Country and western superstar Loretta Lynn, who died overnight in the US aged 90, looked life square in the eyes and told the truth. From her philandering, hard-drinking husband to the freedom afforded by the contraceptive pill, her songs spoke of the harshness of life — and the double standards afforded to working-class women.
She was a trailblazer in the music industry, writing the book for generations of country songwriters across her six-decade career. But not all her songs were well received: several, including ones discussing contraception and the loss of teenage virginity, were banned by radio stations.
Here are some of her words that rocked the world.
The Pill (1975)
You wined me and dined me
When I was your girl
Promised if I’d be your wife
You’d show me the world
But all I’ve seen of this old world
Is a bed and a doctor bill
I’m tearin’ down your brooder house
‘Cause now I’ve got the pill.
All these years I’ve stayed at home
While you had all your fun
And every year that’s gone by
Another baby’s come
There’s a gonna be some changes made
Right here on nursery hill
You’ve set this chicken your last time
‘Cause now I’ve got the pill.
(Songwriters: Don McHan/Loretta Lynn/TD Bayless)
Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (1967)
Well, you thought I’d be waitin’ up when you came home last night
You’d been out with all the boys and you ended up half tight
Liquor and love, they just don’t mix
Leave that bottle or me behind
And don’t come home a drinkin’ with lovin’ on your mind.
No, don’t come home a drinkin’ with lovin’ on your mind
Just stay out there on the town and see what you can find
‘Cause if you want that kind of love, well, you don’t need none of mine
So don’t come home a drinkin’ with lovin’ on your mind.
(Songwriters: Loretta Lynn/Peggy Sue Wells)
Coal Miner’s Daughter (1971)
Well, I was borned a coal miner’s daughter
In a cabin, on a hill in Butcher Holler
We were poor but we had love
That’s the one thing that daddy made sure of
He shovelled coal to make a poor man’s dollar.
My daddy worked all night in the Van Lear coal mines
All day long in the field a hoin’ corn
Mommy rocked the babies at night
And read the Bible by the coal oil light
And ever’ thing would start all over come break of morn.
(Songwriter: Loretta Lynn)
