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Cody Johnson Recalls Not Being Able To Afford Ramen Noodles One Christmas, & Then A Miracle Happened
A Christmas miracle.
In 2021, Cody Johnson released his A Cody Johnson Christmas album, which is a ten-song project full of holiday classics, including Merle Haggard’s “If We Make It Through December.” Of coures, that song was first released in 1973 as the lead single for Merle’s Christmas album Merle Haggard’s Christmas Present, but it later became the the title track to a non-Christmas album four months later, as well.
A solo write by Merle, the song became one of the signature songs of his career, and peaked at#1 on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart.
But it wasn’t exactly inspired by Merle’s own personal life, and rather came from a conversation he had with his guitar player, Roy Nichols. Nichols had been through multiple divorces, and they had a habit of coming at the end of the year. When Merle asked him how he was doing with this latest relationship, Nichols responded:
“If we just make it through December…”
Merle being the songwriter that he is, that line immediately jumped out at him, and he used the phrase as the inspiration to what would become one of his most beloved songs, that many of us think of as a Christmas song, but technically really could apply to any time of the year.
The actual inspiration was more about a man hoping his relationship could survive through the end of the year, and if it did, it might have a chance for more long term success. Of course, Merle spun it into a song about financial success, and the struggle to make it through the end of the year, expecting a to have better luck the following year.
It tells the story of a man who got laid off at the factory and is struggling through what is supposed to be one of the happiest times of year, and he explains the sadness he feels knowing that his little girl won’t have the Christmas he wants to give her this year.
And Cody Johnson has lived every word of that song.
During a live performance of it for CMT a couple of years ago, Cody explained that when he first married his wife, Brandi, they were living paycheck to paycheck, and of course, the holidays only made it that much harder on them financially.
Cody was working a regular job, but also pursuing a music career, and when he and Brandi went over to his parents house to celebrate Christmas, he didn’t realize that he was putting the last $20 they had for the month in their card as a gift:
“One year, right after Brandi and I had gotten married, we were very broke. Like broke, broke. Like ramen noodles were a luxury kind of broke. We went to my mom and dad’s house, and I took $20; I didn’t know this at the time, but it was our last $20 for the rest of the month.
And I put it in a Christmas card. On the way home, I was wondering why she looked at me all funny… she said, ‘Do you realize that was our last $20 until you get paid again on the first of the month?’
And I didn’t realize that. So here we are, I’ve got three quarters of a tank of gas, and that’s it, that’s all we had to our name.”
As they drove home, as fate would have it, Merle Haggard’s “If We Make It Through December” came on the radio, and they both started crying because those words absolutely hit home:
“And we drove home, and Merle Haggard’s ‘If We Make It Through December’ came on the radio. Merle always had a way of making people cry, and in the truck, we both cried. We were both wondering how we were going to make it through December until the next year.”
Cody said they were thankful that his mom sent them home with leftovers, and for some reason, he decided to go check the mail, and there were two checks for $2,500 apiece in the mailbox for some of the first songs he wrote:
“When we got home, she went in the house and was unpacking leftovers that mom had, thank God, had sent home with us. And for some reason, I checked the mail. I walked out to the end of the driveway, and I checked the mail.
My first two songwriter checks from ASCAP came in. They were $2,500 apiece. And I walked into the house, and we cried again. And then we pushed the couch up close to the TV and we heated up leftovers and we watched ‘It’s A Wonderful Life,’ and then we cried again… Merle, thank you for writing this song.”
It’s such a beautiful story, and while unfortunately I think many people can relate to Merle’s classic song, Cody has certainly come a long way since then, and I’m sure that time in his life where he and Brandi really struggled has only made him appreciate his success that much more.
I can never get enough of hearing him sing it, either…
“If We Make It Through December”
The post Cody Johnson Recalls Not Being Able To Afford Ramen Noodles One Christmas, & Then A Miracle Happened first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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