Loretta Lynn passed away at the age of 90, leaving behind 60 years of hard-hitting hits that challenged the status quo.
You never saw Loretta Lynn coming. Lynn’s discography is filled with one sneak attack after the other, songs that still manage to take a listener by surprise every single time someone puts a quarter in the jukebox (or taps an Apple watch, such is her longevity). Loretta Lynn, who passed away at the age of 90, was never what you expected from a grande dame of classic country music. Lynn was a coal miner’s daughter from Butcher Hollow, Kentucky who sang with a sweet twang — and the words she sang packed a punch on behalf of women who needed a Loretta Lynn to stick up for them.
This is the source of Loretta Lynn’s enduring appeal and why her music remains vital today, and why she’s about to score a legion of new fans who are just now gonna hear some of her best work as the music industry mourns the passing of a once-in-a-century talent. It’s why after you get done watching Sissy Spacek’s Oscar-winning turn in Coal Miner’s Daughter, you need to listen to her songs. Lynn always looked sweet, every bit the put-together southern lady that was de rigueur for the Grand Ol’ Opry crowd. But when she opened her mouth, you gotta imagine all the menfolk were stunned to hear a song like “Fist City” in 1968. The opening haymaker:
You’ve been makin’ your brags around town
That you’ve been a lovin’ my man
But the man I love, when he picks up trash
He puts it in a garbage can
And that’s what you look like to me
And what I see’s a pity
You better close you face and stay outta my way
If you don’t wanna go to fist city
That’s what made Lynn an artist unlike any other.
