About The Song
Merle Haggard wrote and recorded the song “Branded Man”. Released in July 1967, the song was the second single and title track from the album Branded Man. The song was Haggard’s second number one on the country charts. The single stayed at number one for a single week and spent 15 weeks on the chart.
In 1957, Haggard was arrested after he tried to rob a Bakersfield roadhouse. Shortly after that, he also attempted to escape from county jail seventeen times. He was then transferred to San Quentin Prison. While at San Quentin, Haggard started a gambling and brewing racket together with his cellmates. One day, He was caught drunk and sent to solitary confinement for 1 week.
Haggard changed his life when his fellow inmates were executed. He studied, earned a high school equivalency diploma and kept a steady job in the prison’s textile plant. On New Year’s Day of 1959, Johnny Cash performed live in prison. This was the main inspiration for haggard to join the country band. After 3 years in prison, he was released from jail in 1960.
In 1972, after Haggard had become an established country music star, then-California Governor Ronald Reagan granted Haggard a full and unconditional pardon for his past crimes.
This is what makes Merle Haggard a great country artist. He shows what he truly feels about the world and what is happening to us in his songs. Bias and prejudice is almost a second nature to us and this should not be the case. We are only promoting unnecessary hate that is not needed for us to progress as a society.
If a person tries his/her best to move past their mistake, then we should let them. Instead of judging them, we must give our full support because it is what they need.
Video
Lyrics
I’d like to hold my head up and be proud of who I am
But they won’t let my secret go untold
I paid the debt I owed them, but they’re still not satisfied
Now I’m a branded man out in the cold
When they let me out of prison, I held my head up high
Determined, I would rise above the shame
But no matter where I travel, the black mark follows me
I’m branded with a number on my name
I’d like to hold my head up and be proud of who I am
But they won’t let my secret go untold
I paid the debt I owed them, but they’re still not satisfied
Now I’m a branded man out in the cold
If I live to be a hundred, I guess I’ll never clear my name
‘Cause everybody knows I’ve been in jail
No matter where I’m living
I’ve got to tell them where I’ve been
Or they’ll send me back to prison if I fail
I’d like to hold my head up, be proud of who I am
But they won’t let my secret go untold
I paid the debt I owed them, but they’re still not satisfied
Now I’m a branded man out in the cold
Now I’m a branded man out in the cold
