On The 40th Anniversary of Loretta Lynn’s ‘The Pill,’ Women Are Still Fighting The Battle For Contraception (VIDEO)
Go ahead, tell me a country singer from Kentucky didn't love Jesus...
My mother was born two months before country singer Loretta Lynn and, like Loretta, married young and had a baby on her hip by the time she was 17; Loretta shortly after her 14th birthday. Loretta had 4 before she left her teen years behind and eventually had 2 more after that for a total of 6 children. Both women found a way to work outside their homes, and neither was comfortable being barefoot and pregnant. Mom was born in the great state of Kansas and Loretta, in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky. Two country women born at a time when birth control was not talked about and certainly not debated.
But a revolution was happening. In 1960, women were introduced to the Pill. This little invention made it possible for women to step out of the house and pursue careers beyond homemaking—if they so desired. Neither Loretta or my mother ever condemned homemakers or the extremely challenging career of raising and running a family—but both sought something else. The Pill gave them control over their future by giving them control over their bodies.
Forty years ago, in 1972, Loretta Lynn recorded a song entitled: THE PILL. It told her story. It told my mother’s story. It told millions of women’s stories. The song was banned on numerous stations throughout the South and was not officially released until 1975. The song took on a life of its own and became the topic of many a Sunday service. When released, it topped the Country and Western chart at #5 and became one of Loretta’s signature tunes.
In an interview for Playgirl Magazine, Lynn recounted how she had been congratulated after the song’s success by a number of rural physicians, telling her how “The Pill” had done more to highlight the availability of birth control in isolated, rural areas, than all the literature they’d released.
2012: The Catholic Bishops, the GOP, the Obama Administration and just about everyone is debating contraception. Discussions on the Pill have taken on a life of their own this past month. Congress is holding hearings about women and their reproductive health rights with the Pill taking center stage. If one didn’t know better, they would think Ms. Lynn wrote this as an anthem to the discourse taking place throughout the nation—today. Instead, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of her song and the road traveled by millions of women around the world—packing their contraception packets of their Pills.
The Pill (lyrics and video): (Songwriters: Lorene Allen, T D Bayless, Don Mchan)
You wined me and dined me,
When I was your girl,
Promised if I’d be your wife,
You’d show me the world.But all I’ve seen of this old world,
Is a bed and a doctor bill,
I’m tearin’ down your brooder house,
‘Cause now I’ve got the pill.All these years I’ve stayed at home,
While you had all your fun,
And every year that’s gone by,
Another baby’s come.There’s a gonna be some changes made,
Right here on nursery hill,
You’ve set this chicken your last time,
‘Cause now I’ve got the pill.This old maternity dress I’ve got,
Is goin’ in the garbage,
The clothes I’m wearin’ from now on,
Won’t take up so much yardage.Miniskirts, hot pants,
And a few little fancy frills,
Yeah, I’m makin’ up for all those years,
Since I’ve got the pill.I’m tired of all your crowin’,
How you and your hens play,
While holdin’ a couple in my arms,
Another’s on the way.This chicken’s done tore up her nest,
And I’m ready to make a deal,
And ya can’t afford to turn it down,
‘Cause you know I’ve got the pill.This incubator is overused,
Because you’ve kept it filled,
The feelin’ good comes easy now,
Since I’ve got the pill.It’s gettin’ dark it’s roostin’ time,
Tonight’s too good to be real
Oh, 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…
Loretta and my mom—two country girls who stood up and said, “this is my body!” And to those who are now trying to roll back the clock, here’s something to think about:
“Just how far out of the mainstream is the GOP as they fight the evils of contraception?
They’re to the right of a white Christian woman from eastern Kentucky in 1972.”
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Author: Debi Johnson-Champ
I was born in Kansas to a Republican elected Sheriff and a beautiful, hard-working and giving Republican wife. At very young ages, they realized that they had liberal hearts. They left Kansas and headed to Colorado in the early 60's and were lifelong liberals. They raised me to help my neighbor and to look to the political process for putting into place the laws that would govern our lives. I am a self-described bleeding heart liberal. I went to law school and found myself a liberal husband and raised two liberal hard-working kids with kind hearts and big dreams. I, too, have big dreams.
10:04 pm
I heard this song on KVET in Austin, Texas in 1972. When I first saw this article, I was thinking of Loretta’s song even before it was mentioned.