Woke up this morning with this song in my head, and found myself singing it as I made coffee, fixed my hair and climbed into the car to take on my long commute to work. The song will always remind me of my Aunt and her love of women in country music, and strong fuck you kind of songs like this one. I was five years old singing-a-long at the top of my lungs to this one, amongst others, played on her 8-track.

As a young girl, I loved the way Loretta Lynn pronounced Irish Setter and hair, and how she sang about women’s liberation. As I grew a little older it was the line about loving them all that would make me laugh, and sing-a-long even louder.

I remember taking my Aunt to see the film Coal Miner’s Daughter, and accompanying her to a country music festival at Knott’s Berry Farm when I was about nine years old.  I was just on the cusp of realizing what my Aunt’s neurological and developmental issues were, the realization that I would move past her in growth. I think for awhile it upset me and disarmed me, but I had no one to talk to about it, no one to help me understand. Looking back, I regret not staying close with her, and I regret not finding a way to let her see one of her women of country live in concert.

Had she lived into my adult years I would have found a way to take her. And, I would have thanked her for the music she brought in to my life, music I am not sure I would have been exposed to so early had it not been for her.

Hey Loretta :: Loretta Lynn