Hungry Eyes

Hungry Eyes

     Merle Haggard stood in front of a group of individuals on a stage at a bar. He had a beer in one hand and a microphone in the other. The bar was packed. Standing room only kind of packed. It was difficult for the cowboy clothed waitresses to get to the tables to take orders or to deliver those orders.

     It was loud. A typical bar. Individuals were talking among themselves. Some are shouting to be heard with the music of Merle Haggard playing in the background. One song ended and another one began. After that one had finished, another song began.

     “Okay, everyone settle down.” Merle had to shout too to be heard above the music and everyone else that was talking. “Let’s get this celebration started.”

     Little by little one group at a time started to calm down. Within a few minutes, it was quiet. “We are here tonight to honor the life, not the death, of Merle Haggard.”

     “Welcome everyone to the first-year anniversary celebration of the day that Merle Haggard was taken away from us, his fans. It was a year ago today that he died. What makes his passing on to continue playing his music in the clouds even sadder, if that was possible, was that today was also his birthday.”

     “As most of you know my name is Merle Haggard too. But that isn’t why I am the president of this chapter of The Merle Haggard Fan Club. It was my parents. I promised them on their individual deathbeds that I would start this chapter of his fan club.”

     “I was honored to do it because I loved him and his music. But they were even bigger fans of Merle Haggard than I am. Long before I was born, they promised each other that if they ever had a child, they would name them Merle in his honor.”

     “That’s how I got my name. the ironic part is that I have three brothers and two sisters. Guess who they are named after too.”

     “With the last name of Haggard for a lot of years I thought that we were related to the great Merle Haggard, especially since I had his name too. Then after my brothers and sisters were born, I realized we weren’t. My parents just loved him that much. They were big fans of him. In fact, according to them, they were his biggest fans.”

     Merle didn’t say anything for several minutes. He just stared out into his audience. Some of them were really listening to him as he scanned the room. Most of them continued talking to those around them.

     “When I emailed every member of our fan club I asked you to bring two things with you to our celebration. And I can see that a lot of you have brought your guitars with you. I just wonder if you brought number two too.”

     “Don’t worry. I’m not going to sing. You don’t want to hear me sing. I might have his name. But I can’t sing like him.”

     “So, what I am going to do is speak the words to one of my favorite songs of his. I love all his songs. It was hard for me to choose just one. In fact, I thought of doing more than one. But I wanted to give you all a chance to sing his praises with his own words.”

     “I chose this song because of its title. Not only did I love this title, but I love the lyrics in it too.” Merle took a piece of paper out of his back pocket and started reading it to the audience.

“Hungry Eyes”

“A canvas-covered cabin in a crowded labour camp
Stand out in this memory I revived
'Cause my daddy raised a family there, with two hard-working hands
And tried to feed my mama's hungry eyes”

“He dreamed of something better, and my mama's faith was strong
And us kids were just to young to realize
That another class of people put us somewhere just below
One more reason for my mama's hungry eyes”

“Mama never had the luxuries she wanted
But it wasn't 'cause my daddy didn't try
She only wanted things she really needed
One more reason for my mama's hungry eyes”

“I remember daddy praying for a better way of life
But I don't recall a change of any size
Just a little loss of courage, as their age began to show
And more sadness in my mama's hungry eyes”

“Mama never had the luxuries she wanted
But it wasn't 'cause my daddy didn't try
She only wanted things she really needed
One more reason for my mama's hungry eyes”

“Oh, I still recall my mama's hungry eyes”

     After he had finished reciting ‘Hungry Eyes’ Merle didn’t say anything for several minutes. He just stared out into the audience scanning the room for a reaction. What he got was the same as before. Some had listened to him while most didn’t.

     “I also asked you to bring a real-time fact about Merle Haggard. Did any of you do that? The fact that I chose to tell is more of a question with an answer than just a fact.”

     “Did you know how Merle Haggard honed his musical talent. He did it while he was in San Quentin prison for two years for burglary.”

     Merle also paused briefly to get a reaction from at fact. As he looked out at his audience, he didn’t see any shock. All he saw was the same as before. “Okay, who’s next.”

Word Count = 931