Who really wrote the song is sometimes a mystery

This week in 1969: Eight Green Berets were charged with murder in Saigon, North Vietnam; Sen. Edward Kennedy announced he would remain in Congress despite his involvement in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne; NASA scientists in Houston got their first look at rocks brought back from the moon by Apollo astronauts; and a singer from Itawamba County, Miss., had her 10th hit record.

Sometimes a writer (or perhaps someone who isn’t even a writer) gets credit for writing a song—when they actually had nothing whatsoever to do with the creation of the tune. According to Glenn Sutton, this might have been the case with Tammy Wynette’s 1969 No. 1, “The Ways To Love A Man.”

Glenn commented, “The only thing I remember about that song is the writer’s credits list Billy Sherrill, myself and Tammy Wynette. I don’t know how her name got on the song or her part of that song came about. I do remember Billy and I working on that song but I don’t remember Tammy ever being around when we were writing a song. Maybe Billy gave her part of the song to appease her—I just don’t know—or maybe he and Tammy worked on the song when I wasn’t around—or maybe she put a line in the song or something—I don’t know and I never asked. I do know they never wanted me around to write with her because they were afraid I’d write a bunch with her! That’s just one of those things that I don’t have any idea how or why it happened!”

Tammy Wynette’s Epic Records single “The Ways To Love A Man” came on the country music charts Aug. 30, 1969, and made it to No. 1—where it stayed for two weeks.

It was her 10th charted song and was on the charts for 16 weeks.