"The Fightin' Side of Me" is a song written and performed 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 Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled a ...

and The Strangers. It was released in January 1970 as the first single and title track from the album '' The Fightin' Side of Me''. The song became one of the most famous of his career. In reference to his own 2002 song, "

Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American) "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Toby Keith. The song was written in late 2001, and was inspired by Keith's father's death in March 2001, as well as the Sep ...

Toby Keith Toby Keith Covel (born July 8, 1961), known professionally as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. He released his first four studio albums—1993's '' Toby Keith'', 1994's ''Boomtown'', 19 ...

once called this song "the original ''Angry American'' song."

Content

Like "

Okie from Muskogee ''Okie from Muskogee'' is the first live album by Merle Haggard and the Strangers released in October 1969 on Capitol Records. Background The album was a recorded performance at the Civic Center in Muskogee, Oklahoma on October 10, 1969, the da ...

," "The Fightin' Side of Me" catered to the conservative working-man's values and politics; Bill Janovitz of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

called the song "patriotic (if not outrightly

jingoistic Jingoism is nationalism in the form of aggressive and proactive foreign policy, such as a country's advocacy for the use of threats or actual force, as opposed to peaceful relations, in efforts to safeguard what it perceives as its national int ...

)." Here, the singer fills the role of a man frustrated with people deriding the country, particularly those who are "harpin' on the wars we fight" and "runnin' down my countrymen," a reference to the then-ongoing

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. People who do this, claims the singer, are "walkin' on the fightin' side of me" and warns them that "if you don't love it, leave it."

Chart performance and popularity

Like its predecessor "Okie from Muskogee," "The Fightin' Side of Me" immediately broke in popularity when released in January 1970. The song reached No. 1 on the ''

Billboard magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the musi ...

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...

chart, where it remained for three weeks. It also charted in the lower regions of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. In addition to the studio version of the song, a live version of "The Fightin' Side of Me" was issued as part of Haggard's live album of the same name.

Awards

In 1970, "The Fightin' Side of Me" was nominated for Song of the Year and Single of the Year by the

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre. The objectives of the organization are to guide and enha ...

. The song did not win either award, with it losing the Single award to "Okie from Muskogee."Merle Haggard
-

Awards Database

Content

Chart performance and popularity

Awards

References

Further reading