Loretta Lynn_ Coal Miner's Daughter - Loretta Lynn [0]
Copyright © 1976, 2010 by Loretta Lynn
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in slightly different form in hardcover in the United States by Henry Regnery Company, Chicago, in 1976.
Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Due to limitations of space, permissions to reprint previously published material can be found on this page.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data for Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner’s Daughter is on file at the Library of Congress.
eISBN: 978-0-307-74268-1
www.vintagebooks.com
v3.1
To Doo, who had an idea
And to Owen, who helped make that idea come true
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Preface to the Vintage Edition
About Me and This Book
1 Butcher Holler
2 Daddy
3 Mommy
4 Family Style
5 School Days
6 The Pie Social
7 Doolittle
8 Hey, You Ain’t Supposed to Wear Clothes Under Your Nightgown
9 Doo Kicks Me Out
10 Two Thousand Miles From Home
11 A Death in the Family
12 Beginner’s Luck
13 An Honest-to-Goodness Record
14 Fans
15 The Education of a Country Singer
16 Music City, U.S.A.
Photo Insert
17 Patsy
18 My Kids
19 Performer
20 Songwriter
21 We Bought the Whole Town
22 Me and Doo
23 The Hyden Widows
24 The Truth about My Health
25 Mexico
26 Entertainer of the Year
27 Death Threats
28 Baptized at Last
29 Confessions of a Bug
30 On the Road
31 What’s Next?
Acknowledgments
Preface to the Vintage Edition
I can hardly believe that it’s been over thirty-four years since Coal Miner’s Daughter first came out. A lot has happened since then, but I don’t know if I’ve changed all that much. I’ve kind of stuck to what I always done—write songs, sing, live as honest a life as I can live. But one thing I’ve been really grateful for all these years is my fans.
I have to say, I don’t even think of them as fans, I think of them as friends, because they’re always so close to me. They’re a part of my life, same as my family. People come up to me all the time and say, “Hey, your story’s the story of my life, too. What you went through, I know what that is, I’m goin’ through it now.” I think reading about my life has helped them and that makes me feel good. Just like it makes me feel good to be on stage and talk to them, just like I would if they were sitting next to me in my living room. That’s what I think I’m doing with my songs—talking to my friends. And, Lord, I do have a lot of friends! We just got back from a solo tour and we had a sold-out house everywhere we went. I can’t ask for more than that. So I want all my friends to know that I love them and I’m so proud that they’ve stuck with me all this time. This is my chance to say thank you.
It’s also been thirty years since the movie Coal Miner’s Daughter came out. When someone told me that recently, I thought: You gotta be kiddin’ me! Thirty years! It really is amazing to think about. I handpicked Sissy Spacek to play me in the movie. She followed me around for a whole year to learn how I talked and sang. My daughters, Patsy and Peggy, used to ask me why I talked like Sissy Spacek! So I guess she did a great job playing me. And bless her heart, she won the Academy Award.
I was dumbfounded the first time I saw the movie. It was hard to watch my life flashing before my eyes. I brought Mommy to the premiere in Nashville and when we got back to the motel after seeing it, I said, “Well, Mommy, what did you think of the movie?” Now … Mommy was real funny. At first, she didn’t say a word. And then she said, “I thought it was great. You didn’t wander off the truth nowhere. You told it like it was.” That really made me proud. I’ve seen it maybe three or four times now (I don’t have to keep watching—I know what happens before it happens!) and I still am proud. It’s a good movie. And they’ve been talking about another one. I think they should have done it right