‘Christmas’ song was hit for Merle Haggard
This week in 1973: Spiro Agnew resigned as vice president after agreeing not to contest a government charge of income tax evasion; Leo Durocher announced his retirement from baseba l l ; and a singer from Oildale, California, had his 34th hit record.
O n l y t h r e e Christmas singles from the time period that I consider the “true classic country era” made the top of the country music charts: Gene Autry’s “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer,” Ernest Tubb’s “Blue Christmas,” and Merle Haggard’s “If We Make it Through December,” although Haggard’s was not actually a Christmas recording, even though the song does mention Christmas. The basic theme of the song is money, or the lack of money.
But according to Haggard — the idea for that song did not come from Christmas or from money, but instead came from one of his band members who had problems holding onto women. The band member had already gone through several divorces and the breakups seemed to happen during the last month of the year. And with all that in mind, Haggard asked the band member how the current marriage was working out — to which the guy replied, “if we can just make it through December.”
Merle Haggard’s Capitol Records single “If We Make It Through December” came on the country charts Oct. 27, 1973, and was in the top slot on December 22nd and stuck there for four weeks.
The single was produced by Ken Nelson and as Haggard’s 34th charted song and was on the charts for 17 weeks.
Haggard placed 106 songs on the country music charts between 1963 and 2015 – including 38 No. 1s. Thirteen of his 106 charted country songs also placed on the pop charts.
He was inducted into The Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1994. Haggard received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 and a Kennedy Center Honor in 2010.
Merle Haggard died in 2016 at age 79.