D-I-V-O-R-C-E
Encyclopedia
"D-I-V-O-R-C-E" is an American country music
song written by Bobby Braddock
and Curly Putman
, and made famous by Tammy Wynette
. Wynette's version was a number one country hit in 1968.
Recorded in 1968, "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" is a woman's perspective on the impending collapse of her marriage. The lyrics begin with an old parenting trick of spelling out words mothers and fathers hope their young children will not understand, they (the children) being not yet able to spell or comprehend the word's meaning. In this case, the soon-to-be-divorcee spells out words such as divorce
, Joe (the name of the woman's 4-year-old son), hell
and custody
to shield the young, carefree boy from the cruel, harsh realities of the world and the ultimate breakup of his mother and father.
Country music historian Bill Malone
wrote that Wynette's own tumultuous life (five marriages) "encompassed the jagged reality so many women have faced." Therefore, he asserts that Wynette identified so well with "D-I-V-O-R-C-E"; her rendition, Malone wrote, is "painfully sincere—there is no irony here—and if there is a soap opera quality to the dialogue, the content well mirrors both her own life and contemporary experience."
Wolff, meanwhile, hailed the song as "tearjerking as any country song before or since. It approaches parody, but stops just short thanks to the sincerity of Tammy's quivering voice."
Hot Country Singles
chart that June, and was also a minor pop hit, stopping at No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100
.
In 1975, a Tammy Wynette greatest hits album was released in the UK
. Two of the songs from this album ascended the British pop chart
that year, with "Stand by Your Man
" reaching the top of the chart in April and "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" climbing to a peak position of #12 in July.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
song written by Bobby Braddock
Bobby Braddock
Robert Valentine Braddock is an American country music songwriter and record producer. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Braddock has contributed numerous hit songs during more than 40 years in the industry, including 13 number-one hit...
and Curly Putman
Curly Putman
Claude "Curly" Putman, Jr. is an American songwriter, based in Nashville. His biggest success was "Green, Green Grass of Home" , which was covered by Elvis Presley, Johnny Darrell, Gram Parsons, Joan Baez, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roberto Leal, Merle Haggard, Bobby Bare, Joe Tex, Nana...
, and made famous by Tammy Wynette
Tammy Wynette
Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally as Tammy Wynette , was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of the genre's best-known artists and biggest-selling female vocalists....
. Wynette's version was a number one country hit in 1968.
Background
Just a year after Wynette scored her first hit with "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad," she had already gained a reputation for catering to the female perspective in country music that, according to country music writer Kurt Wolff, audiences badly craved. Her repertoire already included songs that urged understanding and forgiveness, but critics noted she had also become adept at singing songs of heartbreak. In Wolff's words, "(W)hen the end of the road was reached, she also spoke plainly of the hard issues facing modern day couples."Recorded in 1968, "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" is a woman's perspective on the impending collapse of her marriage. The lyrics begin with an old parenting trick of spelling out words mothers and fathers hope their young children will not understand, they (the children) being not yet able to spell or comprehend the word's meaning. In this case, the soon-to-be-divorcee spells out words such as divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
, Joe (the name of the woman's 4-year-old son), hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
and custody
Child custody
Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...
to shield the young, carefree boy from the cruel, harsh realities of the world and the ultimate breakup of his mother and father.
Country music historian Bill Malone
Bill Malone
Bill C. Malone is an American historian specializing in country music and other forms of traditional American music. He is the author of the 1968 book Country Music, U.S.A., the first definitive academic history of country music...
wrote that Wynette's own tumultuous life (five marriages) "encompassed the jagged reality so many women have faced." Therefore, he asserts that Wynette identified so well with "D-I-V-O-R-C-E"; her rendition, Malone wrote, is "painfully sincere—there is no irony here—and if there is a soap opera quality to the dialogue, the content well mirrors both her own life and contemporary experience."
Wolff, meanwhile, hailed the song as "tearjerking as any country song before or since. It approaches parody, but stops just short thanks to the sincerity of Tammy's quivering voice."
Chart performance
"D-I-V-O-R-C-E" was released in May 1968, and became one of Wynette's fastest-climbing songs to that time. It reached number one on the BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Country Singles
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart that June, and was also a minor pop hit, stopping at No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
.
In 1975, a Tammy Wynette greatest hits album was released in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Two of the songs from this album ascended the British pop chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
that year, with "Stand by Your Man
Stand By Your Man
"Stand by Your Man" is a song co-written by Tammy Wynette and Billy Sherrill and originally recorded by Tammy Wynette, released as a single in September 1968 in the USA...
" reaching the top of the chart in April and "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" climbing to a peak position of #12 in July.
| Chart (1968) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 63 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 74 |
| Chart (1975) | Peak position |
| Dutch Top 40 | 9 |
| U.K. Singles Chart | 12 |
Covers
- Dolly PartonDolly PartonDolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
- Dottie WestDottie WestDottie West was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and co-recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most influential and groundbreaking female artists...
- Duane Allman and the Hour GlassHour Glass (band)The Hour Glass were a 1960s rhythm and blues band based in Los Angeles, California between 1967 and 1968. Among their members were two future members of the Allman Brothers Band and three future studio musicians at the world-renowned Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama .-History:Formed from the...
(1968)
Use In film
- The original Tammy Wynette recording features in the films Five Easy PiecesFive Easy PiecesFive Easy Pieces is a 1970 American drama film written by Carole Eastman and Bob Rafelson, and directed by Rafelson. The film stars Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, and Susan Anspach. The cast also includes Billy 'Green' Bush, Fannie Flagg, Ralph Waite, Sally Struthers, Lois Smith, Toni Basil, and...
(1970) and Wynette's 1973 re-recording of the song (which originally appeared on her Kids Say the Dardndest Things (1973) album appeared in Brokeback MountainBrokeback MountainBrokeback Mountain is a 2005 romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee. It is a film adaptation of the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx with the screenplay written by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry...
(2006).
Parodies
- B.A.C.O.N and E.G.G.S was performed primarily by Homer and JethroHomer and JethroHomer and Jethro were the stage names of American country music duo Henry D. Haynes and Kenneth C. Burns , popular from the 1940s through the 1960s on radio and television for their satirical versions of popular songs...
. - R.E.F.E.R.E.E. written and sung by Max BoyceMax BoyceMaxwell Boyce MBE is a Welsh comedian, singer and former coal miner. He rose to fame during the mid-1970s with an act that combined musical comedy with his passion for rugby union and his origins in the mining communities of South Wales...
, as a response to a controversial refereeing decision in the 1974 Five Nations match between England and Wales at Twickenham. - A comic versionD.I.V.O.R.C.E."D.I.V.O.R.C.E." is a 1975 UK number-one single by Scottish folk singer and comedian Billy Connolly. A comedy song, it reached #1 for one week in November 1975 and was one of the few songs of its genre to reach this milestone....
sung by ScottishScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
comedian Billy ConnollyBilly ConnollyWilliam "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
(lyrics written by Wilma H Polmont), with a dog in place of the little boy in the lyrics and spelled out words such as vetVeterinarianA veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
and quarantineQuarantineQuarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
, was a No. 1 hit the UK in November 1975. - The musical number "U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D.U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D."U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D." is a popular song from the musical Starlight Express, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. It is performed by Dinah the Dining Car, after being dumped by her macho boyfriend, Greaseball. It is a parody of the Tammy Wynette song,...
" from the musical Starlight ExpressStarlight ExpressStarlight Express is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber , Richard Stilgoe and Arlene Phillips , with later revisions by Don Black and David Yazbek . The story follows a child's dream in which his toy train set comes to life; famously the actors perform wearing roller skates...
also parodies "D-I-V-O-R-C-E." - The Circle JerksCircle JerksThe Circle Jerks are an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Los Angeles, California. It was formed by Black Flag's original singer, Keith Morris, and future Bad Religion guitarist Greg Hetson. They were among the preeminent hardcore punk bands of the L.A. scene in the late 1970s.The band...
(a punk rock group from Southern California) released a medley of pop songs in 1983 entitled Golden Shower of HitsGolden Shower of HitsGolden Shower of Hits is the third studio album by the American hardcore punk band the Circle Jerks. It was released in 1983 through Allegiance Records and was the band's last album to feature Roger Rogerson on bass and Lucky Lehrer on drums...
that includes the first verse and chorus of "D-I-V-O-R-C-E." - At the 2009 CMA Awards, co-hosts Brad PaisleyBrad PaisleyBrad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
and Carrie UnderwoodCarrie UnderwoodCarrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...
sang a parody of the song to indicate the recent announcement that country musicCountry musicCountry music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
duo Brooks & DunnBrooks & DunnBrooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...
is splitting.