The Beatles and many other top rock bands of the day. Of course it sealed Merle Haggard’s place in the annals of 20th century Country and Western music and led to great success for him for the rest of his life.
Sometimes a Song is autobiographical — and sometimes it’s not. One singer whom most folks still believe served time in prison was Johnny Cash. Think of his many hits with a prison theme: “Folsom Prison Blues” (1953), which appeared on his debut album and later headed an album of prison songs, including “The Green, Green Grass of Home,” all recorded with accompaniment by those bluegrass greats, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. And there were all the concerts Cash did for prisons in the US and abroad. Johnny Cash had a heart for prisoners, indeed. But he himself was never convicted of any crime. His worst brush with the law was a misdemeanor offense, when he wandered into someone’s yard at night and picked some flowers.
Merle Haggard, on the other hand, spent much of his youth and early adulthood in and out of juvenile detention facilities and prisons. The story he tells in “Mama Tried” is his own, with the exception that he himself was never sentenced to life without parole. But he was convicted of attempted bank robbery. In fact, he was doing his time for that crime in San Quentin when Johnny Cash performed his first concert there, and no doubt he took Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” to heart. After his parole from San Quentin, Merle Haggard determined on making a success with his music. And that is just what he did. In fact, he was so successful that by 1972, then-governor of California, Ronald Regan, issued him a full pardon for all of his crimes.
It’s a fascinating bit of musical history that Merle Haggard had such a big hit with “Mama Tried” in 1968, and that Johnny Cash’s album recorded live at another San Quentin concert topped all the album charts in 1969, against all the competition from the big rockers. Johnny Cash himself eventually recorded “Mama Tried,” which was very popular with both his in-prison and out-of-prison audiences. Many other folk, country, and rock singers from Joan Baez, to Jim Croce, to the Everly Brothers, to The Grateful Dead, and more also recorded the song, and it is still being recorded today. Haggard, a self-taught musician and songwriter, was no doubt influenced by the music he listened to and learned from all of his life. But what comes through loud and clear in “Mama Tried” is the lesson he finally learned during his stay in San Quentin: that we all must take responsibility for our actions, and that there can be no justice, much less redemption, for anyone who persistently chooses to do what he knows is wrong.
Like many of our Word & Song readers, I love the old style “verse” introductions written for many classic American popular songs of the early 20th century. And I generally favor studio recordings over live ones for the purity of the music. But for today I am pleased to have found an excellent live performance from later in Haggard’s career, recorded for Austin City Limits, which includes a “verse” lead in I had never heard before. I am sure that Mr. Haggard performed “Mama Tried” with this verse at concerts, while singing what for many more reasons than most people know was indeed his signature song.
Word & Song by Anthony Esolen is an online magazine devoted to reclaiming the good, the beautiful, and the true. We publish six essays each week, on words, classic hymns, poems, films, and popular songs, as well a weekly podcast for paid subscribers, Poetry Aloud or Anthony Esolen Speaks. Paid subscribers also receive audio-enhanced posts and access to our full archive and to comments and discussions. We value all of our subscribers, and we thank you for reading Word and Song!
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