If We Make It Through December

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If We Make It Through December

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"If We Make It Through December"

Single by Merle Haggard and the Strangers

from the album If We Make It Through December

B-side

"Bobby Wants a Puppy Dog for Christmas"

Released

October 27, 1973

Recorded

1973

Studio

Columbia (Nashville, Tennessee)

Genre

Country

Length

2:42

Capitol 3746

Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard and the Strangers singles chronology

"Everybody's Had the Blues"
(1973)

"If We Make It Through December"
(1973)

"Things Aren't Funny Anymore"
(1974)

"If We Make It Through December" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Merle Haggard and the Strangers. It was released in October 1973 as the lead single from the album Merle Haggard's Christmas Present, and was the title track on a non-Christmas album four months later. In the years since its release, "If We Make It Through December" — which, in addition to its Christmas motif, also uses themes of unemployment and loneliness — has become one of the trademark songs of Haggard's career.

Content

[edit]

Written in 1973, it treats with Haggard's characteristically simple poetry the desperate optimism of a working-class man dealing with economic hardship. Having been laid off from his factory job just prior to the Christmas season, the man becomes depressed over his predicament during what normally should be a "happy time of year." At one point, he observes that his little girl "don't understand why Daddy can't afford no Christmas gift."

The chorus, "If we make it through December/Everything's gonna be alright, I know" expresses hope, the protagonist telling himself that hope exists if he wants to deal with "the coldest time of winter" and the cold, lonely feeling he experiences while watching the snow fall ("and I shiver when I see the falling snow").

While Christmas is a prominent theme of this song, writer Merle Haggard said the song is not considered a "pure" Christmas record, as the subject of economics was also explored.^[1]

Critical reception

[edit]

"If We Make It Through December" was received positively by a review panel with Billboard magazine. In the review published October 13, 1973, they wrote, "Another change of pace by Haggard, who keeps surprising with his various styles, and does so well with all. He is a complete artist."^[2]

In 2024, Rolling Stone ranked the song at #107 on its 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time ranking.^[3]

Chart performance

[edit]

The song spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in December 1973 and January 1974,^[4] and cracked the Top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100.^[5] "If We Make It Through December" was the No. 2 song of the year on Billboard's Hot Country Singles 1974 year-end chart.^[6]

Chart (1973–1974)	Peak position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)^[7]	1
US Billboard Easy Listening^[8]	16
US Billboard Hot 100^[9]	28
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	1
Canadian RPM Top Singles	30
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks	37

Cover versions

[edit]

Several singers in the country, folk and pop genres have covered "If We Make It Through December," including Alan Jackson (on his Christmas album, Honky Tonk Christmas), Marty Robbins, Faron Young, Holly Cole. Joey + Rory recorded it for their album A Farmhouse Christmas with Merle Haggard adding background vocals as well as singing the final chorus. The song was also covered by the Blue Shadows, featuring Billy Cowsill, and included on the 2010 re-release of the band's debut album.^[10] The song was covered by both The Mamas and Phoebe Bridgers in November 2020.^[11]

References

[edit]

^ Roland, Tom, "The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits" (Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991 (ISBN 0-8230-7553-2)), p. 103
^ Tiegel, Eliot, ed. (October 13, 1973). "Billboard's Top Single Picks". Billboard. p. 50.
^ "The 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. May 24, 2014.
^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 147.
^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 270.
^ [1] Archived October 20, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
^ "Merle Haggard Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 104.
^ "Merle Haggard Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
^ Biography of The Blue Shadows Archived 2014-09-07 at the Wayback Machine; canadianbands.com. Retrieved 2015-02-28.
^ Strauss, Matthew (23 November 2020). "Phoebe Bridgers Covers Merle Haggard's "If We Make It Through December": Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved 23 November 2020.

Merle Haggard

The Strangers

Norm Hamlet

Ralph Mooney

Tiny Moore

Roy Nichols

Gene Price

Eldon Shamblin

Gordon Terry

Biff Adam

Jimmy Belken

Eddie Burris

Gary Church

Wayne Durham

George French

Dennis Hromek

Don Markham

Johnny Meeks

Marcia Nichols

Ronnie Reno

Clint Strong

Jim Tittle

Jerry Ward

Bobby Wayne

Mark Yeary

Studio albums

Strangers
Swinging Doors ‡
I'm a Lonesome Fugitive ‡
Branded Man ‡
Sing Me Back Home ‡
The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde ‡
Mama Tried ‡
Pride in What I Am ‡
Same Train, a Different Time ‡
A Portrait of Merle Haggard ‡
A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills) ‡
Hag ‡
Someday We'll Look Back ‡
Let Me Tell You About a Song ‡
It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad) ‡
If We Make It Through December ‡
Merle Haggard Presents His 30th Album ‡
Keep Movin' On ‡
It's All in the Movies ‡
My Love Affair with Trains ‡
The Roots of My Raising ‡
Ramblin' Fever
A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today ‡
My Farewell to Elvis
I'm Always on a Mountain When I Fall
Serving 190 Proof
The Way I Am
Back to the Barrooms
Big City
Going Where the Lonely Go
That's the Way Love Goes
It's All in the Game
Kern River
Out Among the Stars
A Friend in California
Chill Factor
5:01 Blues
Blue Jungle
1994
1996
If I Could Only Fly
Roots, Volume 1
The Peer Sessions
Haggard Like Never Before
Unforgettable
Chicago Wind
The Bluegrass Sessions
I Am What I Am
Working in Tennessee

Compilations

Live albums

Gospel albums

The Land of Many Churches ‡
Songs for the Mama That Tried
Cabin in the Hills
Two Old Friends (with Albert E. Brumley, Jr.)

Holiday albums

Singles

1960s	"Sing a Sad Song" "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers" "Swinging Doors" ‡ "The Bottle Let Me Down" ‡ "The Fugitive" ‡ "I Threw Away the Rose" ‡ "Branded Man" ‡ "Sing Me Back Home" ‡ "The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde" ‡ "Mama Tried" ‡ "I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am" ‡ "Hungry Eyes" ‡ "Workin' Man Blues" ‡ "Okie from Muskogee" ‡
1970s	"The Fightin' Side of Me" ‡ "Jesus, Take a Hold" ‡ "I Can't Be Myself" ‡ "Soldier's Last Letter" ‡ "Someday We'll Look Back" ‡ "Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)" ‡ "Carolyn" ‡ "Grandma Harp" ‡ "It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad)" ‡ "I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me" ‡ "The Emptiest Arms in the World" ‡ "Everybody's Had the Blues" ‡ "If We Make It Through December ‡" "Things Aren't Funny Anymore" ‡ "Old Man from the Mountain" ‡ "Kentucky Gambler" ‡ "Always Wanting You" ‡ "Movin' On" ‡ "It's All in the Movies" ‡ "The Roots of My Raising" ‡ "Here Comes the Freedom Train" ‡ "Cherokee Maiden" ‡ "If We're Not Back in Love by Monday" "Ramblin' Fever" "A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today" ‡ "From Graceland to the Promised Land" "Running Kind" ‡ "I'm Always on a Mountain When I Fall" "It's Been a Great Afternoon" "Red Bandana" "My Own Kind of Hat"
1980s	"The Way I Am" "Misery and Gin" "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink" "Leonard" "Rainbow Stew" "My Favorite Memory" "Big City" "Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)" "Going Where the Lonely Go" "You Take Me for Granted" "What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life)" "It's All in the Game" "That's the Way Love Goes" "Someday When Things Are Good" "Let's Chase Each Other Around the Room" "A Place to Fall Apart" "Kern River" "I Had a Beautiful Time" "A Friend in California" "Almost Persuaded" "Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star" "Chill Factor" "We Never Touch at All" "You Babe" "5:01 Blues" "A Better Love Next Time" "If You Want to Be My Woman"

Collaborations

Albums	Just Between the Two of Us (with Bonnie Owens and The Strangers) A Taste of Yesterday's Wine (with George Jones) Pancho & Lefty (with Willie Nelson) Heart to Heart (with Leona Williams) Walking the Line (with George Jones and Willie Nelson) Seashores of Old Mexico (with Willie Nelson) Kickin' Out the Footlights...Again (with George Jones) Last of the Breed (with Willie Nelson and Ray Price) Django & Jimmie (with Willie Nelson)
Singles	"Bar Room Buddies" (with Clint Eastwood) "Yesterday's Wine" (with George Jones) "C.C. Waterback" (with George Jones) "Reasons to Quit" (with Willie Nelson) "Pancho and Lefty" (with Willie Nelson) "Wreck on the Highway" (with Chester Smith)
As guest	"Street Singer" (by The Strangers) "Walking the Floor Over You" (by Ernest Tubb) "Politically Uncorrect" (by Gretchen Wilson)

‡ indicates a release performed with The Strangers

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