“Carolyn”
Merle Haggard
Written by Tommy Collins
Billboard
#1 (3 weeks)
January 15 – January 29, 1972
This is my favorite Merle Haggard single.
That distinction was heavily influenced by its heady ranking in Heartaches By the Number, which placed it among the top twenty country singles of all time.
It’s certainly a classic record, and it shows how Haggard was able to pivot as styles began to change. He borrows Lynn Anderson’s string section here, but he keeps things grounded in his working man blues. It makes for such a cool contrast, with Haggard’s Bakersfield vocals being supported by dramatic strings.
Carolyn, give this man a break because he doesn’t want to stray. But those women in yellow and scarlet are going to take him in, if you keep treating him badly at home!
“Carolyn'” gets an A.
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Tommy Collins (writer of this song) and Wynn Stewart are the two great forgotten pioneers of the “Bakersfield Sound” something that both Merle and Buck {Owens} readily acknowledged. Both recorded a significant number of Tommy Collins compositions and Merle and Merle was close friends with Collins.
Carolyn is an A+ in my book – great song, great vocal and great arrangment. Nothing unusual really as Hag rarely misfired during his stay on Capitol Records
The same Tom Collins who went on to head RCA in the 80s?
No – no relation as far as I know – Tommy’s real name was Leonard Raymond Sipes (September 28, 1930 – March 14, 2000). Although he wrote some good serious songs, most of Tommy’s recordings were novelty numbers – he had five top ten recordings between 1954-1966. He dropped out of music around 1960 for the ministry, returning to music around 1966.
The dynamics, atmospheric production, and dramatic lyrical punch are fantastic on this Hag hit, but it is also the cruelest song he recorded. The inevitability of cheating has never sounded so menacing and punitive. This is a precursor to the nastiness of Morgan Wallen’s “If I’m the Problem (You Might Be the Reason.)
This song keeps me off balance. It is unsettling and stunning.
…”the cruelest song he recorded” – not “it’s not love (but it’s not bad)”?
i found that song as a teenager on his live album “i love dixie blues” (which cost me an arm and a leg where i come from in the second half of the 70s) and was instantly fascinated by it even though I didn’t get the full extend of the lyrics.