“You Ain’t Woman Enough” was in many ways like Loretta’s other self-penned records, as it was inspired by a real-life experience. A friend had come to one of her concerts, and went backstage to visit with Loretta between sets. This lady’s husband had been stepping out on her, and she told Loretta about it. In fact, this ole boy and his girlfriend were sitting on the front row of the show! The girlfriend’s face was packed with makeup (Lynn later remembered “you could have shoveled it off with a shovel”).
As Loretta and her friend were watching them from behind the stage curtains, Loretta turned to the lady and said, “Why, she ain’t woman enough to take your man.” Immediately she realized that she had uttered a terrific title for a song. Lynn went back to her dressing room and wrote “You Ain’t Woman Enough.”
Loretta’s 11th single for the Decca label entered Billboard’s country singles chart on June 4, 1966, and steadily pushed up the ladder until mid-August when it stalled at #2 for two weeks, unable to crawl over David Houston’s nine-week chart-topper “Almost Persuaded.”
Houston’s ode to the temptations of cheating with an appealing young woman flew in the face of the message Lynn was preaching in “You Ain’t Woman Enough.” While Houston may have won this skirmish, Loretta would win the war. After 23 weeks on the chart, “You Ain’t Woman Enough” faded. Yet even after the song had made its final playlist bow, the effects of Lynn’s powerful declaration were still felt.
Lynn’s next single voiced another women’s issue that was long overdue: amorous, drunk husbands. “Don’t Come Home A’Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” would land Loretta at the top spot in Billboard for the very first time (her first of 16 number one hits). This song would also provoke enough controversy to be banned in several cities for being so vociferous with its message. It would not be the last of Loretta’s records to receive this type of reaction.
Over the course of her next 50 singles, Lynn would make the pitch for women’s rights time and time again. Through her songwriting, she expressed what most women had long thought, but had been afraid to declare in public. Lynn lobbied against abuse, adultery and alcohol, and sided for birth control and assertive wives long before these topics became mainstream issues.
