Loretta Lynn_ Coal Miner's Daughter - Loretta Lynn [52]
I don’t have anything against people drinking, as long as they don’t mess up other people’s lives. But I’ve got to be honest and say I don’t like playing clubs because of the hard work and the way a few guys carry on.
I was still kind of backwards when I got to Nashville for the first time. Doo had to stay back with the babies, so Mr. Burley hired me a girl to travel with. She was a big redhead, I think her name was Mack—and she was something else. She was supposed to promote me and my record, but she had other ideas how to attract attention.
The first thing she did was to hire convertibles and get us bikini bathing suits. I never had one in my life and I wouldn’t wear it. She said you had to show off what you got. I said I wouldn’t have it. That’s not the way my Mommy and my Daddy raised me, and my husband would die if he found out, after killing me first.
“That’s the way everybody does it,” the redhead said.
“If it is, I better get out right now,” I replied. But I didn’t get out, and things were getting worse.
We were in some towns where she would go out on a date with some disc jockey. I didn’t know what was going on. Then she said, “You better go out on dates with disc jockeys, too. That’s the way it’s done.” I said I was married and didn’t go out on dates with nobody. It was a shaky situation.
We got to Nashville and this redhead had me on a radio station. I’m not gonna mention the station, but it wasn’t WSM. I figured we were done with the town, but Mack said if we stayed around until Tuesday, they’d play my record.
I told her I didn’t have to do that. Then I asked her, “What do they expect from us if we stay?” She shrugged her shoulders, and I knew what she meant—if you want to make it in this business, you’ve got to sleep with those men.
I got real scared. I was over my head with this girl. I picked up the phone and started calling my husband. Mack got mad and started throwing ashtrays around the room, yelling, “Do that and I’ll tear up your contract.”
Finally I got Doo on the phone, and I was crying. He told me if I didn’t quit crying, he was gonna make me quit the business. I started telling him what was going on. Doo said I shouldn’t do nothing, just move on to the next town, which was Cincinnati, and he’d join me. So I told Mack I wasn’t gonna sleep with no disc jockeys this time or any time, and we should go to Cincinnati. When Doo arrived, he told me Mr. Burley said, “You tell that redheaded bitch Loretta doesn’t have to sleep with anybody.” And they fired the redhead. I’ve tried to forget about her. I don’t like to remember bad situations.
That kind of thing never happened to me again, I’m glad to say. My husband stayed closer to me after that, and other people like the Johnsons watched out for me, too. But I was getting some kind of education in the ways of the world.
I guess growing up in Butcher Holler just didn’t prepare me for the facts of life, just like I didn’t know anything about sex when I got married. In fact, I was still pretty ignorant even with four kids. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a lesbian until my daughter came home from grade school and told me. I couldn’t believe it then—but now I can.
I think there’s a few of my fans who are lesbians—maybe more than a few. But they’re my fans, and they visit me, just like anybody else, and it don’t bother me. I’ve even got one friend who tells me about her personal life, and she’ll even fix my hair or something. But she would never do anything that would upset me. It’s not your friends who are the problem anyway. I’ve had a couple of women I didn’t know proposition me, or even try something. That’s why I’ve gotten more careful about seeing a lot of strangers.
Working in those