Goin' Home for Christmas [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

Merle Haggard | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 16, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 1978
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• Copy Protected
• ASIN: B0000C8AX3
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,209 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

His is a voice of great depth, able to reflect growing pains and heartbreak with a slight crack in his otherwise manly voice. It is great testament to his interpretive powers that even when delivering a series of holiday songs Merle Haggard is able to make it something deeply touching and personal. This is an interesting collection that puts "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" up against a tale of deep economic woe ("If We Make It Through December"), while still managing to include several sentimental Christmas tales ("Bobby Wants a Puppy Dog for Christmas," "Grandma's Homemade Christmas Card"). Whether he's singing about hobos, prisoners, fugitives, or family, Haggard always keeps it real. --Rob O'Connor

Product Description

Haggard had just moved from Capitol to MCA (and the hits kept comin') when he put out his honky-tonkin' holiday gem in '78: Goin' Home for Christmas; Lonely Night; Blue Christmas; Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town; If We Make It Through December , and more! --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Traditional country masterpiece, September 7, 2009

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Goin' Home for Christmas (Audio CD)

I originally bought this on vinyl, but after selling that copy (at a price), I had to wait many years before the album was finally released on CD. As it was always among my favorite Christmas albums, I was very pleased to buy it again. This time, it comes with a bonus track - a 1986 recording of White Christmas.

Originally released in 1982 with ten tracks, the album contains a re-recording of If we make it through December. Merle never intended this to be a Christmas song, but it clearly has a Christmas theme so it inevitable became identified as a Christmas song. It's certainly among the best country Christmas songs ever written. Fellow country singer Alan Jackson and jazz singer Holly Cole are among the notable artists to have covered the song, Alan's version being a faithful cover while Holly's is an interesting re-interpretation.

Elsewhere, the album as originally released contained just three familiar standards, these being Santa Claus is coming to town, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and Blue Christmas, although the tune of a fourth (O little town of Bethlehem) is used as the backing track for a spoken narrative, Grandma's homemade Christmas card. Apart from that track and If we make it through December, Merle wrote the title track and three other songs (Santa Claus and popcorn, Daddy won't be home again for Christmas, Bobby wants a puppy dog for Christmas) and they are all brilliant. However, it's worth remembering that Christmas isn't usually the best time to introduce a puppy dog into a family. Much as I love Merle's song and understand why Bobby wants a puppy dog, I really think it would have been better to buy that puppy at a different time of year. The closing track on the original album is Lonely night, which Merle didn't write but which I don't remember hearing elsewhere. It is also a great song, though not quite up to the best of Merle's own songs.

This is a superb traditional country Christmas album that might just appeal to some people who wouldn't normally like traditional country, but such people would be wise to listen to samples first. Meanwhile, traditional country music fans should have this high on their list of Christmas albums to buy, if they haven't already got it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Have a holly, jolly, Haggard holiday!, November 16, 2003

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Goin' Home for Christmas (Audio CD)

An outstanding holiday album, with Merle crooning over a tasteful bed of strings'n'pedal steel; he was admirably suited to the cornball spirit of the holidays, and really put his heart into each of these tracks... Most of the songs are Haggard originals, ranging from tearjerkers like "Grandma's Homemade Christmas Card" and "Daddy Won't Be Home Again For Christmas" (he's in prison...) to a sleighbell-bedecked remake of "If We Can Make It Through December" and the cheery "Santa Claus And Popcorn." Plus, his spins at older tunes like "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" and "Blue Christmas" are pretty rich and resonant -- Merle's version of "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a welcome addition to the hillbilly holiday repertoire.  (The CD reissue also includes a bonus track from 1986, a jazzy acoustic version of "White Christmas..." It doesn't match the tone of the other tracks, but it's also kinda cool.) This is a really nice album.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Our First Christmas LP, November 14, 2001

By 

Kathy Hodge "lkhodge" (Jonesville, NC USA}) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Goin Home for Christmas (Audio CD)

This was our first Christmas LP and we bought it 27 years ago. It is The family favorite. Some of the songs may be a little different but I think you will like it. The song "If We Make It Through December" became our theme song. This is the first time I have found it in a cd so I bought it.