Landing her first solo No. 1 hit with 1967’s “I Don’t Wanna Play House”, Tammy Wynette gained a reputation for speaking directly to an often-underserved country music audience: female listeners. Never shying away from the messy realities of romantic relationships, Wynette plainly spoke her truth—which was often true for women across the U.S. On this day (March 22) in 1968, she recorded Bobby Braddock and Curly Putnam’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E”, which would later become her third straight solo No. 1.
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Tammy Wynette Had Firsthand Experience With the Subject Matter
1968 was also the year Tammy Wynette would experience her second divorce after just one year of marriage to Don Chapel. Her tumultuous first marriage to Euple Byrd—whom she married at 17—would land her in a psychiatric hospital after she suffered a nervous breakdown following one argument.
All that to say, Wynette was no stranger to “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” when she recorded the first single and title track from her fourth studio album. Our narrator of this heartbreaking tale is doing her best to cushion the blow of marital separation from her 4-year-old son. Our D-I-V-O-R-C-E becomes final today / Me and little J-O-E will be going away / I love you both and this will be pure H-E-double L for me / Oh, I wish that we could stop this D-I-V-O-R-C-E.
Undoubtedly, the song struck a chord for many wives and mothers. Herself a mother of three daughters at the time, Wynette later remarked, “I hated myself for not writing that song. It fit my life completely.”
Released in May 1968, “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” was at the top of the country charts by June. Also reaching No. 63 on the pop charts, it also earned Wynette a Grammy nomination for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. (However, she lost to Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.”)
“I Believe My Dad Was the Love of Her Life”
Overall, Tammy Wynette married five times, including six years with fellow country superstar George Jones. Known as “Mr. and Mrs. Country Music”, the pair divorced in 1975.
However, their daughter recently revealed that Wynette never quite got over the “Grand Tour” crooner. During a recent appearance on the Drifting Cowboys podcast, Georgette Jones said that her mother grew sentimental about her third ex-husband in the days leading up to her death in 1998.
“She hated [that] it wasn’t at a time where they could have made it work, that maybe had it been different timing for them when they met and were together, maybe it could have been different,” Georgette said. “She would always love him. I believe my dad was the love of her life.”
Featured image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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