D.I.V.O.R.C.E.
In 1968, Tammy Wynette released the iconic “D.I.V.O.R.C.E.” Long-time country music fans need little reminder of the lyrics. However, for those of you who may not be country music fans or may be too young to remember 1968, the song, written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman, details the breakup of a marriage and the parents’ desire to shield their son Joe from any details, “…So [they] spell out the words [they] don’t want him to understand.”
The chorus includes Tammy’s lament: “Our D.I.V.O.R.C.E. becomes final today/me and little J.O.E. will be goin’ away.”
Well, it’s no longer 1968, and county music female performers are no longer quite so heartbroken. There’s Miranda Lambert’s “Kerosene,” or Pistol Annies’ very upbeat “Got My Name Changed Back,” which includes the line: “I don’t wanna be a Missus on paper no more/I got my name changed back.”
Or take a look at The Chicks “Sleep at Night.” Natalie Maines wrote the song during her own divorce from Adrian Pasdar and includes the line: “My husband’s girlfriend’s husband just called me up/how messed up is that?”
County music female performers are a bit more pugnacious these days, and that — at least for this county music fan — is not half bad.
