Story behind ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’
This week in 1969: The National Guard was called out to quell SDS protests in Chicago; leaders of 79 colleges appealed to President Richard Nixon to speed up the Vietnam pullout; Congress voted to coin a new dollar honoring Eisenhower; and a singer from Butcher Holler, Ky., had recorded her 23rd hit record.
According to Loretta Lynn, she had the idea for her 1970 No. 1 “Coal Miner’s Daughter”—the song about her growing up in Kentucky—for several years before she actually started writing it.
And she actually began working on the song in the dressing room of a Nashville TV station while waiting to perform. While sitting in the dressing room, she soon came up with nine verses for the song. Since a nine-verse song was obviously much too long—she cut out the three that mentioned her home’s decorating scheme, the family hog killings and the Kentucky floods.
According to Loretta, record producer Owen Bradley questioned her use of the word “borned” in the first line of the song as “I was borned a coal-miner’s daughter.”
She didn’t want to release “Coal Miner’s Daughter” as a single, thinking it was just too personal. The song was recorded, along with “Wings Upon Your Horns,” “Woman Of The World,” “and “You Wanna Give Me A Lift” on October 1st, 1969. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was not released until Oct. 6, 1970, and was at the top of the charts on December 19th.
“Coal Miner’s Daughter” was on the charts for 15 weeks.
To subscribe to our free “Country Music Classics” email newsletter: send a blank email to: country-music-classics-on@ mail-list.com
Doug Davis & The Good Ole Boys will perform at 10 a.m. today at Brookdale.