Mama Tried (song)

"Mama Tried"
Single by Merle Haggard and The Strangers
from the album Mama Tried
B-side"You'll Never Love Me Now"
ReleasedJuly 22, 1968
RecordedMay 9, 1968
GenreCountry
Length2:12
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)Merle Haggard
Producer(s)Ken Nelson
Merle Haggard and The Strangers singles chronology
"The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde"
(1968) 		"Mama Tried"
(1968) 		"I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am"
(1968)

"Mama Tried" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers. It was released in July 1968 as the first single and title track from the album Mama Tried. The song became one of the cornerstone songs of his career. It won the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999, and was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry due to its "cultural, historic, or artistic significance" on March 23, 2016, just 14 days before Haggard's death.[1] In 2021, it was ranked at No. 376 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[2]

  1. ^ "New Entries to National Recording Registry | News Releases - Library of Congress". Loc.gov. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  2. ^ "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2021-09-15. Retrieved 2022-07-05.