0:00:02 > 0:00:07# Sometimes it's hard to be a woman
0:00:09 > 0:00:15# Giving all your love to just one man... #
0:00:15 > 0:00:18MAN: There were times when she would be overwhelmed by feelings.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20# You'll have bad times... #
0:00:20 > 0:00:26She'd stand there like a statue and you'd know something was happening in the depths of her.
0:00:26 > 0:00:31Sometimes she would back away from the microphone and couldn't continue.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33# I'll need time... #
0:00:33 > 0:00:36This was a person of very deep feeling.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39# ..To get you off my mind... #
0:00:39 > 0:00:43I remember seeing her teetering on a stool with the high heels
0:00:43 > 0:00:47and this totally manufactured, plastic, peroxide image
0:00:47 > 0:00:49poured out of the Barbie mould.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52# ..Asked too much of you from time to time... #
0:00:52 > 0:00:58And then this voice, this amazing voice that came out over the top of it. A mass of contradictions.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00# I don't want to play possum... #
0:01:00 > 0:01:03As a singer she was pretty genius
0:01:03 > 0:01:06and could sing really loud and forcefully and still be vulnerable.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10# Cos when she played house... #
0:01:10 > 0:01:13Tammy never knew she was a star.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16- No, she didn't. She really didn't. - She never knew she was a star.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Tammy kept her beautician's licence
0:01:19 > 0:01:23because she had in the back of her mind that his career could end
0:01:23 > 0:01:26and she might have to go back to working on people's hair.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31# Our D-I-V-O-R-C-E... #
0:01:31 > 0:01:35She had the beauty, the talent. She sang like a bird.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37There's nobody greater.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39I just felt kinda sorry for her.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43PARKINSON: You've been married five times. That's extraordinary.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46- I'm a firm believer in marriage. - You obviously are!
0:01:46 > 0:01:49I wanted her to find happiness.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53If it meant her being married ten times, that was fine.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56# Stand by your man... #
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Stand By Your Man was a reflection of Tammy's background.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02Most everybody's background in that period.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Maybe that was why it caused such a controversy
0:02:06 > 0:02:09because women were rebelling against that attitude.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11It was such a powerful song.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14# Stand by your man... #
0:02:14 > 0:02:18But it was saying everything that I wanted to smack her in the teeth for.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20# And show the world you love him... #
0:02:20 > 0:02:23She's not the victim. She's singing this as total heroine.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25And it's that contradiction
0:02:25 > 0:02:31that makes that record... one of the best records ever made.
0:02:31 > 0:02:38# Keep giving all the love you can... #
0:02:38 > 0:02:42She literally walked through hell to become Tammy Wynette.
0:02:42 > 0:02:48# Stand by your man. #
0:02:55 > 0:02:59Tammy was born Virginia Wynette Pugh
0:02:59 > 0:03:01on a farm in Mississippi during World War II.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Her grandfather owned a lot of farmland.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09She was a lot better off than some of her friends
0:03:09 > 0:03:11but I'm sure it was very difficult.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16In the forties and fifties, that was a tough time.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20There's a lot of land here.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24I don't know how many acres, but there's a lot of land here,
0:03:24 > 0:03:26and it was all in cotton and corn.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30She wasn't too proud of it sometimes but she did pick.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36Her father died of a brain tumour when she was nine months old.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38He was 26.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42Tammy's father was a real musician
0:03:42 > 0:03:46and he never had a music lesson in his life, that was natural.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54This was the living room. Tammy bought 'em two chandeliers.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58I wouldn't have thought about them being there now. Kinda shocked me.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01But it's been a long time, hasn't it?
0:04:02 > 0:04:06It makes me want to get in there. But I'm sure this door...
0:04:06 > 0:04:08Oh! Come in.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47I still have his guitar, his mandolin.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49This piano.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52This piano is...where he sat, two weeks before he died,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54he was blind and placed my hands on the keys
0:04:54 > 0:04:58and said, "If she has any talent, see that she has lessons."
0:05:11 > 0:05:16Her father's death had a major role on her as an adult.
0:05:18 > 0:05:24I believe that that's why she... you know, went from the men to men that she did.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28I don't think she ever found the happiness that she wanted.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32She was always looking for that...
0:05:32 > 0:05:36support that she probably, you know, would have gotten from her father
0:05:36 > 0:05:38but never had the opportunity.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42SHE SOBS
0:05:42 > 0:05:45I guess the same old station isn't there any more.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57After her father's death, her mother Mildred went off to Memphis
0:05:57 > 0:05:59to work in a munitions factory.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05Wynette stayed on the farm with her grandparents.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14As her father had wished, her mother paid for piano lessons.
0:06:14 > 0:06:19The man that taught the lessons said, "Hazel, we're wasting her money." And I said, "Why?"
0:06:19 > 0:06:26And he said, "Because I can play her a song one time and she can play it before she leaves me."
0:06:26 > 0:06:28She was just a musician like her daddy.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30GOSPEL SINGING
0:06:30 > 0:06:32# I'll fly away, fly away
0:06:32 > 0:06:35# When I die, hallelujah
0:06:35 > 0:06:37# By and by
0:06:37 > 0:06:40# I'll fly away, fly away. #
0:06:44 > 0:06:46Wynette used to sing in church.
0:06:46 > 0:06:51The Baptist preacher had a radio show and she got to sing on it.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55# To a land where joy will never end
0:06:55 > 0:06:59# I'll fly away, fly away... #
0:06:59 > 0:07:03By the time she was a teenager, her mother had moved back to the farm.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07She was a really rumbustious child.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11I think my grandmother had her hands full.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14# I'll fly away, fly away. #
0:07:15 > 0:07:18My grandmother was a very, very tough woman.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20As we were growing up,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24we were petrified of her, because she was so...
0:07:24 > 0:07:26You know, she could be very...strong.
0:07:26 > 0:07:33I think it was very difficult because they were two strong-willed women. I think they kinda butted heads.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37They really clashed when she got together with Euple Byrd.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43They got into a big fight about her dating Euple, who was an older man.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47He'd been in the army, so that made him seem dangerous.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55Mum got married to get away from my grandmother.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02At 17, Wynette left school to marry
0:08:02 > 0:08:05and had her first child six months later.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Now she really was poor.
0:08:08 > 0:08:13She lived in a house that was, you know, no running water and no heat.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18She realised, "I might've had it really good where I was,"
0:08:18 > 0:08:21but she was so determined to do what she wanted to do.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26In 1962, she had her second daughter, Jackie.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28When my mum was married to my dad,
0:08:28 > 0:08:34he would just take whatever job he could find. I think he and my mum fought quite a bit.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37Um...we weren't living in the best of conditions.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45To make ends meet, she started training as a beautician.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52In 1963, they moved to Memphis.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02They rented an apartment in a seedy part of town. Wynette got a job as a barmaid.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08She had never even been inside a bar
0:09:08 > 0:09:11because she was raised by people who did not drink at all.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14It was against their religion. The couple who owned this place
0:09:14 > 0:09:17allowed her to sing for the customers,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20which is the first time she'd sung anywhere except in church.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23PIANO INTRO
0:09:26 > 0:09:31# When the sky turns to silver
0:09:31 > 0:09:35# Just before dark
0:09:35 > 0:09:41# And the night comes to haunt me again
0:09:43 > 0:09:46# When gone is the memory
0:09:46 > 0:09:49# Of a sadness like mine
0:09:49 > 0:09:56# Sing me a lonesome song... #
0:09:56 > 0:10:01For the first time, she thought she might make it as a singer.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05Her marriage was dead
0:10:05 > 0:10:09but she was pregnant again. She threatened to divorce.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13It was all too much for her.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16She thought she saw a dead man in the attic.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19She grabbed the children and drove round for hours.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21She had a breakdown, was hospitalised
0:10:21 > 0:10:24and given 12 rounds of shock treatment.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31But she still insisted she wanted a divorce.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33She said, "I've left him."
0:10:33 > 0:10:37I said, "Oh, honey, you've not done that, expecting that baby?"
0:10:37 > 0:10:40"Yes, I have and don't you try to talk me out of it."
0:10:40 > 0:10:44I said, "Have you got any money?" She said, "I don't have any money."
0:10:44 > 0:10:49I gave her 5 and I begged her to let me come get her mother
0:10:49 > 0:10:52and she wouldn't do it. She said, "She'll stop me."
0:10:55 > 0:11:00She made it to Birmingham. The baby she was expecting was premature
0:11:00 > 0:11:02and nearly died.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06All of us was worried to death about Tammy.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10She was up there, a country girl, and didn't know - like me - nothing.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12And... She made it, though!
0:11:12 > 0:11:15She might be lazy in the cotton field
0:11:15 > 0:11:17but otherwise she was industrious.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19Wynette knew what she wanted.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23She didn't really feel like she had a choice.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26It's sort of like a calling...
0:11:26 > 0:11:29or God-given drive to...
0:11:29 > 0:11:30to fulfil your talent.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34And Tammy was an exceptionally talented woman.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42To want a career in the limelight...
0:11:42 > 0:11:46in addition to talent, you have to have a certain need.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51She was poorer than most of the audience, even.
0:11:51 > 0:11:52And that need,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55that want, that...
0:11:55 > 0:11:59yearning...to be somebody
0:11:59 > 0:12:04is something that you have to have burning inside of you to make it.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11She auditioned for a local TV programme.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16I guess it was about 4.30 in the morning. We used to go on the air at five.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19We were in the coffee shop drinking coffee
0:12:19 > 0:12:21and Tammy came in
0:12:21 > 0:12:24and wanted to audition for the show.
0:12:24 > 0:12:25So I said, "Sure."
0:12:25 > 0:12:29I got my guitar and she sang me some songs.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34I said, "My goodness, you'll be welcome to be on from now on." She was terrific.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37This is the aisle that she walked.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41She'd be singing a song as she came down the hall.
0:12:42 > 0:12:48# Your hand is like a torch
0:12:48 > 0:12:53# Each time you touch me... #
0:12:53 > 0:12:57You knew she was a great singer from the first time you heard her.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Her voice was classic country
0:12:59 > 0:13:03and she sang the greatest songs in the repertoire of country music.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Jeannie Seely's song "Don't Touch Me", she used to sing
0:13:06 > 0:13:10and it just grabbed you by the throat. It was bone-chilling.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13# ..The door to heaven... #
0:13:13 > 0:13:18It's one of the sexiest voices in the world as well, because...
0:13:18 > 0:13:21it's both strong and it's vulnerable.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24# Oh, don't touch me
0:13:24 > 0:13:28# If you don't love me sweetheart. #
0:13:28 > 0:13:32You could tell people loved her because we'd get 200, 300 letters a day
0:13:32 > 0:13:35saying, "Let that girl sing more."
0:13:35 > 0:13:38# Your kiss is like a drink
0:13:38 > 0:13:42# When I'm thirsty... #
0:13:42 > 0:13:46At seven o'clock, she'd go to work in the beauty shop.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49"I gotta get going," she'd say.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52# ..For you
0:13:52 > 0:13:55# With all my heart... #
0:13:55 > 0:13:59She was living in a little house near the steel industry.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02That something so beautiful could emerge from that house every day
0:14:02 > 0:14:05and show itself to the world was overwhelming.
0:14:05 > 0:14:10The song that she wrote, "Matrimony", it was so heartfelt.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15# You can't tell me how it feels to sit alone most all your life
0:14:15 > 0:14:21# You can't tell me how it feels to be a lost and lonely wife... #
0:14:23 > 0:14:27That line "how it feels to be a lost and lonely wife",
0:14:27 > 0:14:30she had to stop recording and do it again. She couldn't go on.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33I don't think she'd ever said these words aloud.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38It was like they were tearing her apart.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46# You can't tell me how it feels to sit alone most all your life
0:14:46 > 0:14:51# You can't tell me how it feels to be a lost and lonely wife
0:14:51 > 0:14:56# You can't tell me how it makes you feel to know you've done your best
0:14:56 > 0:15:01# That after all the grades are in you finally failed the test
0:15:01 > 0:15:06# You've heard that old, old saying better once than not at all
0:15:06 > 0:15:10# And that everyone should choose their destiny
0:15:10 > 0:15:15# If you head for that thing called matrimony
0:15:15 > 0:15:21# Oh, I hope you'll have much better luck than me. #
0:15:21 > 0:15:25She certainly made love and marriage sound like a battlefield.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33One night, we played in a piano bar.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37People sat around the piano and she sat on a stool beside me
0:15:37 > 0:15:43and...the drunks wanted her to lead them in singing "We All Live In A Yellow Submarine",
0:15:43 > 0:15:45which she hated.
0:15:45 > 0:15:52She did it, but she turned to me and said, "Why do they have to be so close? I'm frightened."
0:15:55 > 0:15:58She was afraid of the public.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01Us girls had talked. We all believe that Mum had depression.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06It just escalated through the years.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10She felt she was doing whatever she had to do to take care of her family
0:16:10 > 0:16:15and then this hit her and it kinda set her back.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18She told me about a lot of her fears as being inside her body
0:16:18 > 0:16:22and maybe she could go to a surgeon and have it cut out.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25And I said, "What's so frightening to you?"
0:16:25 > 0:16:27She just bit her lip and said, "I don't know, David."
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Fearful but forceful, she was on her way.
0:16:38 > 0:16:44On days off from the salon, she'd drive to Nashville and trek round record labels looking for a deal.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47I remember going round to the record companies.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50I remember her being so disappointed.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55She'd say, "I hear what's on the radio and I can do better than that."
0:16:55 > 0:17:00She believed if the right people heard her, they'd instantly want to record her.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02Rejections came thick and fast.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07In those days, if a producer had one girl singer, he didn't want two.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13They were the opening act on the men's shows still.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18Just because you had a good voice or just because you could write,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21that didn't mean Nashville had open arms for you if you were a woman.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25For a woman back then it was more difficult than it was for a man.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29She'd never done anything like that before, so she was kind of raw.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Seven major labels turned her down.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Nashville's a tough town. You have to be a bit of a Scarlett O'Hara
0:17:38 > 0:17:41to survive in the Southern hemisphere
0:17:41 > 0:17:44because there still is that Southern mentality about women.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51In 1966, still with no contract,
0:17:51 > 0:17:56she moved to Nashville, with three kids under five in tow.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00She was 23.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05She met an aspiring singer-songwriter called Don Chapel.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08Before long, she would marry him.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12They would come over to the Billboard Hotel to pitch songs.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16And Tammy, bless her heart, she was just like a little wallflower.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18She was kind of homely looking
0:18:18 > 0:18:20and real shy.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23First time I heard her sing, I said, "There's a star."
0:18:23 > 0:18:25If somebody would work with her.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29And...a person did.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Somebody said that she should go and see Billy Sherrill.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36She knocked on the door and this voice said, "Come on in."
0:18:36 > 0:18:39She said she wanted him to hear her voice.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44# You can't tell me how it feels to be alone most every night
0:18:44 > 0:18:46# You can't tell me how it feels... #
0:18:46 > 0:18:51When it was over, he said, "That's a pretty good song but that's not what I'm looking for.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54"If you could find me the right kind of song, I'll record you."
0:18:54 > 0:18:57Two weeks later, she called him.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00He said, "Come on in, I think I've just found something."
0:19:00 > 0:19:04# Just follow the stairway
0:19:04 > 0:19:09# To this lonely world of mine
0:19:12 > 0:19:17# You'll find me waitin' here
0:19:18 > 0:19:22# In apartment number nine... #
0:19:24 > 0:19:29My first memory of Tammy was on an early morning TV show
0:19:29 > 0:19:31here in Nashville.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36And she had just left beauty school and I was a cosmetologist as well,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38so we had that in common.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41She had this fake ponytail like Dolly had
0:19:41 > 0:19:44and I thought, "That's a pretty woman."
0:19:44 > 0:19:48She was singing that first hit of hers "Apartment Number Nine".
0:19:48 > 0:19:51And I thought, "Wow! She's real different."
0:19:51 > 0:19:56# Not so very long ago
0:19:56 > 0:20:01# You walked away from me
0:20:03 > 0:20:09# And after all the plans we made
0:20:10 > 0:20:14# You decided to be free... #
0:20:15 > 0:20:17She just looked so serious
0:20:17 > 0:20:20and like she understood every word of that song.
0:20:20 > 0:20:26# Loneliness surrounds me
0:20:27 > 0:20:31# Without your arms around me... #
0:20:31 > 0:20:33I'd trawl on the radio
0:20:33 > 0:20:36and when they started playing I got bored.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Her voice stood out. It was different.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42She didn't sound like all the other girls.
0:20:44 > 0:20:50# Now the sun will never shine
0:20:50 > 0:20:55# In apartment number nine. #
0:20:59 > 0:21:03I love to sing "Apartment Number Nine". It's my favourite Tammy tune.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06The lyrics of the song are...
0:21:06 > 0:21:07are so...
0:21:08 > 0:21:10..stark.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14From the beginning of it, it's just follow the stairway, like, "OK...
0:21:14 > 0:21:18"I'm there, I'm totally there."
0:21:18 > 0:21:23When the record was over they said it was by somebody named Tammy Wynette.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26And right then I said to myself, "I know what's happened.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29"She's gone to Nashville and said, 'My name's Wynette Byrd'
0:21:29 > 0:21:32"and they've said, 'Wynette's not a first name, is it?' "
0:21:32 > 0:21:36They had all these Tammy movies that were out,
0:21:36 > 0:21:41so they named her Tammy. "You've got to have your hair tied back and a cute little bow on it."
0:21:41 > 0:21:45In the space of a few months, Wynette Byrd had become Tammy Wynette.
0:21:45 > 0:21:50Billy Sherrill said his first impression was of a pale, skinny little blonde girl
0:21:50 > 0:21:53who looked like she was at her rope's end.
0:21:53 > 0:21:58He took her looks, voice and concerns and shaped them into marketable hits.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03I suspect that Wynette sometimes wondered who this Tammy Wynette person was.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06The special guest, Miss Tammy Wynette
0:22:06 > 0:22:09and a tune entitled "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad".
0:22:09 > 0:22:13# If ya like 'em painted up powdered up
0:22:13 > 0:22:15# Then you ought to be glad
0:22:15 > 0:22:20# Cos your good girl's a-gonna go bad... #
0:22:20 > 0:22:23In '67, Tammy topped the country charts.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27# I'll even learn to like the taste of whisky
0:22:27 > 0:22:31# In fact you'll hardly recognise your wife... #
0:22:31 > 0:22:35This was standard honky-tonk country fare.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37# ..And dress up fancy
0:22:37 > 0:22:43# For my journey to the wilder side of life. #
0:22:43 > 0:22:46Billy Sherrill was still an author in search of a character.
0:22:46 > 0:22:51Tammy, you've been here in Nashville just a few short months
0:22:51 > 0:22:54and already have a couple of hit records to your credit.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57What makes you want to be an entertainer?
0:22:57 > 0:23:00I think the travel is the main thing. I love it.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04I love the shows and meeting the different entertainers.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08- You love to get out on the road and see part of the country.- Yes.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11- And you do see a lot of it, don't you?- Sure do.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15Some weeks you're probably in four or five different states.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Since September I've been in 33 states...
0:23:18 > 0:23:22I certainly missed her. And I'm sure my sisters did too.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26Who doesn't want their mum around? We didn't have a dad.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30It was hard but, just like my friends parents' had jobs,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33this was my mum's job and it took her away from us.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37Let's do "Don't Come Home A-drinking With Lovin' On Your Mind".
0:23:37 > 0:23:42She now met the country superstar who'd been her hero back in the cotton fields.
0:23:42 > 0:23:43Georgie, boy!
0:23:43 > 0:23:47# I feel tears welling up Cold and deep inside
0:23:47 > 0:23:49# Like my heart's sprung a big break
0:23:49 > 0:23:52# And the stab of loneliness sharp and painful
0:23:52 > 0:23:55# That I may never shake
0:23:55 > 0:23:57# You might say I was taking it hard
0:23:57 > 0:24:00# Oh, she wrote me off with a call... #
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Tammy had a hit record out at the time,
0:24:03 > 0:24:05a duet with the late David Houston
0:24:05 > 0:24:07called "My Elusive Dreams".
0:24:07 > 0:24:11She was doing a show and David Houston and she had a spat.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15He wouldn't sing the duet with her and Jones walked out...
0:24:15 > 0:24:17My dad, out of the blue, invited her
0:24:17 > 0:24:20to come on stage to sing the duet.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24# I followed you to Texas
0:24:24 > 0:24:29# I followed you to Utah... #
0:24:29 > 0:24:31She idolised him as a singer
0:24:31 > 0:24:36and he symbolised the kind of star that she wanted to be.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Afterwards she thanked him and he talked to her
0:24:39 > 0:24:42and wanted to do some more singing with her.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45After a while, they did a lot more singing and recording together.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47# Step by step
0:24:47 > 0:24:52# We walked the road together... #
0:24:52 > 0:24:55AUDIENCE APPLAUDS
0:24:55 > 0:24:57# Hand in hand
0:24:57 > 0:25:01# Love grew more every day
0:25:04 > 0:25:06# When trouble came
0:25:06 > 0:25:10# We held onto each other... #
0:25:10 > 0:25:14She had a lot of feeling, a lot of heart and a lot of soul.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17That was the kind of stuff I'd known.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20Once we started singing together,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24you know, it was... it was just magic.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28In 1967, Tammy had four number-one country hits.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30She was part of a long tradition.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33Country music is the music of the common man.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35It's very similar to the blues in America,
0:25:35 > 0:25:39the white man's version of singing about their troubles.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41That's what country music was.
0:25:45 > 0:25:51# Today I sat alone at the window... #
0:25:51 > 0:25:56But Tammy's wasn't so much country music as suburban music.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59# ..And I watched our little girl outside at play... #
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Not so much for the common man as the common woman.
0:26:03 > 0:26:08# ..With the little boy next door
0:26:08 > 0:26:13# Like so many times before
0:26:13 > 0:26:19# But something didn't seem quite right today... #
0:26:19 > 0:26:23She and Billy Sherrill had found her distinctive voice.
0:26:23 > 0:26:28# So I went outside To see what they were doing... #
0:26:28 > 0:26:32When Tammy Wynette sings about her daughter,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35"I don't want to play house, it made my mummy cry"
0:26:35 > 0:26:40you could think, "That's gross. Why are you pulling our heart strings like that?"
0:26:40 > 0:26:45But that happened to Tammy Wynette. She probably heard her child say, "I don't want to be like you."
0:26:45 > 0:26:47# I don't want to play house
0:26:47 > 0:26:51# I know it can't be fun
0:26:54 > 0:26:58# I've watched Mummy and Daddy
0:26:58 > 0:27:02# And if that's the way it's done
0:27:02 > 0:27:05# I don't want to play house
0:27:06 > 0:27:09# It makes my mummy cry... #
0:27:09 > 0:27:14It's an enormous thing to let millions know that your daughter doesn't want to be like you.
0:27:14 > 0:27:25# Cos when she played house My daddy said goodbye. #
0:27:25 > 0:27:30The songs portray a degree of desperation and anguish
0:27:30 > 0:27:34about the situation she finds herself in.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38There was an acceptance of a woman's lot
0:27:38 > 0:27:41and an acceptance of the pain that went with it.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47It's a complete denial of any alternative.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51She is going through all the crap that life throws at you.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54Having the kids when you're too young,
0:27:54 > 0:27:58having bad men that you've fallen in love with for all the wrong reasons.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01She's gone to hell and back with men.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05The best single record of the year,
0:28:05 > 0:28:09a big hit record by our next guest - D-I-V-O-R-C-E by Tammy Wynette.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16There's certain people for me who're way beyond what you'd call entertainment.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18I can't listen to it at times.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20I have to turn it off, because it goes way beyond.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24It was so dark and it was so moving.
0:28:24 > 0:28:29# Our little boy is four years old
0:28:29 > 0:28:34# And quite a little man
0:28:34 > 0:28:43# So we spell out the words we don't want him to understand
0:28:43 > 0:28:45# Like T-O-Y
0:28:45 > 0:28:52# Or maybe S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E
0:28:52 > 0:28:57# But the words we're hiding from him now
0:28:57 > 0:29:03# Tear the heart right out of me
0:29:03 > 0:29:11# Our D-I-V-O-R-C-E becomes final today... #
0:29:11 > 0:29:17People listen to those songs thinking, "This is me, this is what I'm going through. This is my life."
0:29:17 > 0:29:23I think the people that bought her albums, they thought, "She's talking to me."
0:29:23 > 0:29:27Tammy Wynette, I think, is a tremendous vocalist.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30Really strange vocal style.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32I like the little catch in her voice.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35That sort of little sob in her voice.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39- That little teardrop. > - The teardrop was natural,
0:29:39 > 0:29:42cos she could not make it do it.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46"Make it, do it." "I can't do it, it just happens."
0:29:47 > 0:29:51Some people might find Tammy's, it's too...
0:29:53 > 0:29:56..over-dramatic, over-stated, her voice.
0:29:56 > 0:30:01Whereas other country singers have got a clearer...cleaner voice
0:30:01 > 0:30:04and they don't show all the pain.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07Tammy lets more of the pain come through.
0:30:07 > 0:30:12To me, there's something really beautiful about that sound.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14Sherrill was the epitome of this...
0:30:14 > 0:30:18There's this still quite controlled backing
0:30:18 > 0:30:21with this very emotional singer in the foreground,
0:30:21 > 0:30:25and with all their quirks and peculiarities on display,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28like Tammy Wynette with this strange enunciation.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31It had a huge power to communicate.
0:30:31 > 0:30:36And it's that period of time when country music was in charge for a short while.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38Next came the real big hitter.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42I worked on "Divorce" "D-I-V-O-R-C-E".
0:30:42 > 0:30:43Did I spell that right?
0:30:43 > 0:30:47I also worked on "Stand By Your Man".
0:30:47 > 0:30:53That was a great session. I was playing the bass and Jerry Kennedy was playing the electric guitar.
0:30:53 > 0:31:00# Sometimes it's hard to be a woman
0:31:02 > 0:31:06# Giving all your love to just one man... #
0:31:06 > 0:31:11I had a great feeling about that record when we did it because she sang with so much soul.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15# And if you love him... #
0:31:15 > 0:31:19When she hits that C sharp, it's pretty thrilling.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21She sails up and hits that note.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24It's an emotion that she feels.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26And she conveyed the emotion.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31# Stand by your man
0:31:33 > 0:31:38# And show the world you love him
0:31:38 > 0:31:46# Keep giving all the love you can
0:31:46 > 0:31:56# Stand by your man. #
0:31:56 > 0:32:02But it was 1968 and feminists weren't concerned about her high C sharp.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06Tammy became the centre of a controversy.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08People gave her a really hard time.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11They assumed that by saying "stand by your man"
0:32:11 > 0:32:16that she was saying that you should take whatever you have to take
0:32:16 > 0:32:18and stick with a man no matter what.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22Anybody who knows my mum knows that she didn't mean that.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26At the time, I did see it as very much a counter-revolutionary thing,
0:32:26 > 0:32:29as straight, anti-feminist propaganda,
0:32:29 > 0:32:34this defence of the male perspective, as we saw it, on women.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36And it seemed such an act of betrayal,
0:32:36 > 0:32:40hearing "Stand By Your Man" and people singing it on the street
0:32:40 > 0:32:44was almost more than one could bear at that time.
0:32:44 > 0:32:49There is no more victim lyrics in the world, I don't think.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52But when you hear her sing it, she transcends it.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56It's up there with "I Will Survive". Differently, obviously.
0:32:56 > 0:33:01"I Will Survive" is for when you're at the disco and you've been chucked by your bloke.
0:33:01 > 0:33:06Whereas Tammy Wynette is when you're at the kitchen sink and you've got to get the kids to school.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10It works in a different way but it's just as strong.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14"Stand By Your Man" is a rallying cry for men all over the country.
0:33:14 > 0:33:19- How did you write it?- Well, we had a session that day at two o'clock
0:33:19 > 0:33:23and we had two songs that we'd decided on doing.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27And Billy Sherrill, my producer, had the first two lines of this song written.
0:33:27 > 0:33:33So we did the first two songs and he gave the musicians a 15-minute break.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36We finished the song, came back and recorded it.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40- "Stand By Your Man"?- Yes. - In that length of time?
0:33:40 > 0:33:44- No more than 20 minutes.- How does that make you feel, Songwriter?
0:33:44 > 0:33:47- It takes me that long to tie my shoes. - LAUGHTER
0:33:47 > 0:33:50# ..To understand...
0:33:53 > 0:33:55# And if you love him... #
0:33:55 > 0:33:58Every country woman knows what that's like
0:33:58 > 0:34:04to try to stand by her husband no matter whether he's in the right or in the wrong.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06They were anthems for women of the time.
0:34:06 > 0:34:08Would you stand with me?
0:34:08 > 0:34:10# Stand by your man... #
0:34:10 > 0:34:13A lot of people are critical of that attitude today.
0:34:13 > 0:34:19But that was the culture we grew up in. And that was what we were about.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23# ..When nights are cold and lonely... #
0:34:23 > 0:34:26I couldn't help but hear the irony in that song,
0:34:26 > 0:34:29of this woman who's been knocked around by men.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32She sang that song with great feeling
0:34:32 > 0:34:35but I think she felt it when she sang it.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40Later in her career she would say, "After all, he's just a man."
0:34:41 > 0:34:43It's the ultimate put-down really.
0:34:43 > 0:34:49It's like, "He's like a puppy dog. You can't expect much. He's as thick as two short planks."
0:34:49 > 0:34:51"After all, he's just a man."
0:34:52 > 0:34:55Every time I hear that, I go...
0:34:56 > 0:34:58..yeah...there's some...
0:34:58 > 0:35:02I'm not... I don't necessarily believe that
0:35:02 > 0:35:04but sometimes I have thought that.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07"Well, he can't help it. He's got that thing."
0:35:11 > 0:35:17It's stretching it too far to try and see those lyrics as saying that, particularly in that time.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20# Stand by your man... #
0:35:20 > 0:35:23I still say "Stand By Your Man" is not a conservative song.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26It's about nurturing one another.
0:35:26 > 0:35:31# Stand by your man. #
0:35:35 > 0:35:39There were doormat songs. She had one song called "Don't Liberate Me, Love Me".
0:35:39 > 0:35:44# Don't liberate me
0:35:44 > 0:35:47# Just love me... #
0:35:47 > 0:35:49"Singing My Song" is a very doormat song.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53"I don't know what I do that's right but it makes him come home at night".
0:35:53 > 0:35:58# I don't know what I do that's right
0:35:58 > 0:36:02# But it makes him come home at night
0:36:02 > 0:36:05# And when he's home
0:36:05 > 0:36:09# I make sure he's never alone
0:36:09 > 0:36:16# And that's why I keep singing my song. #
0:36:16 > 0:36:21Tammy was still standing by husband number two, Don Chapel, but not for long.
0:36:21 > 0:36:22They invited my dad over
0:36:22 > 0:36:24to eat dinner one night.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28And while eating there, Don was very angry...
0:36:28 > 0:36:30and violent towards my mother
0:36:30 > 0:36:34and was cussing at her and saying horrible things to her.
0:36:34 > 0:36:40And it made my dad angry. And he stood up and knocked the dinner table over onto Don
0:36:40 > 0:36:44and said that he wasn't gonna speak to her like that
0:36:44 > 0:36:48and that he was in love with her and thought she was in love with him too.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50And she said, "Yes, I am." So they left.
0:36:50 > 0:36:55- You told me you had a surprise for us.- Yes.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58- She's the brand-new wife of mine. - I know who you're talking about.
0:36:58 > 0:37:04- Yes.- The little lady that the CMA voted the number one girl singer of the year.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07You're talking about Tammy Wynette.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11- Right.- Is she here?- She's here. - Put her to work.- Here we go.
0:37:14 > 0:37:19# Well, I'm gonna get on the old turnpike and I'm gonna ride
0:37:19 > 0:37:24# I'm gonna leave this town till you decide
0:37:24 > 0:37:28# Which one you want the most Them Opry stars or me
0:37:28 > 0:37:32# Milwaukee, here I come From Nashville, Tennessee... #
0:37:32 > 0:37:36Now they really were the first couple of country.
0:37:36 > 0:37:42For her, meeting George Jones, it was just the best and the worst thing in her life.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46They really struggled to make it work.
0:37:48 > 0:37:53# We're gonna hold on... #
0:37:53 > 0:37:59But I do know that she was crazy about him. I mean, she just adored him and he did her.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01The writers who wrote for her,
0:38:01 > 0:38:06and there were about...four of us who wrote regularly,
0:38:06 > 0:38:10would sort of write... what was happening that day.
0:38:10 > 0:38:15And if she and Jones were having a tough time, that's what we wrote about.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17# Life can be rough
0:38:18 > 0:38:20# Sometimes it's... #
0:38:20 > 0:38:24Well, he had his alcohol problem and drug addiction.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27And then, I think, during that time, in the early seventies,
0:38:27 > 0:38:31that was when Mum was just beginning to start her drug addiction.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37George and Tammy had one child together, Georgette.
0:38:37 > 0:38:44Mum's medical problems started after she had a hysterectomy when Georgette was born.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47She was given medication.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51She felt, "I have a prescription for it, so it's OK."
0:38:53 > 0:38:58Because they'd had Georgette, she was so determined to see that work.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05I don't think there was ever any way that it could because of the issues they had.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13There were so many strains on that relationship.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15She had grown up hard
0:39:15 > 0:39:19and didn't want to return to the life from which she came.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21Someone very driven.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25Then you've got George Jones who hit the bottle...
0:39:25 > 0:39:28so hard routinely.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32He couldn't be contained. He couldn't be controlled.
0:39:32 > 0:39:34He was an absolute wild man.
0:39:35 > 0:39:40She wouldn't let him take the car into town cos she knew he'd get in a lot of trouble.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44So he took the keys to the riding lawn mower and rode that into town
0:39:44 > 0:39:46and messed himself up anyway.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52Her and George Jones lived three houses from me on the lake.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56We used to, you know, see each other.
0:39:56 > 0:40:01George would sneak down there and I'd hide a bottle outside the door.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03And he hid it.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06This, I was very angry when I wrote.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12# They said you were a loser when I met you
0:40:13 > 0:40:17# Never stayed with anyone for very long
0:40:18 > 0:40:23# They said I'd never hold you and I guess they knew
0:40:23 > 0:40:28# There'd be something else beside you off and on
0:40:29 > 0:40:33# "I love" you from a four-year-old was such a gift
0:40:33 > 0:40:38# Two little arms around your neck so tight
0:40:39 > 0:40:43# But a four-ounce glass of whisky gave a better lift
0:40:44 > 0:40:48# And a bottle by your pillow made your night
0:40:49 > 0:40:54# I thought that I could make a better man of you
0:40:54 > 0:40:58# But changes don't just happen overnight
0:40:59 > 0:41:04# You asked of us so many things we couldn't do
0:41:04 > 0:41:09# And you just never let that bottle out of sight
0:41:10 > 0:41:15# There's nothing on earth we can do to make you stay
0:41:15 > 0:41:19# But I know every time you touch the bottle
0:41:20 > 0:41:26# You'll hear her voice and see my face every single time
0:41:26 > 0:41:30# Every time you open up that bottle
0:41:31 > 0:41:35# Every time you open up the bottle
0:41:35 > 0:41:42# The bottle. #
0:41:43 > 0:41:47I don't think he ever wanted us to see that side of him
0:41:47 > 0:41:50and I know Mum sheltered us from it.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52But there were occasions when we did.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54He was very volatile.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58And she would not back down.
0:41:58 > 0:41:59So she...
0:41:59 > 0:42:02She would...you know, take it
0:42:02 > 0:42:06and she would give him his money's worth too, so...
0:42:06 > 0:42:08It was very violent.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13# And if you think you've got it made
0:42:13 > 0:42:16# And his love will never fade
0:42:17 > 0:42:19# You'd better listen... #
0:42:19 > 0:42:24Yet Tammy was still giving advice to other women about how to hang on to their husbands.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27# She's out there too
0:42:28 > 0:42:33# And she's a whole lot better-looking than me and you
0:42:35 > 0:42:39# She can do things to a man
0:42:39 > 0:42:44# You never dreamed a woman can do
0:42:47 > 0:42:49# I'm talking
0:42:49 > 0:42:54# Woman to woman... #
0:42:54 > 0:43:00She saw it as if you didn't make it as a wife and mother you were a failure.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04It was a question of survival rather than politics. But I didn't realise that at the time.
0:43:05 > 0:43:10After seven years of standing by George, it was over.
0:43:10 > 0:43:17I was there at the break-up. It was the first time she'd ever gone on the road without George.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21And she said, "I'm scared to go on the road without him."
0:43:21 > 0:43:24And we're like, "You're kidding!"
0:43:24 > 0:43:27She said, "Who'll come to see me?
0:43:27 > 0:43:29"Who'll know who I am?"
0:43:31 > 0:43:35Soon after the break-up, she nearly died from a drug overdose.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39She said she didn't mean to kill herself, just to sleep.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43I really needed this song to help me through some troubled times.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46AUDIENCE APPLAUDS
0:43:48 > 0:43:53# Now and then
0:43:53 > 0:43:58# Lord, you know I'm gonna need a friend
0:43:58 > 0:44:02# Till I get used to losing you
0:44:02 > 0:44:06# Let me keep on using you
0:44:06 > 0:44:11# Till I can make it on my own... #
0:44:11 > 0:44:16This song, Tammy co-wrote with Billy Sherrill and the other George, the George in waiting.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19For a long time I had been in love with Tammy.
0:44:21 > 0:44:26But I was too afraid it would destroy our friendship.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30# But till then I'll lean on you
0:44:30 > 0:44:33# That's all I mean to do
0:44:33 > 0:44:39# Till I can make it on my own
0:44:40 > 0:44:46# Surely someday I'll wake up and see the morning sun
0:44:46 > 0:44:51# Without another lonely night behind me... #
0:44:51 > 0:44:54She started dating Burt Reynolds,
0:44:54 > 0:44:57then the biggest film star in the USA.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00And I'm here with a very special lady,
0:45:00 > 0:45:05who is so shy that...I may do the entire interview myself.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09Why, she hasn't had a hit in over...six minutes.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13- What is the last big hit that you've had?- "Let's Get Together".
0:45:13 > 0:45:17"Let's Get Together" was her last big hit.
0:45:17 > 0:45:19AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:45:19 > 0:45:23- And how many did it sell? - I don't know.- She doesn't know.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26LAUGHTER
0:45:26 > 0:45:30Well, you don't have to be quick to be a country star,
0:45:30 > 0:45:32you just have to be...
0:45:32 > 0:45:36I remember him coming in and thinking, "Wow! This is a real star."
0:45:36 > 0:45:42I guess I never associated Mum with being a celebrity and Burt was a real celebrity.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44What are you gonna sing?
0:45:44 > 0:45:49A song, if I might say, that was written especially for you
0:45:49 > 0:45:53that you know. It's a song called "You And Me".
0:45:53 > 0:45:57She was happy. She was doing things she wanted to do.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00And she seemed to just come alive.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02We're gonna hear "You And Me".
0:46:05 > 0:46:12# I can feel his heart is beating softly
0:46:16 > 0:46:23# He just loved me so tenderly
0:46:23 > 0:46:32# But it should be you and me... #
0:46:33 > 0:46:36They didn't get married, I think...
0:46:36 > 0:46:39Not that Mum didn't want to.
0:46:39 > 0:46:41She probably would have loved to.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44It wasn't to be.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47She married a local businessman instead.
0:46:47 > 0:46:51I think she knew it wasn't going to work out and married him anyway.
0:46:51 > 0:46:56And realised that was a mistake soon afterwards.
0:46:56 > 0:46:57# Kids
0:46:57 > 0:47:01# Say the darnedest things... #
0:47:01 > 0:47:04They split up after 44 days.
0:47:04 > 0:47:08I was seven years old when it happened.
0:47:08 > 0:47:10It was difficult.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19That was the thing that she was most embarrassed about in her life...
0:47:19 > 0:47:22the number of times she had been married.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24Because her belief was you get married ONE time
0:47:24 > 0:47:28and you stay married and you die married to the same person.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30So she did it again.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33She married him. And this time it was to be until death.
0:47:33 > 0:47:37The songwriter became her husband and manager.
0:47:37 > 0:47:41Tammy and I had a long relationship, a wonderful relationship.
0:47:41 > 0:47:42We were married 20 years.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48And for the most part, the majority were great years.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53The quest was over.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55AUDIENCE APPLAUDS
0:48:03 > 0:48:06# I can hear the rain
0:48:06 > 0:48:10# It's falling softly
0:48:15 > 0:48:22# As I watch him lying next to me... #
0:48:22 > 0:48:24Just two years before,
0:48:24 > 0:48:27she'd told Burt Reynolds this song was written for him.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31Her final marriage would split her family and friends.
0:48:31 > 0:48:37She thought it was going to turn out to be something totally different to what it did.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41But by then she felt, "I can't divorce again
0:48:41 > 0:48:44"because of my fans. They'll look at me this way."
0:48:44 > 0:48:46# ..So tenderly... #
0:48:46 > 0:48:49It just wasn't going to happen.
0:48:49 > 0:48:55# It should be you and me... #
0:48:55 > 0:48:58She picked them wrong. And that was her downfall.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02And anybody who knows her life, knows that.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04That's not a great big secret.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12After she picked George Richey, she never had a chance to pick anything else.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15He gained control and he kept control.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18# No, he can't see
0:49:18 > 0:49:25# It should be you and me... #
0:49:25 > 0:49:29'Tammy was one who dared not be alone.
0:49:29 > 0:49:34'In most instances, her relationships were dependent on HER.'
0:49:36 > 0:49:40I think she was used, er...
0:49:40 > 0:49:45by every relationship she was involved in.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54She knew nothing but work and music,
0:49:54 > 0:49:57the cotton fields and music.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01She didn't know about the world.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05I can remember when she would play towns
0:50:05 > 0:50:08She'd feign an injury so that she'd go to an emergency room
0:50:09 > 0:50:12and be given painkillers to get high.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15When her reputation for doing so became widespread,
0:50:15 > 0:50:16she'd stop faking an injury.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20She would walk off a stage.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26# I'm wearing my jeans a little bit tighter... #
0:50:26 > 0:50:31Tammy was now a country legend, singing her repertoire of golden oldies
0:50:31 > 0:50:36and still cutting country albums that pleased her loyal audience.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40As the years rolled by, she became an institution.
0:50:40 > 0:50:47Then, out of the blue, something surprising shot her back to the top of the pops.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51# Hey, hey... #
0:50:51 > 0:50:56For Tammy, it was like 1968 all over again.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59# They're justified and they're ancient... #
0:50:59 > 0:51:03Just like Billy Sherrill, the KLF could make her seem real,
0:51:03 > 0:51:05while all around was artifice.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08Jimmy said, "What we need on this is Tammy Wynette" -
0:51:08 > 0:51:12a ludicrous idea, sitting in this South London studio -
0:51:12 > 0:51:16but suddenly I could hear her voice, I could hear it in my head,
0:51:16 > 0:51:18and I'm thinking, "He's right,"
0:51:18 > 0:51:23and within three calls I was talking to Tammy Wynette and she said, "Yes, I'll do it."
0:51:26 > 0:51:27Met at the airport by her husband,
0:51:27 > 0:51:31who took me in his powder-blue Jag to First Lady Acres
0:51:31 > 0:51:35and the first thing I hear - "Is that you, Bill?"
0:51:35 > 0:51:38I fall instantly in love with her.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41And we get to the studio,
0:51:41 > 0:51:43and she's got the headphones on
0:51:43 > 0:51:45and she can't do it.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47She cannot sing in time to the track.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51It's absolutely awful and I'm thinking, "This is a disaster."
0:51:51 > 0:51:55So what happens is, George Richey conducts her through the whole thing,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58and that worked, well, sort of worked.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00Actually it didn't work at all.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04When I got back to Britain,
0:52:04 > 0:52:07and I said, "Look, I'm sorry. I've completely failed.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10"The whole thing is a disaster."
0:52:10 > 0:52:13But the engineer we worked with had got this new gear in
0:52:13 > 0:52:17and within a couple of hours it was sounding fantastic.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20# They called me up in Tennessee
0:52:20 > 0:52:25# They said, "Tammy, stand by The Jams"
0:52:25 > 0:52:29# But if you don't like what they're going to do
0:52:29 > 0:52:34# You'd better not stop them cos they're coming through
0:52:36 > 0:52:38# Hey, hey!
0:52:38 > 0:52:43# All bound for Mu Mu Land... #
0:52:43 > 0:52:46She's used to singing about heartbreak.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49The woman's situation in white middle America,
0:52:49 > 0:52:53and suddenly she's got these lyrics, but she didn't bat an eyelid.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57# They're justified and they're ancient
0:52:57 > 0:53:00# And they drive an ice-cream van... #
0:53:00 > 0:53:02She did sing it like she meant it.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06Our grandchildren thought she was the king and queen of all the acts.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09She loved it. It was a great experience.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11# ..ancient... #
0:53:11 > 0:53:14It was No.1 in 22 countries.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18We flew her over to this country to make the video
0:53:18 > 0:53:23and we knew she wasn't a well woman, but she worked and worked and worked.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26# All bound for Mu Mu Land... #
0:53:26 > 0:53:30And you could see she was completely, you know, broken,
0:53:30 > 0:53:34but she'd go back out there and she'd turn it on all over again.
0:53:41 > 0:53:46By 1991, Tammy had had 17 major operations on her stomach.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49She was still touring non-stop.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51She was just a very, very sick woman.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55Consequently she was the strongest woman I've ever known.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59Sometimes we'd be on the bus and we'd be hooked up to breathing machines
0:53:59 > 0:54:03and intravenous machines and oxygen and this and that,
0:54:03 > 0:54:06and unplug herself and go out and sing.
0:54:06 > 0:54:13I came to believe that the thing that kept Tammy alive WAS performing.
0:54:13 > 0:54:18Tammy and George Jones had been estranged for years.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26Tammy became very, very, very sick and was in the hospital
0:54:26 > 0:54:29and I was called at three in the morning to come and be prepared
0:54:29 > 0:54:33to write the obituary that she would not live through the night.
0:54:33 > 0:54:38George went to the hospital to see Tammy and of course she was unconscious.
0:54:40 > 0:54:46When Tammy did wake up from the coma, she said that she dreamed that she saw George there.
0:54:46 > 0:54:51"He said, 'I want you to get better. I want to make another record with you.' "
0:54:51 > 0:54:55That was the most nerve-racking thing that you can imagine.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59- # Golden ring...- Golden ring
0:54:59 > 0:55:02# With one tiny stone
0:55:02 > 0:55:05- # Cast aside...- Waiting there
0:55:05 > 0:55:07# For someone to take it home
0:55:07 > 0:55:11- # By itself...- By itself
0:55:11 > 0:55:13# It's just a cold, metallic thing
0:55:13 > 0:55:17# Only love can make a golden wedding ring. #
0:55:18 > 0:55:22It was just an unbelievably emotional thing.
0:55:22 > 0:55:23The last tour to England,
0:55:23 > 0:55:27I remember calling everybody in the family, all the daughters,
0:55:27 > 0:55:31Richey, her husband, and begging and crying for them not to let Tammy go on the tour.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34I was convinced that she would come back in a coffin.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38My husband and I were flying over to England
0:55:38 > 0:55:41and I got on the plane and I was walking through first-class with my cases
0:55:41 > 0:55:44and I looked over and I saw this woman,
0:55:44 > 0:55:47this very, very fragile, little, old woman,
0:55:47 > 0:55:51and then I went, "Oh, my God!" I realised that was Tammy.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54We brought her in for a BBC show in Birmingham.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57They had to literally carry her on stage.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59She was very, very ill.
0:55:59 > 0:56:04She was so fragile and that was the last time I ever saw her alive.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13# Precious memories... #
0:56:13 > 0:56:17Tammy was just 55 when she died in 1998.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21George Richey and her daughters fell out over the estate,
0:56:21 > 0:56:23control over which went to him,
0:56:23 > 0:56:26and over the circumstances of her death.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30We asked for the body to be exhumed because we had hired a private detective
0:56:30 > 0:56:33and gotten some information on some medication.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37We always felt like THAT had something to do with her death,
0:56:37 > 0:56:41but it was never really...proven.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46# Stand by your man
0:56:48 > 0:56:52# And show the world you love him
0:56:52 > 0:57:02# Keep giving all the love you ca-a-an
0:57:02 > 0:57:10# Stand by your ma-a-an. #
0:57:11 > 0:57:16Tammy was of the generation where she was strong, she was powerful,
0:57:16 > 0:57:20she could run her career, but she always seemed to be getting involved with men,
0:57:20 > 0:57:22letting them run things for her,
0:57:22 > 0:57:27and I think to some degree that was her downfall.
0:57:27 > 0:57:32Maybe she was telling herself, there is someone out there
0:57:32 > 0:57:34that's perfect and right for her,
0:57:34 > 0:57:40even though she wasn't having the greatest time trying to find that person, she didn't want to give up.
0:57:40 > 0:57:46I don't think things turned out maybe quite exactly how she had planned...
0:57:49 > 0:57:51..but I do think she did finally find some peace.
0:57:54 > 0:57:58She really paved the way for women writers and, um...
0:57:58 > 0:58:02you know, she had such a great sense of style and carried herself so well,
0:58:02 > 0:58:09that I have always, you know, looked to her for guidance in a way
0:58:09 > 0:58:12for how to be a real loud country star.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16For her, country music was about being real.
0:58:16 > 0:58:21You have to do a lot of things to be real in country music.
0:58:21 > 0:58:25You have to change your name and let people give you a different hairstyle
0:58:25 > 0:58:29and create this phoney image that you have to carry around on your shoulders
0:58:29 > 0:58:33like a boulder the rest of your life, just for the chance to be real.
0:58:34 > 0:58:36It's a mystery to me.
0:58:38 > 0:58:42# When the sky turns to silver
0:58:42 > 0:58:46# Just before dark
0:58:46 > 0:58:52# And the night comes to haunt me again
0:58:52 > 0:58:56# When gone is the memory
0:58:56 > 0:59:00# Of a sadness like mine
0:59:00 > 0:59:06# Sing me a lonesome song. #
0:59:06 > 0:59:08Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd.