The Kennedy Center will honor country legend Merle Haggard at the 33rd annual Kennedy Center honors this December. Now in his seventies, Haggard has had a remarkable — and remarkably influential — music career. Though he has a new album, I’d rather highlight one of his oldies, “The Bottle Let Me Down,” from 1966, a classic of country blues in the spirit of Hank Williams. Here’s a taste:
Tonight the bottle let me down
It let your memory come around
The one true friend I thought I’d found
Tonight the bottle let me down
I’ve always had a bottle I could turn to
And lately I’ve been turnin’ every day
But the wine don’t take effect the way it used to
And I’m hurtin’ in old familiar ways
Here are the full lyrics, the song, and a live version.