On this day (June 16) in 1973, Tammy Wynette topped the Hot Country Songs chart with “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” While the song shares a title with a cute radio and TV series, the lyrics are devastating. These kids aren’t making off-color jokes they don’t understand. Instead, they’re unknowingly revealing the infidelity that put their parents on the road to divorce.
Wynette released her debut single in 1966 and found her first solo No. 1 the next year with “I Don’t Wanna Play House.” The rest of the decade saw most of her singles reaching the top of the chart. At the same time, she was slowly making a name for herself as an expert interpreter of sad songs. Wynette could inject all of the pain and loneliness needed to take a set of sad lyrics to the next level.
Videos by American Songwriter
By 1973, Wynette had scored 13 No. 1 singles, many of which dealt with heartbreak and the end of relationships. However, none were quite as sad as “Kids Say the Darndest Things,” in hindsight. At the time, it was holding a mirror up to families across the United States.
Tammy Wynette Taps Into a Cultural Phenomenon
Written by Billy Sherrill and Glenn Sutton, “Kids Say the Darndest Things” put Tammy Wynette in a position to paint a picture of a fraction of America’s families.
According to attorney David W. Smith, getting a divorce was difficult, especially for women, prior to the introduction of no-fault laws in the 1970s. These laws meant that one didn’t need to prove their spouse was abusive or unfaithful to end a marriage. As a result, many felt trapped in their marriage. So, when those laws hit the books, divorce rates spiked. By 1973, roughly four of every 10 marriages ended in divorce, and the rate continued to climb throughout the decade.
The song’s verses illustrate how young children dealt with the dissolution of their parents’ marriages. The first verse discusses a little girl who dresses up in her mother’s clothes while playing a game and says, “I want a divorce.” Another verse is about a child who hears their father talking to his mistress on the phone.
Five decades later, the divorce rate has dropped. However, there are still plenty of people who lived through one of these scenarios for this to rank among Tammy Wynette’s saddest hits.
Featured Image by Paul W. Bailey/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images