Sex and promiscuity, infidelities, divorce, birth control—Loretta Lynn left very few subjects unturned in her songs. The first woman in country music to fearlessly cover these topics in her lyrics, Lynn’s stories emerged from honest, raw, and real-life places.
“Risk taker, no, I just write what I feel, what is going on with me and my life,” said Lynn in 2021 of her songs. “It just happened that a lot of other women felt the same. I would never set out to write something just for it to shock someone. I am not that clever.”
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[RELATED: 5 Songs You Didn’t Know Loretta Lynn Wrote for Other Artists]
Also, the first woman in the country to write her songs, spanning a catalog of 50 albums and six decades, some of Lynn’s songs were even considered controversial when released, banned on the radio, yet still became hits.
“It’s always been about truth and if that means radio wants to ban it, well that’s their problem,” said Lynn. “Most of my records they banned became No. 1 anyway.”
Here’s a look at five of Lynn’s songs that were banned when initially released.
1. “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)” (1966)
Written by Loretta Lynn and Peggy Sue Wright
A man comes home drunk wanting love from his wife, who is fed up with him. The title track of her ninth album, “Don’t Come A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)” addressed a subject that wasn’t discussed openly at the time. Though banned, the song went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles. The album also topped the Hot Country Albums chart.
Well, you thought I’d be waitin’ up when you came home last night
You’d been out with all the boys and you ended up half-tight
Liquor and love, they just don’t mix
Leave that bottle or me behind
And don’t come home a drinkin’ with lovin’ on your mind
No, don’t come home a drinkin’ with lovin’ on your mind
Just stay out there on the town and see what you can find
‘Cause if you want that kind of love, well, you don’t need none of mine
So don’t come home a drinkin’ with lovin’ on your mind
2. “Fist City” (1968)
Written by Loretta Lynn
Inspired by her husband Oliver Lynn’s infidelities while she was on tour, “Fist City” was Lynn’s warning to women to stay away from him or face the consequences: You gotta lay off of my man if you don’t wanna go to fist city. The song was banned from radio but still went to No. 1 Country chart, while the album Fist City also topped the chart.
[RELATED: 10 Memorable Songs by Loretta Lynn]
You’ve been making your brags around town that you’ve been loving my man
But the man I love, when he picks up trash he puts it in a garbage can
And that’s what you look like to me and what I see is a pity
You better close your face and stay out of my way if you don’t wanna go to Fist City
If you don’t wanna go to Fist City, you better detour around my town
‘Cause I’ll grab you by the hair of the head and I’ll lift you off of the ground
I’m not a saint, my baby’s a saint ’cause he ain’t natty, won’t cat around with a kitty
I’m here to tell you, you gotta lay off of my man if you don’t wanna go to Fist City
3. “Wings Upon Your Horns” (1969)
Written by Loretta Lynn
Recorded during the same session as “Coal Miner’s Daughter” at the Bradley’s Barn in Mount Juliet, Tennessee on October 1, 1969, “Wings Upon Your Horns” was another controversial story about the implications of losing one’s virginity.
In the song, a man smooth-talks a woman into having sex but doesn’t stay with her afterward. Within her lyrics, Lynn’s use of religious imagery—halos, wings, thorns—outraged some listeners at the time and led to the ban of the song. Despite being banned, “Wings Upon Your Horns” still did well for Lynn and peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1970.
Before you first made love to me
You called me, your wife-to-be
And after that, I saw the devil in your eyes
With your sweet smooth-talkin’ ways
You turned a flame into a blaze
The night I let you hang my wings upon your horns
Don’t tell me that I’m no saint
I’m the first to know I ain’t
There’s a little thing called love
And that’s what changed me
From an innocent country girl to a woman of the world
The night I let you hang my wings upon your horns
You hung my wings upon your horns
And turned my halo into thorns
And turned me into a woman I can’t stand
You’re the first to ever make me
Fall in love and then not take me
4. “Rated X” (1972)
Written by Loretta Lynn
You can’t have a male friend / When you’re a has-been or a woman sings Lynn on her 1972 No. 1 “Rated X.” The song calls out the double standards women often face as a divorcee and how a divorced woman is often perceived as loose or free. Released on Lynn’s 1972 release Entertainer of the Year, “Rated X” gave her another chart-topper, along with the album, which went to No. 1.
In the ’90s, Jack White, who later collaborated with Lynn on the Van Lear Rose in 2004, would often include “Rated X” in The White Stripes’s set.
Well, if you’ve been a married woman
And things didn’t seem to work out
Divorce is the key to bein’ loose and free
So you’re gonna be talked about
Everybody knows that you’ve loved once
They think you’ll love again
You can’t have a male friend
When you’re a has-been or a woman
You’re rated X
And if you’re rated X, you’re some kind of gold
Even men turnin’ silver try to make
But I think it’s wrong to judge every picture
If a cheap camera makes a mistake
And when your best friend’s husband says to you
You’ve sure started lookin’ good
You shoulda known he would, and he would if he could
And he will if you’re rated X
5. “The Pill” (1975)
Written by Loretta Lynn, Lorene Allen, Don McHan, and T. D. Bayless
Loretta Lynn’s most controversial song was one mirroring her real life. Released in 1975, “The Pill” was a protest song for women’s reproductive rights and remains one of the country icon’s most well-known hits, due to its still-fresh—at the time—and controversial subject matter.
“If I’d had the pill back when I was havin’ babies I’d have taken ’em like popcorn,” said Lynn who already had six babies by 1964 when birth control was still in its infancy in the U.S. “The pill is good for people. I wouldn’t trade my kids for anyone’s, but I wouldn’t necessarily have had six and I sure would have spaced ’em better.”
You wined me and dined me
When I was your girl
Promised if I’d be your wife
You’d show me the world
But all I’ve seen of this old world
Is a bed and a doctor bill
I’m tearin’ down your brooder house
‘Cause now I’ve got the pill
[RELATED: The Meaning of Loretta Lynn’s 1975 Reproductive Rights Song “The Pill”]
Originally recorded in 1972, it took Lynn several years to finally release “The Pill.” The song was held back by her label, and though birth control had been widely available for more than a decade, the more conservative country music world was not ready to celebrate the idea of female contraception.
Lynn eventually released the song as the only single off her 25th album Back to Country in 1975. Once released, “The Pill” was banned on some radio stations until it became a hit for the country singer. “The Pill” topped the charts in Canada and hit No. 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and even made its way to the U.S. pop charts, reaching No. 70 on the Hot 100.
“‘The Pill’ was banned, but when it hit the charts, they had to take it out of being banned,” said Lynn. “Everybody had to play it when it was on the charts.”
Photo: Richard E. Aaron/Redferns/Getty
