In her first #1 country hit, Loretta Lynn is fed up with her alcoholic husband who gets drunk with his buddies and comes home expecting to get frisky with his neglected wife. Lynn could certainly relate to the scenario, as almost all of the turmoil in her nearly 50-year marriage was caused by her husband's alcoholism, but a different marriage inspired the song. Her sister Peggy Sue was struggling with the same issues in her first marriage and brought the song idea to Lynn, who fleshed it out. Peggy Sue was following Lynn's path as an aspiring singer who was trying to carve out a career while raising children and making her marriage work. Lynn recalled in Honky Tonk Girl: My Life In Lyrics: "I looked at what she had on paper, and I kind of knew what she was trying to say. It's like when there's twins, the old saying is, 'What one can't think of, the other one can.' I've always had this feeling with Peggy that I am kind of inside her head. Maybe it's because she means so much to me. We can look at each other and know what the other is thinking. Sometimes it's not good to be like that, but when the song was finished, we both thought it was great."
Peggy Sue, who went on to marry singer/songwriter Sonny Wright, released her debut album, Dynamite!, in 1969.
In 1967 Lynn's brother Jay Lee Webb released the answer song "I Come Home A-Drinkin' (To a Worn Out Wife Like You)," which peaked at #21 on the country chart.
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