“My Man (Understands)”
Tammy Wynette
Written by Billy Sherrill, Carmol Taylor, and Norro Wilson
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
November 11, 1972
The man who understands here is Billy Sherrill.
He goes right back to the “Stand By Your Man” well, and even with two co-writers to help, this doesn’t approach the quality of earlier hits with Tammy’s songwriting input. He knows the itch that he needs to scratch, but the theme itself is getting exhausted.
So he nails the production to make the record stand out, making this one of the most musically enjoyable tracks that they ever released. Sometimes derivative songs inspire creative arrangements to make a song more distinctive, and that definitely happens here.
Ironically, being musically derivative of another artist is another thing that makes “My Man” stand out against the backdrop of Wynette’s earlier material. You can hear the influence of the recent Lynn Anderson hits all over the sound of this record. It really soars once it gets going.
The next single from this album is so good that Trisha Yearwood covered it, so enjoy this slight interlude as we work our way toward another classic record.
“My Man (Understands)” gets a B.
Every No. 1 Single of the Seventies
Previous: Merle Haggard, “It’s Not Love (But it’s Not Bad)” |
Next: Charley Pride, “She’s Too Good to Be True”
Ho hum, another pretty decent but not great Tammy Wynette song. The “B” seems generous – I’d lean towards C+ but it may be that by this point in history I was suffering from Wynette/Sherrill fatigue
…doesn’t exactly sound as if she had him taking the trash out in mind. then again, her man would have done that gracefully too, it kinda seems.
this feature incidentally uncovers 70s country(politan) as a real treasure vault of the human (american) condition. great stuff.
I have known this song all my life. It’s always a good listen but pales in comparison to Tammy’s best work. “B-“. From what I have read Billy Sherrill may have been a songwriting genius but was also lazy. This is an example of his lazy work. Tammy deserved a bit better.