Another Merle Haggard song with a similar theme, his top 30 hit from 1973, “If We Make it Through December.”

This was actually first released as a Christmas song. Coming in the middle of the 1973 oil crisis, which sent gas prices for Americans through the roof, Haggard’s song echoes the worrying political and economic atmosphere of the time.

GAS RATIONING SYSTEM (ODD-EVEN PLAN) IS ANNOUNCED IN AN AFTERNOON NEWSPAPER BEING READ AT A SERVICE STATION WITH A SIGN IN THE BACKGROUND STATING NO GAS IS AVAILABLE, 01/1974

(Photo credit: David Falconer for the DOCUMERICA project, Environmental Protection Agency, January 1974)