The touching story behind Loretta Lynn’s iconic song 'You Ain't Woman Enough'

By Sarthak Parajulee

Nov 08, 2018

11:30 A.M.

The iconic country singer opened up during an exclusive interview about how a fan’s story inspired one of her greatest ever country hits.

While speaking to PBS, Loretta Lynn recalled the day when the idea for her iconic song, “You Ain’t Woman Enough” struck her. To everyone’s surprise, the inspiration for it was sparked by a fan who walked in backstage during a conversation in her dressing room.

When one of her shows was just about to start, a fan made her way into the dressing room and poured her heart out to the singer. In an emotional confession, she told Lynn about a girl who was trying to steal her husband away.

“She confided to me that her husband had not brought her to the concert. Instead, he had brought ‘the other woman,’” she told in her PBS interview.

The woman further informed Lynn that her husband and his girlfriend were sitting out in the second row. “And we kind of pulled the curtain back and looked at him,” Lynn added.

Lynn looked at the woman and found her beautiful just the way she was, even without the makeup. She then told her, “Honey, she ain’t woman enough to take your man.”

Following the incident, Lynn went back inside her dressing room and finished writing the song in just about ten minutes. She surprisingly finished it before her show even started.

It was Lynn’s amazing ability to empathize with another human being and her close relationship with her fan that inspired the song and resulted in one of her biggest country hits.

According to Country Music Family, when the song was released in 1966, it reached at No. 2 on the Country Charts.

It was also the title track of Lynn’s first album that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. The same album was also the first one from Lynn that made it into Billboard 200 chart.

As one of the most celebrated artists of all time, Lynn was all set to be honored as Artist of a Lifetime at the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year ceremony on October 17.

However, the star failed to attend the event due to an illness. Actress Sissy Spacek stepped up to accept the honor in Lynn’s behalf. Spacek previously won the Academy Award for her portrayal of Lynn in the 1980 film that was inspired by Lynn’s song, “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

Lynn later took to Facebook to inform her fans that she was recovering from the illness and was resting at her home after returning from the hospital.