When Merle Haggard first got the invitation to join two of his prison mates in a grand escape from San Quentin, the plot’s mastermind, a man named Jimmy “Rabbit” Kendrick, gave Haggard a warning. He was welcome. But even Rabbit could see that Haggard had the potential to be somebody someday. Because of that, Rabbit said it might be better for Haggard to stay behind. But the choice was his.
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“The plan was simple,” Haggard wrote in his autobiography, Sing Me Back Home. San Quentin inmates were building a massive desk for a San Francisco judge’s chamber. Another inmate in on the plot, Sam, was to let Rabbit hide inside the desk before loosely nailing the last board. After prison workers transported the desk off the San Quentin property, Rabbit would kick out the board.
Haggard had one sleepless night to think it over. In the end, he chose not to go. In his autobiography, Haggard recalled watching the truck carrying the desk (and Rabbit) out of the prison yard. “I felt a chill, like something wasn’t quite right. Something was wrong. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. But it was a premonition I couldn’t shake.”
How Merle Haggard Transformed a Tragedy Into His Fifth Album
Merle Haggard’s premonition proved to be correct. Shortly after Rabbit escaped from prison via the judge’s desk, a state trooper pulled Rabbit over. With nowhere to go and no excuse for not having a driver’s license, Rabbit shot the trooper. Police eventually captured him. Rabbit returned to San Quentin and was placed on Death Row. Haggard and Sam waited in the prison yard to see Rabbit’s return.
“We had known they’d have to pass [our] way,” Haggard wrote. “We were determined to show our support for him the only way we knew—by being there. At first, Rabbit looked straight ahead. He didn’t let on he’d even seen us till he got almost even with where we all stood. Then, he just motioned with one hand in our direction. It was such a simple gesture. We all waved back like a bunch of kids at a train station. That was all we could do.”
But of course, that wasn’t all Haggard would do. He was a singer-songwriter, after all. Haggard penned the title track to his fifth album (and his second to go No. 1), “Sing Me Back Home”, in honor of Rabbit. He released the album on January 2, 1968. “It was because I believe I know exactly how [Rabbit] felt that night. Even now, when I sing the song, it’s still for Rabbit and all those like him.”
Rabbit might have been wrong about the airtightness of his escape plan. However, he was right in thinking that Haggard would be somebody someday. If Haggard had decided to join Rabbit in his plan, he likely would have ended up in the same place as Rabbit—the San Quentin gas chamber—rather than the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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