The song was penned by Tammy Wynette herself, together with Billy Sherrill. It was first released back in 1968 and became one of Tammy’s hits. In fact, it ranked as one of the best country songs of all time by CMT poll.
But with all the success comes the controversies surrounding it.
Tammy Wynette vs Women’s Lib
With the release of the song and its message, it was not accepted well by the Women’s Liberation movement. Their sentiment said that the song implies a woman to be submissive to her husband. Their concern is that the song implies a woman to stand by her man, pun intended, no matter what the husband does.
Her response was this:
“A woman should be equal to a man for anything she’s capable of doing, but I still feel there’s a lot of things she isn’t capable of doing. Physically. Personally, I’m not particularly fond of the thought of digging ditches or climbing telephone poles. I’d rather stick with something a little more feminine.”
Whether she meant this as a joke or not, she made a good point. It is her own opinion and own choice not to do manly things. I guess the only concern of the Women’s Liberation Movement was that her song might send a wrong message to her listeners.
Tammy Wynette vs Hillary Clinton
Before the Hillary Clinton vs Donald Trump, Tammy had a history with Hillary.
Back in 1992, when Hillary Clinton was facing her husband’s infidelity issue, she referred to the song “Stand by Your Man.”
She said in the interview:
“You know, I’m not sitting here – some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette. I’m sitting here because I love him, and I respect him, and I honor what he’s been through and what we’ve been through together. And you know, if that’s not enough for people, then heck, don’t vote for him.”
Hearing this issue, Tammy immediately expressed her feelings. The first lady of the country had this to say to the then-First lady of the Country
“With all that is in me I resent your caustic remark. I, with no apologies, am as angry as I can be with your statement. Mrs. Clinton, you have offended every woman and man who love that song – several million in number. I believe you have offended every true country music fan and every person who has ‘made it on their own’ with no one to take them to a White House.”
After hearing Tammy’s angry remarks, Hillary issued an apology to the singer. To which she said,
“I didn’t mean to hurt Tammy Wynette as a person. I happen to be a country-western fan. If she feels like I’ve hurt her feelings, I’m sorry about that.”
With all this happening, Tammy decided to release her song “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.” Now that is one way to clear her stand on the whole issue. If you are not happy with your partner anymore, and you feel like there is zero chance of saving it, well you know the answer to that.
Listen to the song here:
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Tammy Wynette