The Story Behind the Song The Made Loretta Lynn Cry and One She Barely Performed Live

In 2000, Loretta Lynn released her first album in more than a decade and four years after the death of her husband of nearly 50 years, Oliver Lynn (also called “Mooney” and “Doo”). Her 41st album, Still Country was a book of recollections of her love story with Mooney, including “On My Own Again” by Randy Scruggs, and “Table for Two,” written for Lynn by Vince Gill.

On the album, Lynn also co-wrote another ballad inspired by something Mooney said during his final days As he was dying, he told Lynn that he couldn’t hear her sing anymore. “He was my biggest critic and my greatest fan,” Lynn told the New York Times in 2000. “I didn’t know he couldn’t hear anymore. I thought he didn’t want to hear me.”

Written by Lynn, Kendal Franceschi, and Cody James, “I Can’t Hear the Music” is Lynn’s love letter to her husband, and how she doesn’t hear the music the same now that he’s gone.

He showed me there was more to me
When I thought I had nothing else to give
God knows he wasn’t perfect
Ah, but then, again, nobody is

He always told me the truth
No matter how hard it was to hear
When he said, “I believe in you”
It was music to my ears

Oh, each word’s like a note, like a beautiful tune
The kind that inspires and helps me get through
Ah, if I said I can’t, he’d say, “You can”
He was my toughest critic, ah, my biggest fan

Now he’s gone to a distant shore
And I can’t hear the music anymore

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[RELATED: Why Vince Gill Wrote the 2000 Ballad “Table for Two” for Loretta Lynn]

“I’ll sing it one day when I’m crazy”

Working out of Scruggs’ studio in Berry Hill, Tennessee, Lynn said it was difficult for Lynn to get through recording the track. “I cried and cried when I recorded that song,” she recalled. “I can’t get myself to perform it in concert yet. Even on the album, I made it up-tempo so everyone’s not weeping and crying.”

Lynn added, “I’ll sing it one day when I’m crazy. As if I’m not crazy already.”

Sometimes late at night
I forget that he’s not lyin’ next to me
He may be out of sight
But out of mine is something he won’t ever be

Things that he said to me
Are still ringing out loud and clear
When he said, “I love you, baby”
That was music to my ears

[RELATED: The Story Behind the Final Song Loretta Lynn Wrote for Her Husband “Doo”]

Oh, each word’s like a note, like a beautiful tune
The kind that inspires and helps me get through
Ah, if I said I can’t, he’s say, “You can”
He was my toughest critic, ah, my biggest fan

Now he’s gone to a distant shore
And I can’t hear the music anymore

I can’t hear the music

Although Lynn regularly performed some of her other songs about Lynn and their tumultuous love from “Don’t Come Home A’ Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind),” “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)” and “Fist City,” among many others, she couldn’t perform “I Can’t Hear the Music” as often.

Photo: Loretta Lynn (r) and her husband Oliver Lynn, Jr., 1980s. (Fotos International/Getty Images)