Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner’s Daughter

Country singer Wynona Judd once commented that only country singer/songwriter Loretta Lynn could make the words hard and tired (tar’d) rhyme. She’s right and Loretta did that with much talent when she gave pride to growing up poor in her childhood through her song Coal Miner’s Daughter.
Here are a few videos (the lyrics are at the end).


Old memorabilia:

Loretta in 1971

Loretta Lynn in a FloCoat Commercial!

Loretta Lynn In a Crisco Commercial with her husband Doo!

Sissy Spacek studied Loretta Lynn, her mannerisms and singing, and then played her in the movie Coal Miner’s Daughter. She sang all the songs in the movie.

Lyrics
Well, I was born a coal miner’s daughter
In a cabin on a hill in Butcher Holler
We were poor but we had love
That’s the one thing my Daddy made sure of
He shoveled coal to make a poor man’s dollar
My daddy worked all night in the Van Lear coal mine
All day long in the field hoeing corn
Mama rocked the baby at night
Read the Bible by a coal oil light
And everything would start all over come break of morn
Daddy loved and raised eight kids on a coal miner’s pay
Mama scrubbed our clothes on a washboard every day
I’ve seen her fingers bleed
To complain there was no need
She’d smile in Mama’s understanding way
In the summertime we didn’t have shoes to wear
But in the wintertime we’d all get a brand new pair
From a mail-order catalogue, money made by selling a hog
Daddy always seemed to get the money somewhere
I’m proud to be a coal miner’s daughter
I remember well, the well where I drew water
The work we done was hard
At night we’d sleep, cause we were tired
I never thought I’d ever leave Butcher Holler
Well a lot of things have changed, since way back when
And it’s so good to be back home again
Not much left but the floor
Nothing lives here anymore
Just a memory of a coal miner’s daughter
–Taken from Country Gold USA.com

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