Within their six albums together, Naomi Judd left her mark on nearly every release by The Judds. From The Judds’ 1984 debut EP Wynonna & Naomi and full-length debut Why Not Me through River of Time in 1989, Judd also wrote one of her most memorable songs, “Love Can Build a Bridge,” as the title track of the duo’s sixth and final album together in 1990.
Throughout their career, The Judds sold more than 20 million albums and earned 14 No. 1 hits between 1984 and 1991. The duo also won nine CMA Awards, seven ACMs, and five Grammys before breaking up in 1991, after Naomi was diagnosed with Hepatitis C.
Before Naomi’s death on April 30, 2022, at age 76, she shared one last, emotional reunion with Wynonna at the 2022 CMT Awards with the duo performing an emotional rendition of “Love Can Build a Bridge.”
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A year earlier, Naomi was inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Judds were also inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, one day after Naomi’s death, and daughters Wynonna and Ashley accepted the honor on behalf of their mother.
[RELATED: Top 10 Songs by The Judds (1984-1990)]
Beyond her contributions to The Judds’ catalog, Naomi also penned a collection of songs throughout her daughter Wynonna’s solo career. Here’s a look at six songs Naomi wrote or co-wrote for The Judds and Wynonna.
1. “Change of Heart” (1984)
Written by Naomi Judd
Initially released on The Judds’ 1984 debut EP, Wynonna & Naomi, “Change of Heart” gave the duo one of their No. 1 hits. Along with their debut single, a cover of the Dennis Linde-penned “Had a Dream (For the Heart),” peaking at No. 17 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, they also had their first No. 1 with “Mama, He’s Crazy,” written by Kenny O’Dell. Wynonna & Naomi also reached No. 8 on the Top Country Albums chart.
Though “Change of Heart” was also released as a single at this time it eventually gave The Judds their 12th No. 1 years later when it was re-released on their 1988 Greatest Hits compilation.
When you were mine
I was still playing
And promises I made
Were just words I was saying
I was playing you for a fool
Breaking love’s precious rule
I did you so wrong
Guess you knew all along
That I had my boss lie for me
To say I was working late
And my friends alibied for me
When I’d slip out to meet a date
But, baby, now I see
I was only cheating me
Before you go
I just want you to know
2. “Mr. Pain” (1984)
Written by Naomi Judd and Kent Robbins
On The Judds’ debut album Why Not Me, the duo worked with a collection of songwriters, and Naomi teamed up with Kent Robbins for one song, and co-wrote the slow-brooded ballad “Mr. Pain.” Naomi’s lyrics follow a heartbreaking first love gone bad.
Met my first love down in Texas
In a club in San Anton’
Both of us were lonely
Had no one to call our own
So we danced and laughed ’til closin’ time
And had no place to go
So with the top pulled down, drove all night
Run off to Mexico
But my blond-haired blue-eyed cowboy
Turned out to be bad news
Disappeared one morning
Left his old boots and the blues
Now there’s been so many others
But none of them were true
The only one I could count on
To keep me company is you
3. “Guardian Angels” (1989)
Written by Naomi Judd, John Barlow Jarvis, Don Schlitz
Naomi’s nostalgic “Guardian Angels” is reminiscent of the duo’s 1985 song “Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout The Good Old Days)” and leans back to their roots, family history, and memories. The song was released on The Judds’ fifth album River of Time in 1990, which went to No. 2 on the Country chart. Co-written by Naomi, “Guardian Angels” also went to No. 16 on the country chart. Naomi also co-wrote the title track of the album with John Barlow Jarvis.
A hundred-year-old photograph stares out from a frame
And if you look real close, you’ll see our eyes are just the same
I never met them face to face but I still know them well
From the stories my dear grandma would tell
Elijah was a farmer, he knew how to make things grow
And Fannie vowed she’d follow him wherever he would go
As things turned out, they never left their small Kentucky farm
But he kept her fed, she kept him warm
They’re my guardian angels and I know they can see
Every step I take, they are watching over me
I might not know where I’m goin’ but I’m sure where I come from
They’re my guardian angels and I’m their special one
4. “This Country’s Rockin'” (1990)
Written by Naomi Judd, Keith Sykes, Robert White Johnson
Along with co-writing one of The Judds’ most well-known hits, “Love Can Build a Bridge” with Paul Overstreet and John Barlow Jarvis, Naomi also penned another song on their final album together. Her more uptempo contribution, “This Country’s Rockin'” was co-written with Keith Sykes and Robert White Johnson and is an ode to good old-fashioned Kentucky country music.
Following the release of Love Can Build a Bridge, which also went to No. 5 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, the Judds went on their farewell tour in 1991 before splitting.
It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor
If you’re old or young
Everybody, every now and then has got to have some fun
So, turn up the music, turn up the juice
Just put me in the spotlight and turn me loose
You better hold on tight
This country’s gonna rock tonight
This country’s rockin’
To the beat of a brand-new drum
Back in Kentucky, where I come from
They love to hear that old guitar strum
This country’s rockin’
Jump back and let the bad boys play
Everywhere across the USA
This country’s rockin’ all the way
[RELATED: The Universal Meaning and “Farewell” Behind The Judds’ 1990 Hit “Love Can Build a Bridge”]
5. “My Strongest Weakness,” Wynonna (1992)
Written by Naomi Judd and Mike Reid
A year after The Judds broke up, Wynonna branched out on her solo career and released her eponymous debut. Wynonna produced three No. 1 hits right from the start with the singles “I Saw the Light,” “She Is His Only Need,” and “No One Else on Earth.” She also went to No. 4 with a heartfelt ballad co-written by her mother, “My Strongest Weakness.” Kenny Chesney later covered “It’s Never Easy to Say Goodbye,” from Wynonna, on his 1996 album Me and You.
The keeper of the gates of wisdom
Please let me in
‘Cause I just can’t go through
Another heartache again
Pretty lies and alibis
How could I be so blind?
Now all alone and scared to stay
Slowly going out of my mind
He was my strongest weakness
I surrendered heart and soul
It’s gonna be a long, long time
‘Til I regain control
I’m still a prisoner
Held captive by his memory
He was my strongest weakness
And I’m afraid he’ll always be
Wynonna went to No. 1 on the U.S. and Canadian Country charts and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
6. “Big Bang Boogie,” Wynonna (2000)
Written by Naomi Judd and Gary Nicholson
In 2000, Wynonna’s fifth album, New Day Dawning, was accompanied by an EP that reunited Wynonna with her mother. The song “Stuck in Love” gave them their first charting single in nearly a decade, and Naomi also co-wrote the rockabilly-bent “Big Bang Boogie” for the EP.
About 14 billion years ago God put on a really big show
He winked his eye, let a thunderbolt fly
And the moon and the stars appeared in the sky
His toes started tappin’, fingers started snappin’
He laughed, jumpin’, Jupiter this is happenin’
He did the big bang boogie
He did the big bang boogie
He did the big bang boogie
He said,”Let the dance begin”
He made the birds of the air, the fish of the sea
The beasts of the field, Adam and Eve
He worked six days long, gettin’ it right
Naomi went on to write several more songs for Wynonna’s solo albums, including “That Was Yesterday” on the second album Tell Me Why in 1993 and she also sang on “Don’t You Throw That Mojo at Me,” with Kenny Wayne Shepard on her daughter’s 1997 release The Other Side.
In 2003, Naomi shared another duet with her daughter on “Flies on the Butter (You Can’t Go Home Again)” from Wynonna’s sixth album What the World Needs Now Is Love in 2003.
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
