Stand by Your Man

For other uses, see Stand by Your Man (disambiguation).

"Stand by Your Man" is a song recorded by American country music artist Tammy Wynette, co-written by Wynette and Billy Sherrill. It was released on September 20, 1968, as the first single and title track from the album Stand by Your Man. It proved to be the most successful record of Wynette's career, and is one of the most familiar songs in the history of country music. The song was placed at number one on CMT's list of the Top 100 Country Music Songs.

"Stand by Your Man"
Single by Tammy Wynette
from the album Stand by Your Man
B-side	"I Stayed Long Enough"
Released	September 20, 1968 (U.S.) 1975 (U.K.)
Recorded	August 28, 1968
Genre	Country
Length	2:38
Label	Epic 10398
Songwriter(s)	Billy Sherrill, Tammy Wynette
Producer(s)	Billy Sherrill
Tammy Wynette singles chronology
"D-I-V-O-R-C-E" (1968) "Stand by Your Man" (1968) "Singing My Song" (1969)
Music video
"Stand by Your Man" (audio) on YouTube

Released as a single, it stayed number one on the U.S. country charts for three weeks.^[1] "Stand by Your Man" crossed over to the U.S. pop charts, peaking at number nineteen.^[2] It elevated Wynette—then one of many somewhat successful female country recording artists—to superstar status. It reached number one in the UK Singles Chart when the record was released in the United Kingdom in 1975,^[3] and also reached number one in the Netherlands. An album of the same name—which was also quite successful—was released in 1968. The song earned Wynette the 1970 Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female—her second Grammy win in that category—and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

Vocal accompaniment is provided by The Jordanaires, who provided background vocals on most of Wynette's hit recordings.

The song was selected by the Library of Congress as a 2010 addition to the National Recording Registry, which selects recordings annually that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[4] In 2021, it was ranked No. 473 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Songs of All Time".^[5]

Background and writing

"Stand by Your Man" was reportedly written in 1968 at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville in all of 15 minutes. The song came from an idea that originated with Wynette's producer, Billy Sherrill, who along with Wynette is one of the two writers credited. Tammy was not very fond of the song at first because it was unlike anything she had ever written before, and because there is a high note that was hard for her to sing. She said that, over time, she got to love the song, and came to the point where she "couldn't do a show without it." Sherrill originally stated that, before "Stand by Your Man" release, he thought that Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" would be Wynette's signature song. However, after witnessing how successful the song came to be in America during that time, Sherrill then agreed that "Stand by Your Man" was definitely Wynette's career-defining hit.

Content

Derided by the feminist movement of the late 1960s and 1970s, Wynette in later years defended the song as not a call for women to place themselves second to men, but rather a suggestion that women attempt to overlook their husbands' shortcomings and faults if they truly love them (and in fact, the last line in the final verse says "after all, he's just a man"). Wynette always defended her signature song. The song remained contentious into the early 1990s, when soon-to-be First Lady Hillary Clinton told CBS' 60 Minutes during the "Gennifer Flowers interview" that she "wasn't some little woman 'standing by my man' like Tammy Wynette."

In popular culture

The song opens Jack Nicholson's 1970 drama film Five Easy Pieces.^[6]

Answer songs included Conway Twitty's 1971 No. 1 hit "How Much More Can She Stand" and Ronnie Milsap's "(I'm A) Stand by My Woman Man," a 1976 number that also topped the country music charts.^[7]

In 2003, "Stand by Your Man" was rated number one on CMT's 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music. In 2004, "Stand by Your Man" was rated number sixteen on CMT's 100 Greatest Country Love Songs.

Country music star Carrie Underwood performed the song at the Grand Ole Opry in May 2008.^[8]

In the 2022 adaptation of Stephen King's novella Mr. Harrigan's Phone, Craig's and the namesake's phone ringtones are set to the song.^[9]

Chart performance

Weekly charts Chart (1968–69) Peak position US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)^[10] 1 US Billboard Hot 100^[11] 19 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)^[12] 11 Canadian RPM Country Tracks 1 Canadian RPM Top Singles 15 Australia (Go-Set)^[13] 9 Chart (1975) Peak position UK Singles Chart^[3] 1 Irish Singles 1 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)^[14] 1 Belgian VRT Top 30 1 New Zealand Singles ^[14] 31 Chart (1998) Peak position U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks^[15] 56

Year-end charts Chart (1975) Position UK ^[16] 5 Certifications Country Provider Certification United Kingdom BPI Gold

Heike Makatsch version

"Stand by Your Man"
Single by Heike Makatsch
Released	March 10, 1996
Recorded	1996
Genre	Country, pop
Length	3:52
Label	Metronome Records
Songwriter(s)	Billy Sherrill, Tammy Wynette
Producer(s)	Detlef Petersen
Heike Makatsch singles chronology
"Stand by Your Man" (1996) "This Girl Was Made for Loving" (1997)

In 1996, Heike Makatsch recorded her version of the song, which was used as the soundtrack of the movie Jailbirds. The cover was a great success in the German-speaking countries. In terms of musical genre, the cover remained true to the original, but more pop.

Track listings

CD-Maxi

1. Stand By Your Man - 2:53
2. Cat Calls - Detlef Petersen - 3:37
3. Stand By Your Man (Part II mit dem Gefangenenchor) - 3:37

Charts

Chart (1996)	Peak position
German Singles Chart^[17]	11
Austrian Singles Chart	30
Swiss Singles Chart	29

Hebrew translation

A Hebrew version of the song was written by famed Israeli lyricist Ehud Manor for the 1982 Israeli television show "Red River Valley", which was dedicated to Manor's translations of famous country songs. The Hebrew version, titled "Rak Letzido" (lit. "Only by His Side"), was performed by Riki Gal.

Other cover versions

• In 1968, Patti Page covered the song and released it as an easy listening single, peaking at No. 20.
• In 1970, Candi Staton covered the song, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard R&B chart and at No. 24 on the pop Hot 100.^[18] She also reached No. 21 on the Cash Box Top 100.^[19]
• In 1979 Tina Turner Covered the song on her album Tina Goes Country
• Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi performed the song in their 1980 film, The Blues Brothers.
• In 1982, Wendy O. Williams of the Plasmatics and Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead released a duet cover the song.
• In 1989 Lyle Lovett famously covered this song for his album Lyle Lovett and His Large Band.
• In 1992, The Chipmunks released a country cover album titled Chipmunks in Low Places. Many of the tracks included their original artists, including Tammy Wynette on Stand By Your Man.
• In 1994, Lisa Brokop covered the song for the soundtrack to the film Harmony Cats. It was released as a single and peaked at number 88 on the RPM Country Tracks chart.^[20]
• In 1998, Elton John covered the song for the Tammy Wynette tribute album, Tammy Wynette Remembered.
• In 2012, Willam Belli and Drake Jensen covered the song for Belli's debut studio album The Wreckoning. It was released as the ninth single on November 10, 2012.^[21]

References

1. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 399.
2. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 690.
3. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 313–4. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
4. "The National Recording Registry 2010". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 10, 2011.
5. "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2021-09-15. Retrieved 2022-07-03.
6. "Five Easy Pieces (1970) – Deep Focus Review – Movie Reviews, Critical Essays, and Film Analysis". Deep Focus Review. 2021-07-24. Retrieved 2023-09-28.
7. Roy Shuker (1994). Understanding Popular Music. p. 102. ISBN 9780415107228. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
8. "Carrie Underwood Entertains The Opry With Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man"". countrymusicfamily.com. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
9. Lennon, Mads (2022-10-05). "Mr. Harrigan's Phone soundtrack: All songs featured in the film". Netflix Life. Retrieved 2023-10-07. He says his favorite song is Stand By Your Man by Tammy Wynette, so Craig makes that song his and Mr. Harrigan's matching ringtones, so they always know when the other is calling.
10. "Tammy Wynette Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
11. "Tammy Wynette Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
12. "Tammy Wynette Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
13. "Go-Set Australian charts - 16 April 1969". Poparchives.com.au. 1969-04-16. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
14. Steffen Hung. "Tammy Wynette - Stand By Your Man". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
15. Whitburn, Joel (2013). Hot Country Songs 1944–2012. Record Research, Inc. p. 383. ISBN 978-0-89820-203-8.
16. "Top 100 1975 - UK Music Charts". Uk-charts.top-source.info. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
17. chartsurfer.de
18. . The Soul of the Net. www.melingo.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
19. "Cash Box Top 100 11/21/70".
20. . RPM. January 24, 1994. Archived from the original on 2014-08-10. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
21. Virtel, Louis (9 November 2012). "Watch: Gay Country Artist Drake Jensen Covers "Stand By Your Man" With Willam Belli". AfterElton.com. Retrieved 13 April 2013.