Song of the Day: 'If We Make It Through December' by Merle Haggard (and Phoebe Bridgers)

As it becomes even more frighteningly clear that the toddler in chief isn't going to go away quietly, I give you "If We Make It Through December," which I wish Merle Haggard were still alive to write another verse -- "... and through Jan. 20."

Read HERE.

P.S. Phoebe Bridgers has done a version of the 1974 original and all proceeds will benefit Los Angeles’ Downtown Women’s Center for homeless women. 

How's this for a gender-flip cover?

Page 1 Roundup (04/07)

The other night, some of my friends and I were discussing Doris Day -- I think her birthday was recently and she'd been all over the news -- and how much attention it would get when she died. (One of them said he had it on good authority that she is gravely ill.) One said she was "New York Times, above the fold" material, citing her as the bridge between Old Hollywood and today. Another kept insisting she was on par with Mitzi Gaynor these days, and that her death would not be any bigger. (Naturally, I agreed with the former rather than the millennial latter, who if he's going to know who Mitzi Gaynor is should also show Doris proper respect.) Years before this, some colleagues of mine at the New York Times and I were debating who was a bigger star: Petula Clark or Dusty Springfield. We all kind of agreed Clark was, but that Dusty's death would get better newspaper placement because she was far more influential. All of this is a very long lead up to saying it's really interesting seeing how Merle Haggard's death was covered by newspapers around the country today. I see the Arizona Republic, my hometown paper and former employer, gave him a full-on spread, almost bigger than you would a former president. Ditto for the L.A. Times. The Gray Lady and Washington Post also paid great, if slightly more restrained, respect. The tabloids and the freebies gave him no Page 1 coverage at all, which kind of shocked me. And the remainder gave him Page 1 refers, although WSJ didn't even give him a hedcut. Nice to see that any slighting Haggard may have received elsewhere was overshadowed by The Tennessean's front page, which was devoted to the legendary Workin' Man. 

Merle Haggard, Country’s Outlaw Hero, Is Dead at 79

Even if you weren't a country fan, growing up in the 1970s made it hard not to love Merle Haggard. While he had 71 Top 10 and 38 No. 1 singles on the country charts -- including "Workin' Man Blues" and "If We Make It Through December" -- seven of them crossed over to the pop charts, which was not common in those days. Talk shows were ubiquitous when I was a kid, and you could always count on seeing Merle belting out a ditty about his broken heart or broken life. The New York Times recalls that he wrote about his scuffling early life and defied the conventions of the Nashville establishment in building the twangy Bakersfield sound. Read his fascinating NYT obituary -- which details his time in San Quentin and subsequent pardon from California Gov. Ronald Reagan -- HERE.

My girl Rosanne Cash covered a couple of his songs over the years, including "Silver Wings" and "You Don't Have Very Far to Go." They're sublime, and both seem so fitting for this moment. 

Heartbroken. #MerleHaggard https://t.co/TeBj4hPd69https://t.co/KTTU0mRVAB

— rosanne cash (@rosannecash) April 6, 2016