Songs I'll Always Sing

{{Infobox album

| name = Songs I'll Always Sing

| type = Compilation

| artist = Merle Haggard and the Strangers

| cover = Merle-Haggard-Songs-Ill-Always-Sing.jpg

| alt =

| released = 1977

| recorded =

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = Country

| length =

| label = Capitol

| producer = Ken Nelson, Fuzzy Owen

| prev_title = The Roots of My Raising

| prev_year = 1976

| next_title = Ramblin' Fever

| next_year = 1977

}}

Songs I'll Always Sing is a two-record compilation album by American country music singer and songwriter Merle Haggard, released in 1977.{{cite news |last1=Crouch |first1=Gene |title=On Record |work=El Paso Herald-Post |date=22 Apr 1977 |page=9}}{{cite news |title=Haggard Tour Rides Success of Current Live Album |work=Chattanooga Times Free Press |date=April 30, 2000 |page=E1}} It reached No. 15 on the US Country Charts.{{cite web |title=Merle Haggard |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/merle-haggard/chart-history/tlp/ |website=Billboard |access-date=28 November 2023}} The album collects many of Haggard's best known recordings during his successful run at Capitol Records, including nine of his twenty-four No. 1 hits, dating back to 1966.

Critical reception

{{Music ratings

| rev1 =AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web |first=Stephen Thomas |last=Erlewine |title= Songs I'll Always Sing > Review |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id= mw0000312263 |pure_url=yes}} |publisher=AllMusic |accessdate=March 20, 2015}}

|rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide

|rev2Score = A−{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: H|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=H&bk=70|accessdate=February 24, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}

|rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

|rev3score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2011 |publisher=Omnibus Press}}

|rev4 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

|rev4score = {{rating|5|5}}{{cite book |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=1992 |publisher=Random House |pages=299, 300}}

}}

AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote in his review: "Though many compilations have followed it since it was first released in 1976, Songs I'll Always Sing remains one of the definitive Merle Haggard compilations. Relying not only on hit singles, the 20-track double-album set features a number of album tracks and obscurities - such as 'Love and Honor,' 'Silver Wings,' 'Honky Tonk Night Time Man,' 'Things Aren't Funny Anymore,' and 'I Forget You Every Day' - which give a more rounded and accurate picture of Hag's classic Capitol recordings."

In 2002, Rolling Stone listed Songs I'll Always Sing as the 42nd "coolest" album of all time.{{cite news |last1=Donovan |first1=Patrick |title=Nothing cooler on earth than white hot Velvets |work=The Age |date=22 Mar 2002 |page=7}} Salt Lake City Weekly deemed it "one of the single-best country records available."{{cite news |title=Missed Masterpieces: Merle Haggard |work=Salt Lake City Weekly |date=June 28, 2011 |department=Music}}