1964Released
2:56

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about D-I-V-O-R-C-E. By Songfacts®.

This #1 Country hit by Tammy Wynette was written by the southern songwriting duo of Robert Valentine (Bobby) Braddock and Claude "Curly" Putman, Jr. As a songwriting pair, Braddock and Putman's other big hit was "He Stopped Loving Her Today," performed by Wynette's third husband George Jones, and which is considered by many to be the greatest Country single of all time, and at the very least, the apotheosis of heartbreaking Country songs. In the span of his career, Bobby Braddock was responsible for 13 #1 hit singles. Curly Putman's most famous hit was "Green, Green Grass of Home," made famous by renditions by Tom Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis.

"D-I-V-O-R-C-E" is a confessional piece about the breakup of a marriage written from a woman's perspective. Wynette spells out words like "C-U-S-T-O-D-Y" and "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" in an attempt to hide this adult reality from her four-year-old son. It would seem, from the line, "I love you both, and it will be pure H.E. double L for me," that she is not the one that wants to leave. Wynette, mother of three and veteran of two broken marriages by 1968 (that very year she had an annulment) had the authentic life experience to bring across Braddock and Putman's lyrics with wisdom and sincerity, after being married at 17 and a mother of three (and divorcee) three years later. Her capacity to relate to this song on a fundamental level continued until her fifth marriage to the singer-songwriter George Richey, who wrote some of Wynette's hits in the 1970s, including Wynette's 15th number #1 Country hit, "Til I Can Make It on My Own" (1976). One man who did not propose was Burt Reynolds, with whom Wynette had a brief tryst in the late '70s.

Wynette was known as "The First Lady of Country Music," and she was important to the Country scene as a spokeswoman for neglected female perspectives and values in the late 1960s and '70s. After the song's release in May 1968, "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" quickly gained popularity due to Wynette's vocal charms, and a month later reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, also placing at #63 on the Billboard Hot 100. It became the title song of Wynette's third studio album, also released in 1968 to high acclaim, reaching #1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart.

Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of D-I-V-O-R-C-E.
AKey
MajorMode
4/4Time Signature
99BPM

Album

The album D-I-V-O-R-C-E is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released D-I-V-O-R-C-E.
Epic/Nashville
Originally Released 1964, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT/ (P) 1972, 193, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT/(P) 1991 KLF Communications

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