It's All in the Game (Merle Haggard album)

It's All in the Game is the 39th studio album by American country music artist Merle Haggard backed by The Strangers, released in 1984 by Epic Records. The album peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.[1]

It's All in the Game
Studio album by
Merle Haggard
Released1984 (1984)
RecordedOctober 1983/Early 1984
GenreCountry
Length29:53
LabelEpic
ProducerMerle Haggard, Ray Baker
Merle Haggard chronology
The Epic Collection (Recorded Live)
(1983)		 It's All in the Game
(1984)		 Kern River
(1985)

Recording and composition

Haggard's only album from 1984 is dominated with songs co-written with Freddy Powers. The country singer's career was booming during this period like it hadn't since the early seventies, and It's All in the Game continued this roll, producing three #1 hits. The first of these, "Let's Chase Each Other Around the Room," recalls the shuffling rhythm of his 1981 hit "Big City" and finds the narrator attempting to playfully reignite the passion of his marriage. The other two chart toppers, "A Place to Fall Apart" (co-written with Willie Nelson and featuring Janie Fricke on background vocals) and the love song "Natural High," have a softer vocal approach more indicative of the album's overall sound. "Little Hotel Room" and "I Never Go Home Anymore" contain Haggard's oft-used themes of loss, loneliness and estrangement. The LP also includes his take on the recent Willie Nelson/Julio Iglesias smash "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" and "You Really Lose Your Mind," his tribute to Ernest Tubb, who died in September 1984.

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [2]

AllMusic: "In another artist's hands, It's All In the Game might have been a mere crying-in-the-beer soundtrack. In Haggard's, it's deeply personal and emotionally compelling music."[2]

Track listing
  1. "Let's Chase Each Other Around the Room" (Merle Haggard, Freddy Powers, Sheril Rodgers) – 2:48
  2. "A Place to Fall Apart" (Haggard, Willie Nelson, Powers) – 3:36 [with Janie Fricke]
  3. "It's All in the Game" (Charles Dawes, Carl Sigman) – 3:45
  4. "Little Hotel Room" (Powers) – 3:15
  5. "I Never Go Home Anymore" (Haggard) – 2:33
  6. "All I Want to Do Is Sing My Song" (Haggard, Powers) – 3:15
  7. "Natural High" (Powers) – 3:05
  8. "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" (Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe) – 2:29
  9. "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" (Hal David, Albert Hammond) – 2:54
  10. "You Nearly Lose Your Mind" (Ernest Tubb) – 2:21

Personnel

The Strangers:

  • Roy Nichols - lead guitar
  • Norm Hamlet – steel guitar
  • Tiny Moore – fiddle, mandolin
  • Mark Yeary – keyboards
  • Dennis Hromek - bass guitar
  • Biff Adams - drums
  • Jim Belken – fiddle
  • Don Markham – horns

with:

  • Freddy Powers - rhythm guitar

and:

Charts

References
  1. "It's All in the Game Charts". Allmusic. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
  2. "It's All in the Game > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
  3. "Merle Haggard Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  4. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 1984". Billboard. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  5. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 1985". Billboard. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
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