"Big City" is a song recorded by American
country music singer
Merle Haggard backed by
The Strangers
Strangers are people who are unknown to another person or group.
Strangers or The Strangers may also refer to:
History
* Elizabethan Strangers or Strangers, a name applied to French and Belgian immigrants to Norwich, East Anglia, England, during ...
. Co-written by Haggard and Dean Holloway, the song was released in January 1982 as the second single and title track from his album ''
Big City''. In April, the song was his 27th number-one single on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Hot Country Singles chart.
Production
The song was inspired by a remark by Dean Holloway, Haggard's lifelong friend and tour bus driver. At the end of a packed two-day recording session at
Britannia Studios
Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great B ...
in
Los Angeles, Haggard went to the bus to check on Holloway, who had been minding the bus, and asked him how he was doing. Holloway responded, "I hate this place. I'm tired of this dirty old city." Haggard immediately saw inspiration, and began writing the song, based on Holloway's remark, on a nearby pad of paper. "I'm tired of this dirty old city" became the song's first line. Haggard decided that the chorus should include the narrator talking about moving elsewhere, and asked Holloway where he would rather be, to which Holloway responded, "If it were up to me, it'd be somewhere in the middle of damn Montana." "Somewhere in the middle of Montana" became part of the chorus. Haggard rushed back into the studio, where the band was packing up, and told them to unpack their instruments in order to record one last song; the band recorded the song in one take, with no rehearsal.
Haggard credited Holloway as a co-writer, entitling him to half the royalties for the song, which amounted to around half a million dollars for Holloway.
Critical reception
Haggard's 1981 album ''
Big City'' was described by
Allmusic critic, Thom Jurek, as "a collection of songs focused on the themes of freedom from urban life." The album's title track was the centerpiece of the album's recurring theme. The song, wrote Jurek, "revisits the seemingly eternal themes in Haggard's best work — the plight of the honest, decent working man amid the squalor, complication, and contradiction of urban life."
Soundtrack appearances
"Big City" is playing in the background at a bar during the opening scene to the 1996 film ''
Fargo Fargo usually refers to:
* Fargo, North Dakota, United States
* ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers
* ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series
Fargo may also refer to:
Othe ...
''.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Big City (Song)
1982 singles
1981 songs
Merle Haggard songs
Songs written by Merle Haggard
Epic Records singles