Tammy Wynette (1942-1998; real name Virginia Wynette Pugh) had 23 #1 country hits during her short life, exceeded only by the number of major surgeries she had (26; her health was very poor). “Stand by your man” (1968), politically incorrect as it seems these days, is no doubt her greatest hit; probably nearly every one of you has heard it. And if you love the movie “Five Easy Pieces,” as I do, you’ll remember that this was the song that opened the movie.(It was also sung by Jake and Elwood in “The Blues Brothers”l you can see that video here.)
Wikipedia says this about the song’s inception and message:
“Stand by Your Man” was reportedly written in the Epic studios in 1968 in all of 15 minutes, from an idea that came from Wynette’s producer, Billy Sherrill, one of the two writers who wrote the song, Wynette was the other writer. Sherrill originally stated that before “Stand by Your Man”‘s release, he thought that Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” would be Wynette’s career hit. However, after witnessing how successful the song came to be in America during that time, Sherrill then stated that “Stand by Your Man” was definitely Wynette’s career hit.
Derided by the Feminist movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Wynette in later years defended the song as not a call for women to place themselves second to men, but rather a suggestion that women attempt to overlook their husbands’ shortcomings and faults if they truly love them (and in fact, the last line in the final verse says “after all, he’s just a man”). Wynette always defended her signature song. The song remained contentious into the early 1990s, when soon-to-be First Lady Hillary Clinton told CBS’ 60 Minutes during an interview that she “wasn’t some little woman ‘standing by my man’ like Tammy Wynette.”
I know her best from her collaboration with British electro outfit The KLF, on a song called Justified & Ancient – and it’s awesome, though not necessarily for people more used to her country songs.
KLF tell the story, phoning her up, trepidatiously from the UK to set up the collaboration. TW’s people told him to fly over: he did. She was graciousness personified; he loved her. BUT, she had real difficulty in singing the tune – outside her song-world, I suppose. KLF, expert producers, had to do a lot of cutting and pasting in the studio to make it sound just so. And they did a pretty good job.
I am incredibly jealous of my parents, who saw her live many years ago. I SO wish I’d had the chance. A fantastic voice, and a remarkably elegant lady.
I saw Tammy twice in Oakland in the mid-70s. “Stand By Your Man” was definitely her signature song. When she got to that part of her show stagehands would roll a big staircase up to the stage, and Tammy would come down into the audience, singing all the while. She would then pick some old guy from the audience to stand by her as she sang – Both times I saw this the guys were blushing from ear to ear, and their wives were totally in awe of Tammy singing next to their husbands. No cell phones or twitter then, so they had to wait to get out of the auditorium to hit the first phone and spread the news to all their family and everyone they had ever known. It was totally sweet, and Tammy appeared to be someone who loved her audience as much as they loved her.
I’m lucky enough to be seeing her ex, George Jones, perform in Trumansburg, NY tonight.
Jerry, may I be impertinent and ask you to stop throwing up these examples of where Country lost its way and led to MTV.
Go back a few years, even beyond Williams,to a real Hell raiser, Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers. (What a fiddle player Posey Rorrer was) and old time fiddlers such as Clark Kessinger. Real Country imho. OCMS are one of the best modern exponents.
I expect lots of disagreement1
Oh for chrissake. Country “lost its way” with Tammy Wynette? Seriously? You are aware that Wynette was popular brefore there was MTV. And remember that I’ve posted Patsy Cline (before MTV, you might recall), Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, etc.
And the answer to your question is no, I will not cater to your personal tastes; I’ll put up whatever music I like. And yes, you are impertinent.
You might have learned by now that I do not like people telling me what or what not to post about. There are plenty of country songs on YouTube to listen to that are “real” by your lights.
“…that I do not like people telling me what or what not to post about.”
“…after all, (Jerry)’s just a man.”
It always amuses me that people try to dictate someone’s taste as to posting on the Internet. Gosh, I think it’s because of the limited number (30? 40?!!) of sites available on the internet.
These people must have been writing =hourly= letters to NBC, ABC, and CBS (or, the only local TV station, as was often the case) back in the nascent decades of television.
Country music has a history of “losing its way” and of course just what that constitutes varies from person to person. Basically, country music has a long history of seesawing between a desire for “traditional” and a desire for crossover pop success, plus a lot of crossover into various forms of music — folk, rock, jazz, bluegrass (which a lot of people place within country). A lot of country artists don’t easily fit one category or the other, a (very) partial list being Les Paul, Chet Atkins, Patsy Cline, Willy Nelson, and Dolly Parton. That list could go on and on and on.
“I will not cater to your personal tastes”
Nor would I expect you to so do.
I must say that I have no difficulty with your judging and even criticising such personal tastes, but what I do find somewhat disturbing from someone who constantly displays admirable rationality and objectivity is the assumption that the revealed tastes encompass the whole of my tastes in that genre. I very much like Alan Jackson, Randy Travis (who has a beautiful voice) Kenny Rogers,Dolly Parton,Reba MacEntire and Tanya Tucker. A fine line however separates a real narrative from saccharine emotions. Charlie Poole’s voice brought an edge to all of his songs. So too does Willie Nelson’s. I happen to think, for that reason, that the best exponent of Country and Western music is Jerry Lee Lewis. No one better indicates their having lived what they are singing about. However, that is my personal opinion, just as my previous post prefaced my views as being imho.
Saw TW in Nottingham in the mid-90s. She said, “Ah may naht hayuve the best voice in de whirl, but ah sho’ as heyull have one o’ the loudest.” What a pro.
Yep, the opening of “Five Easy Pieces” was when it hit me what a great song that is.
However, I like Tracy Nelson’s version of it even more. That’s on her tremendous but obscure Tracy Nelson Country album (1969) which I nearly wore out in college.
Thankfully reissued on CD, the liner notes have this to say: “…The only other music in an even remotely similar ballpark were … Dylan’s “Nashville Skyline” and the Flying Burrito Brothers’ debut “Gilded Palace of Sin”… in the hip rapprochement between country and rock, their mythic stature has grown with the passage of time. The elegantly understated Tracy Nelson Country carried no such socio-cultural baggage, and still doesn’t. … It was brilliant shot in the dark, lighting up the sky when hardly anyone was looking. But for the few that noticed, it became a stepping-stone into country music.”
I’d forgotten completely about Tracie Nelson. The Burrito Bros and Byrds country rock are still favorites I listen to frequently. Tracy Nelson Country is available on Rhapsody, and I’m listening to the first song on the album right now.
Cool! What did you think of Tracy’s version vs. Tammy’s?
She was just copying the finale of Sibelius’s 2nd symphony:
The song remained contentious into the early 1990s…
Sheesh. I’ll never understand why some people can’t just accept ‘good art, crappy message.’
Its like there’s some part of people’s brains that insists every piece of art must be both or neither. That we must applaud crappy art if it has a good message, or reject good art if it has a crappy message. No, I don’t have to do either of those things. I can appreciate the song as a song while not agreeing with the message, thank you very much.
This song is also on the soundtrack for “Sleepless in Seattle.” It’s my guilty pleasure to sing along with it (loudly – very loudly) in my car. There’s just something about it that beckons this me to belt it out with a hearty twang!
Feminist, here, who’s always loved this song by Tammy. Lots of her other stuff, too,including the duets with Jones, such as My Elusive Dreams.