Tammy Wynette - Stand By Your Man (studio and live)

[ificandream]

Never mind the lyrics. Her voice and the instrumentation here are two of the most powerful moments in country music. Maybe any music, for that matter. The first version is the studio version, the second is from an appearance on "The Johnny Cash Show." The moment when the brilliant steel guitar by Pete Drake comes in near the end of the studio version knocks me over every single time. I often crank this part way way way up.


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[texasfiddler]

1. Just adding for context. Sorry I couldn't resist!

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[Haggard Celine]

2. It's a great song, and Tammy was such an awesome talent.

I don't mind the lyrics at all. Some songs are great because they are such accurate products of their time and place, and Stand By Your Man is definitely that. It's about a woman who works hard to hold a relationship together with a very flawed man because that's what's expected of her, even when the man doesn't seem to give a shit. It says look at how far we've come, but also look at how far we still have to go.