Country must be the second most self-referential genre in
all of popular music. Only rap likes to talk about itself and name-drop other
noteworthy practitioners of the artform more than country… the difference being
that such references are largely positive in country, whereas rappers do like
to slag each other off any chance they get.
With that in mind, I’m not going to pretend to have listened to every song that mentions Loretta Lynn in passing. She was a legend, and an inspiration, so it’s only right she be immortalised in many, many tunes. Here are just a handful… and they're not all straight down the line country songs either.
Carly Pearce – Dear Miss Loretta
I ain’t a coal miner’s daughter
But I’ve sung it all my life
I ain’t been a widow
But I’ve been an ex-wife
And I hear your truth
And I feel your pain
Now I know why you sang that way
Angelica Garcia – Loretta Lynn
Me and Loretta, Loretta Lynn
Black coffee and cinnamon
The price of gin beats rememberin'
How did we not see this comin' from him?
Josh Turner – Loretta Lynn’s Lincoln
Like any other would be country singing sensation
I had no visible means of transportation
One Saturday morning I was searching the ads
When I found one that I wanted and I wanted it bad
I called up the salesmen, he said, c'mon in
I've got the Lincoln right here belonged to Loretta Lynn
The Coal Miner's Daughter used to drive it to town
It's yours for a song and five hundred down
Oh my sweetheart where you been
Cuz I miss you like the radio misses Loretta Lynn
Sheryl Crow – Woman In The White House
Don't you think it's time we put a woman in the White House
With a whole new attitude?
Just look at the mess we're in
Heck, I'd vote for Loretta Lynn
I guarantee that we'd all be
Singing a different song
Nanci Griffith – Listen To The Radio
I am leaving Mississippi in the evening rain
These Delta towns wear satin gowns
In a high beamed frame
Loretta Lynn guides my hands through the radio
Where would I be in times like these
Without the songs Loretta wrote?
Lucinda Williams – Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
Sittin' in the kitchen, a house in Macon
Loretta's singing on the radio
Smell of coffee, eggs, and bacon
Car wheels on a gravel road
As I said at the top, I could be here all day. Perhaps only Hank Williams and Johnny Cash get name-checked in more country songs than Loretta. And here she is with Johnny, in one of my favourites.
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