Tammy Wynette Sings the Ultimate Breakup Anthem with single “D-I-V-O-R-C-E”

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Written by  Curly Putman and Bobby Braddock, “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” is the lead single to Tammy Wynette’s third album with the same name. It was released in May 1968 and took the No. 1 spot on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs. The single also climbed to No. 63 on the US Billboard Hot 100. This was songwriter Braddock’s first No. 1 and Wynette’s third No. 1 as a solo artist. 

The same year of the song’s release, Wynette divorced Don Chapel and married George Jones in 1969. Unfortunately, the couple got divorced in 1975, and Wynette had divorced three times before settling with George Richey in 1978. She was married to Richey until her death on April 6, 1998, at the age of 55. These multiple heartbreaks and romantic relationships encapsulate how relevant “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” is to Wynette’s life and to the woman of the 60s. 

Country music author Bill Malone wrote in The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Country Music that Wynette’s tumultuous marriage is a harsh reality many women can relate to. He asserts that the song is “painfully sincere—there is no irony here—and if there is a soap opera quality to the dialogue, the content well mirrors both her own life and contemporary experience.”

Meaning Behind the Song

Tammy Wynette has had many names: the First Lady of Country Music, the Heroine of Heartbreak, and the Tragic Country Queen. But one thing is for sure, only she can deliver a dramatic song with ease, one of which is Wynette’s greatest songs of all time called “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.” 

In the writing process, the spelling out of the word ‘divorce’ was inspired by one of the songs written by songwriter Bobby Braddock called “I L-O-V-E-Y-O-U (Do I Have to Spell It Out for You).” Braddock told Rolling Stone Country in 2015, “I got the idea of a couple that spells in front of their kid so the kid won’t hear all this disturbing stuff about his parents getting divorced.  Months went by, and nobody recorded it. I asked Curly Putman why nobody was recording the song. He said the melody for the title line was too happy. The melody I had for the song was sort of like a soap commercial.”

Produced by Billy Sherill, Braddock’s lyrics and Putman’s lonesome voice led them to record a different melody from their initial direction to a tear-jerking song.  

Wynette’s song record captures the struggles of parents who need to shield their children from the reality of their separation. The weight of the situation is too heavy for a child to carry; therefore, spelling ‘divorce’ curtails the confusion. It may be an unbearable pain for the mother to leave her husband behind, but the least she could do for their child was to find joy in their daily lives.

This song made Wynette a significant figure in country music, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Country Vocal Performance of a Female. 

While wearing a floor-length gown, the country songstress delivered an angst anthem to a seated audience during her 1973 performance in Cypress Park, Florida. Watch Tammy Wynette sing a melancholic performance of  “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.”

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