"The Way I Am" is a song written by Sonny Throckmorton, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist Merle Haggard. It was released in March 1980 as the first single and title track from his album '' The Way I Am''. The song reached number 2 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 and number 1 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Country Tracks chart in Canada.RPM Country Tracks
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Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

Alan Jackson Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for blending traditional honky-tonk and mainstream country pop sounds (for a style widely regarded as "neotraditional country"), as well as penning many o ...

recorded a version of the song on his 1999 album '' Under the Influence''. * Willy Mason recorded the song in 2006 on Australian radio station

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

's ''

Like a Version ''Like a Version'' is a weekly segment on Australian youth radio station Triple J. It involves Australian and international artists playing two songs live in the Triple J studio, one of their own songs (an "original") and then a cover version, h ...

'' segment. *

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...

recorded the song on his 2007 album ''

Ask Forgiveness ''Ask Forgiveness'' is a 2007 EP by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. It is a collection of covers, with the exception of one original song by Oldham. Track listing # "I Came to Hear the Music" (Mickey Newbury) # "I've Seen It All" (Björk, Sjón, Lars v ...

''. *

Watermelon Slim William P. Homans III, (born 1949) professionally known as "Watermelon Slim", is an American blues musician. He plays both guitar and harmonica. He is currently signed to NorthernBlues Music, based in Toronto, Ontario. Homans has also earned bach ...

recorded the song on his 2009 album ''Escape from the Chickencoop''. *

Cody Jinks Meredith Cody Jinks (born August 18, 1980) is an American outlaw country music singer and songwriter. His breakout 2016 album, ''I'm Not the Devil'', reached No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' Country Albums chart, while a number of other albums such as ...

recorded the song for his 2016 album ''

I'm Not the Devil '' I'm Not the Devil ''is the seventh studio album from American country music artist Cody Jinks. It was released on August 12, 2016 through Cody Jinks Music. Commercial performance The album debuted at No. 4 on the Top Country Albums chart with ...

''.

References

1980 singles 1980 songs Merle Haggard songs Alan Jackson songs Songs written by Sonny Throckmorton MCA Records singles Arista Nashville singles {{1980-country-song-stub