Introduction:
On This Day (September 12) in 1966, Loretta Lynn released You Ain’t Woman Enough. The 12-track collection went to No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart in November and stayed there for two weeks. It was the first of ten chart-topping albums for Lynn.
Lynn saw early success on the album chart. Her 1963 debut, Loretta Lynn Sings, peaked at No. 2. Her next six albums fell within the top 20, including a gospel record and a collaboration with Ernest Tubb. You Ain’t Woman Enough, though, brought her a new level of success. It was her first album to reach No. 1. It was also her first to chart on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 140.
Loretta Lynn Introduces a Signature Song
For fans, the album’s contents are more important than its success. The tracklist featured covers of “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” and “Put It Off Until Tomorrow.” The latter was an early Dolly Parton cut, penned by Parton and her uncle Bill Owens. It also contained Loretta Lynn’s signature song, “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man).”
The album’s title track and sole single was Lyun’s biggest hit at the time, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The song established the fiery attitude that would remain at the center of her identity for the remainder of her career.
“When I wrote ‘You Ain’t Woman Enough,’ this little woman come backstage, and she said, ‘Loretta, my husband didn’t bring me to the show tonight.’ She said, ‘He’s got a girlfriend and he brought her. She’s sitting right out in that second row with my husband,’” Lynn recalled. “We kind of pulled the curtain back and looked at him. I looked around at that lady that came backstage, and I said, ‘Honey, she ain’t woman enough to take your man.’ I went in the dressing room right then and wrote that song before the show ever started.”