On This Day in 1966, Loretta Lynn Scored Her First No. 1 Album With a Record Inspired by a Real-Life Love Triangle

On this day (November 14) in 1966, Loretta Lynn sat atop the Billboard Hot Country Albums chart for the first time in her career with You Ain’t Woman Enough. On her seventh studio LP, Lynn continued to deconstruct the pervasive myth of the demure Southern belle on songs like the title track. The album also included covers of hits by Nancy Sinatra (“These Boots Are Made For Walkin”) and Dolly Parton (“Put It Off Until Tomorrow”).

You Ain’t Woman Enough dethroned Ray Price’s Another Bridge to Burn at the top spot. It held that position for two weeks before Another Bridge to Burn reclaimed the title.

How a Fan Inspired Loretta Lynn’s Signature Hit

Although Loretta Lynn’s own volatile marriage to Oliver Lynn inspired numerous hits, she based “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)” off a complete stranger’s relationship.

Lynn was backstage preparing for a show when a young woman approached her in her dressing room. She then confided in the country singer that another woman was trying to steal her husband away from her.

The two then peeked behind the curtain, and the fan pointed out the would-be “other woman” and her husband, sitting side by side in the audience.

“I looked out there and I seen this painted-up girl… and the little girl that was standing there beside me, she didn’t have any makeup on, but she was a beautiful little girl,” Lynn recalled in a 2016 interview with PBS.

Looking back at the woman, Lynn declared, “Honey, she ain’t woman enough to take your man.”

“I went to the dressing room and wrote it in 10 minutes,” she said.

Lynn delivers a warning to the “other woman” with her trademark grit and flair.

Women like you, they’re a dime a dozen, you can buy ’em anywhere / For you to get to him, I’d have to move over and I’m gonna stand right here / It’ll be over my dead body so get out while you can / ‘Cause you ain’t woman enough to take my man.

Reaching No. 2 on the country songs chart, “You Ain’t Woman Enough” gave Lynn her eighth Top 10 single.

[RELATED: Loretta Lynn’s Grammy-Winning Album That Mysteriously Vanished From Streaming Is Finally Coming Back]

Moreover, it established the blueprint for Lynn’s future frank, in-your-face hits such as “Fist City” and her first No. 1 hit, “Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)”.

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