I'm A Lonesome Fugitive

"The Fugitive' (later titled "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" on the album) is a song recorded by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers, written by Liz Anderson and Casey Anderson (parents of country music singer Lynn Anderson). It was released in December 1966 as the first single and title track from the album I'm a Lonesome Fugitive. The song was Haggard and The Strangers first number one hit on the U.S. country singles chart, spending one week at number one and fifteen weeks on the chart.
Although not written by Haggard, the song became one of the most closely associated with the early part of his career, as it drew upon his then still-relatively recent prison term for burglary. Here, Haggard fills the shoes of an escaped convict, trying to live life on the run from the authorities. As a fugitive, he knows that trying to settle down or start a relationship are too risky—either his new friends (or a new girlfriend) would tip off the authorities or would slow him down as the authorities catch up—and is resigned to living a lonely life on the road as a "rolling stone" ("Down every road, there's always one more city/I'm on the run, the highway is my home").
The song was later covered by many artists including Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Buchanan.
==Links to Peel==
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The song was often mentioned on radio and in Margrave Of The Marshes by Sheila Ravenscroft as a song which Peel enjoyed singing, especially to his children when on road trips. Peel would mention on his radio shows that his favourite version of the song was by Roy Buchanan, which he often played on his programmes.
I'm A Lonesome Fugitive was covered by DM Bob & The Deficits in a live performance on the Channel 4 documentary, Travels With My Camera: Autobahn Blues, first broadcast in 1996 and featuring Peel's road trip in Germany. Peel himself sang some of the song in the car on the programme, praising parts of the lyrics, which he admired.
On his 09 December 2003 show, Peel mentioning singing the song to his 3 month old grandchild, Archie Ravenscroft, who instead of enjoying it, cried instead, with JP stating that he can't blame him for that.
==Show Plays==
Artist | Track | First Known Play
*Roy Buchanan: I'm A Lonesome Fugitive John Peel's 70's Mixtape 3B
*Jerry Lee Lewis: (I'm A Lonesome) Fugitive 16 September 1984 (BFBS)
*Merle Haggard And The Strangers: I'm A Lonesome Fugitive 02 July 1985
*Big Drag: I'm A Lonesome Fugitive 06 October 1995
== External Links ==
* Wikipedia
Category:Songs
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