In 1982, Merle Haggard scored his 27th No. 1 single with “Big City”, and he has his bus driver to thank for the song. “Big City”, which is the title track of a record Haggard released in 1981, was written by Haggard and Dean Holloway, Haggard’s longtime friend and bus driver.
“Big City” came from an offhand remark Holloway told Haggard. At the time, Haggard and his band were in Los Angeles recording what became Big City. With the recording session nearing completion, Haggard went out to check on Holloway. When Haggard asked how Holloway was doing, he responded by saying, “I’m tired of this dirty old city.”
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Haggard immediately heard the potential of a great song and wrote the line down. But not only did Holloway contribute to the subject of the song, but he also helped Haggard come up with the lyrical content. Haggard continued peppering Holloway with questions, using his answers to write “Big City”.
The Message in “Big City” by Merle Haggard
The chorus of “Big City” says, “Turn me loose, set me free / Somewhere in the middle of Montana / And give me all I’ve got comin’ to me / And keep your retirement / And your so-called social security / Big city, turn me loose and set me free.”
Although “Big City” was written in Los Angeles, and Holloway was dreaming of Montana, neither of those places was what Haggard was thinking of when he wrote “Big City”. Instead, the singer-songwriter says he was thinking of another urban location when completing “Big City”.
“I imagined a family leaving Detroit and happy to be getting out,” he later explains.
Although they didn’t get a songwriting credit, Haggard says his band helped bring the song to life. They were already packing up their gear, thinking the recording session was over, when Haggard came back in with “Big City”, after talking to Holloway.
“We didn’t have an ending, but the band came up with one they thought I’d like, and ran me off as we wound down,” Haggard later recounts.
“Big City” became a chart-topping single for Haggard, but it wasn’t his last. After “Big City”, Haggard had eight more No. 1 hits. His final, “Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star”, came in 1987. Big City had one other hit, with “My Favorite Memory”. The record also earned Haggard a CMA Awards nomination for Album of the Year. He lost that year to his good friend, Willie Nelson, and Nelson’s Always On My Mind project.
Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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