Flat Broke Songs: No. 2

'If We Make It Through December'
-- Merle Haggard (1973)

The bottom lines: "I don't mean to hate December/It's meant to be the happy time of year/And my little girl don't understand/Why Daddy can't afford no Christmas here."

After he gets laid off, Haggard's protagonist worries less for himself than for his daughter. The fear in his voice sounds frighteningly familiar to anyone who's lived paycheck-to-paycheck, and the paychecks suddenly stop.