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The song "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" brought Haggard country stardom. Although it sounds autobiographical (Haggard had done time at San Quentin), David Cantwell states in his book The Running Kind that it was actually written by Liz Anderson and her husband Casey while driving cross country and was inspired by the popular television show The Fugitive starring David Janssen as Richard Kimble.
It was released in December 1966 as the first single and title track from the album I'm a Lonesome Fugitive. The song was Haggard and The Strangers' first number one hit on the U.S. country singles chart, spending one week at number one and fifteen weeks on the chart. [1] The B-side, "Someone Told My Story", peaked at number 32 on the country ...
Branded Man kicked off an incredible artistic run for Haggard; in 2013 Haggard biographer David Cantwell states, "The immediate successors to I'm a Lonesome Fugitive - Branded Man in 1967 and, in '68, Sing Me Back Home and The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde - were among the finest albums of their respective years."
In 1967, Haggard recorded "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" with the Strangers, also written by Liz Anderson, with her husband Casey Anderson, which became his first number-one single. [25] When the Andersons presented the song to Haggard, they were unaware of his prison stretch. [31]
Haggard had scored four number one hits in the previous two years with prison songs or crime-related themes, including "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" (1966), "Branded Man" (1967), "Sing Me Back Home" (1967), and "The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde" (1968), and the singer continued his domination of the country charts with the self-penned "Mama Tried," a song in which the narrator laments the pain and ...
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 ...
Haggard began performing the song in concert in the fall of 1969 and was astounded at the reaction it received. As David Cantwell notes in his 2013 book Merle Haggard: The Running Kind, "The Haggard camp knew they were on to something. Everywhere they went, every show, "Okie" did more than prompt enthusiastic applause.
All songs written by Roy Buchanan except where indicated. "Sweet Dreams" – 3:32 "I Am a Lonesome Fugitive" (Casey Anderson, Liz Anderson) – 3:44 "Cajun" – 1:36