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Listen. We need to talk about the women of country music. I keep seeing this meme going around talking about how the women of country music always sing about killing their husbands as though women in country haven’t tried everything else.
They’ve tried confronting the other woman (Loretta Lynn’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough”, Dolly’s “Jolene”).
They’ve tried accepting that men are weak and have tried to excuse it (Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man”). Some came to begrudgingly accept it (Reba’s “Whoever’s in New England”). They’ve tried pleading (Roseanne Cash’s “Seven Year Ache” and Sylvia’s “Nobody”).
They’ve tried to completely alter themselves to fit what they believe their spouses want (Tammy Wynette’s “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad”).
They’ve even tried saying outright that men were causing most of the trouble themselves (Kitty Wells’s “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”). Kitty Wells planted the seed of pushback toward cheating men.
The 90s saw those seeds start to sprout. Some were a little more playfully confrontational (Shania Twain’s “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under” and The Chicks’ “There’s Your Trouble”). Some were a little more brutal.
While The Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl” is honestly the golden standard of husband-killing women in country, we start to see this trope really take form in Reba’s duet with Linda Davis, “Does He Love You”?
Here, Reba confronts her lover’s mistress, and while the song itself doesn’t mention it, the storyline of the music video sees Reba blowing up her husband and the other woman. Reba already introduced us to women’s capacity to murder (“The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia”).
From there, we get varying acts of revenge. Sometimes it’s car damage (Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats”). Sometimes it’s fiery (Miranda Lambert’s “Kerosene”). Sometimes it even comes as cheating right back (Miranda Lambert’s “White Liar” and Terri Clark’s “Girls Lie Too”).
Whatever the punishment, it’s worth mention that the women of country gave these men a chance, but these dudes can only heed the words of Patty Loveless and blame it on their lying, cheating, cold dead beating, two-timing and double dealing, mean, mistreating, loving heart.
