RIP Loretta Lynn: Looking back on the Country icon’s top 12 songs

Loretta Lynn passed away on October 4th 2022 and the country world will certainly miss her. Not just her incredibly personality (anyone who met her came away with a story) but also her innate ability to tell a remarkable story in just 3 minutes or less.

Here are her top 12 songs that are a must listen to any true Country Music fan.

• 12: “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl” (1960)

  Her first single and first hit. Written on a guitar her husband Doolittle gave her for their anniversary.

  https://youtu.be/GgE-gwZDbb0

• 11. Whispering Sea (1960)

  The first song Loretta ever wrote. Beginner’s luck? Hardly.

• 10. You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man) (1966)

  While Dolly was begging Jolene not to take her man, Loretta was daring her to.

• 9. Dear Uncle Sam

  An honest look at how war can divide people. It’s not an anti-war song, but it shows the emotional vulnerability it leaves those at home feeling.

• 8. Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind) (1966)

  Sometimes a title says it all. Loretta never claimed to be a feminist, but it’s obvious she was a “F— around and find out” type of girl.

• 7. Who Says God Is Dead (1968)

  If Loretta ever met Freidrich Nietzche (the philosopher who coined the phrase “God is dead”) I’m pretty sure, despite the language barrier, she’d give him a piece of her mind.

• 6. I Know How (1970)

  A bluesy song that showed Loretta wasn’t JUST a honkey tonk girl.

  https://youtu.be/3gDW11-TiX0

• 5. You’re Looking at Country (1971)

  Before it became mandatory to put rural nouns and country adjectives in every song, Loretta nailed it with this song.

• 4. I Wanna Be Free (1971)

  Starts off sad: “the breeze is blowin’ the leaves from the trees / Everything is free / Everything but me.” She sings before putting her own Loretta spin on it. “I’m gonna take this chain from around my finger / And throw it just as far as I can sling / Cause I wanna be free.”

• 3. Rated ‘X' (1972)

  An ode to all divorced women out there: “the women all look at you like you’re bad and the men all hope you are”

  The White Stripes did a great cover on this as their b-side to Hotel Yorba, just to show how little things changed in the 35 years in between.

• 2. Fist City (1968)

  Many people view this song as not only her best, but shows Loretta at her best. Again Dolly was begging Jolene, but Loretta would have taken her soul.

• 1. Coal Miner’s Daughter (1970)

  Any song-writer that can sum up their life in just 3 minutes deserves your respect and love. Loretta had those things forever after this,