Ellen Muriel Deason, aka Kitty Wells, was 32 in 1951. Her latest country hit “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” crossed the line. It blamed men for a few glaring inequities.
It was heard by Alabama-born Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, 25. She had just signed with Peacock Records and was aiming for similar success. Her statement song was so powerful it was covered by Elvis Presley.
Loretta Lynn was a 19 year-old mother of three, still two years from receiving her first guitar from her husband as a birthday present. Wanda Jackson at 14 was already performing on the Oklahoma City radio stations where she first heard Kitty Wells and many others. She would snag a recording contract at 17.
All four scored in a tough, male dominated music business orbited around rough bars, juke joints, and smoke filled honky-tonks. They played one-nighters, visited out-of-the-way radio stations, and performed standing on orange crates in music centers and record stores.
And more than once they pondered real life in real songs. Grab a beer, it’s time for some “Honky Tonk Women’s History.” And don’t come home a-drinking with lovin’ on your mind.
HOUND DOG Big Mama Thornton
Big Mama Thornton’s version of Hound Dog, recorded almost four years before Elvis Presley got hold of it, takes on a whole new meaning when sung by a woman. And what a woman. Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller wrote the song for Thornton, who at the time was singing with the Johnny Otis band. It topped the R&B charts in 1953, then turned into a legal nightmare. The Peacock label gave Otis writing credit, then the lawyers swarmed in when various takeoffs were released. The story goes that Elvis was unaware of Big Mama’s version when he recorded what would become a monster hit in 1956. Still, savvy critics noted that the song made little sense when sung by a man. Here’s the original, exhibit A, Big Mama Thornton recording in Los Angeles on August 13, 1952.
FUNNEL OF LOVE Wanda Jackson
Born in the tiny town of Maud, Oklahoma in 1937, Wanda Jackson is today considered to be one of the first true female voices on the vast landscape of rock and roll. She got her break when Hank Thompson heard her singing on the radio in Oklahoma City. She dated Elvis, who told her to move away from country gospel and to use that big voice to rock out. Her first record came out in 1956. We’re going to tune into a 1961 song, wherein she combines the power of love with a familiar sight on the Okie weather Map. From 1961, Wanda Jackson and Funnel of Love…
THE PILL Loretta Lynn
It is hard to imagine today the controversy that surround Loretta Lynn’s ode to birth control, a song called simply, The Pill. She was once quoted as saying “I’ve always said that you have to be different, great, or first. So maybe I was first—first to come to town, write my own stuff and sing it. You know, I think that’s what the whole deal has been.” In 1975 she became the first recording artist to mention birth control in a song. T. D. Bayless wrote the lyrics, Loretta recorded the song in 1972, but her fearful label sat on it for three years. The idea that a woman might have control over her life by regulating the number of children she bears was simply too hot to handle. Even when the song was released, many country radio stations took it upon themselves to shelter the public from these radical notions. Here it is, uncut and uncensored. From 1975, Loretta Lynn and “The Pill.”
You wined me and dined me when I was your girl, Promised if I'd be your wife, you'd show me the worldBUT all I've seen of this old world is a bed and a doctor billI’m tearing down your brooder house 'cause now I've got THE PILL All these years, I've stayed at home while you had all your funAnd every year that's gone by, another baby's comeThere's gonna be some changes made right here on Nursery HillYou've set this chicken your last time 'cause now I've got THE PILL This old maternity dress I've got is going in the garbageThe clothes I'm wearing from now on won't take up so much yardageMiniskirts, hot pants, and a few little fancy frillsYeah, I'm making up for all those years since I've got THE PILL I’m-tired of all your crowing how you and your hens playWhile holding a couple in my arms, another is on the wayThis chicken's done tore up her nest and I'm ready to make a dealAnd you can't afford to turn it down 'cause you know I've got THE PILL This incubator is over-used because you've kept it filledBut feeling good comes easy now since I've got THE PILL It’s getting dark, it's roosting time, tonight's too good to be realAw, but Daddy don't you worry none 'cause Mama's got the pill Oh, Daddy don't you worry none 'cause Mama's got THE PILL💊
IT WASN’T GOD WHO MADE HONKY TONK ANGELS Kitty Wells
Unlike many successful country stars, Muriel Deason was actually born in Nashville. Her husband Johnnie Wright of Johnnie & Jack added her to open the show, but he changed her name to something a little catchier, after the old folk ballad I'm a Goin to Marry Kitty Wells. In 1952, she exhibited her own bit of cat power, with a single that served as an answer to Hank Thompson's Wild Side of Life. A feminist cowgirl who claimed unfaithful women were the spinoff from unfaithful men was something new and dicey, and the song itself solidified her as the Queen of Country Music, someone for young Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette to look up to. Here she is with the song that put her name in lights. Kitty Wells and “It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels...”
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