I beg your pardon.

Loretta Lynn was my favorite singer when I was three years old.  I had her record and I had my own little blue Fisher Price record player, that really worked.  I knew how to put the record on the player all by myself and I used to play it over and over.  I knew all the words to, "Don't Come Home a'Drinkin' with Loving on Mind," and "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take my Man."  If you asked me where I grew up I'd say, "Butcha' holla'," and if you asked me what my daddy did for a living I'd say, "He works in the coal mines."  That's weird, huh?  

When I found the "Stand By Your Man: First Ladies of Country" CD for under $3.00, I bought it.  Of course. Mikhaila was a kid.  We listened to it.  When you have a little-kid sister, and you're a teenager, it's important to play wholesome music with positive messages whenever you are in each other's company.  

You'll have bad times, and he'll have good times, doin' things that you don't understand.  But if you love him, you'll forgive him, even though he's hard to understand.  And if you love him, oh be proud of him: 'Cause after all he's just a man," is a life lesson she needed to learn at an early age. It is pretty self-explanatory, but the wholesome message is:  Men might run around on you, but as a woman you better as Hell not.  And you don't have to understand his hurtful behavior, just forgive him, because he's just a stupid asshole guy.  Oh, and stay with him, no matter what.  


Obviously: "Sometimes it's hard to be a woman, giving all your love to just one man.
There are many great songs by Loretta Lynn.  "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man, and Fist City," also hold important messages for a 6-8-year-old.  I think Mikhaila appreciated them.  You see, Loretta Lynn is just taking it a step further than Tammy Wynette, and says she'll beat the crap out of any woman she catches with her husband... but she'll still stand by her man.  She stood by her man, and she said most of her songs were inspired by real events, too.  It's super inspiring that Loretta Lynn and Doo Lynn stayed together until he passed away (from natural causes).  They were married for 47 years.

So this great CD had Coal Miner's Daughter, and 9 to 5, and Harper Valley PTA on it.  It also had the song by Lynn Anderson, Rose Garden.  The other day Mikhaila was quoting that song to me for a very important purpose that I can't remember.  But instead of a direct quote, she instead said, "You don't always get a rose garden when you expect one."  Then, of course, she corrected herself, because she remembers the lyrics to every song she's ever heard.  She told me that.

So, in this particular Lynn Anderson song, also known as, "I Beg Your Pardon," she's super polite about telling the guy to stop expecting too much from her.   Too much.  And Anderson says she isn't supposed to hand him everything on a silver platter, even if she wanted to...  And most importantly, "Let's be jolly." (Just kidding, although that is great advice for living), but most importantly she says: 
"You'd better look before you leap 

still waters run deep

And there won't always be someone there to pull you out

And you know what I'm talking about." 

  

Do you know what she's talking about?  (If you don't then your still waters don't run deep).  She's saying she's not some stupid girl who will be treated subhuman by a man.  She is smart and thoughtful, and if he isn't into that kind of thing, go marry Tammy Wynette.   
Now I have to remember why in the heck Mikhaila brought the song up in the first place...  Hmmmm...
(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden

Big hair also helped a lady keep her man.

     

I beg your pardon I never promised you a rose garden

Along with the sunshine there's gotta be a little rain sometime

When you take you gotta give so live and let live and let go oh oh oh oh

I beg your pardon I never promised you a rose garden

I could promise you things like big diamond rings

But you don't find roses growin' on stalks of clover

So you better think it over

Well, if sweet talking you could make it come true

I would give you the world right now on a silver platter

But what would it matter

So smile for a while and let's be jolly love shouldn't be so melancholy

Come along and share the good times while we can

I beg your pardon I never promised you a rose garden

Along with the sunshine there's gotta be a little rain sometime

I beg your pardon I never promised you a rose garden

I could sing you a tune and promise you the moon

But if that's what it takes to hold you I'd just as soon let you go

But there's one thing I want you to know

You'd better look before you leap still waters run deep

And there won't always be someone there to pull you out

And you know what I'm talking about

So smile for a while and let's be jolly love shouldn't be so melancholy

Come along and share the good times while we can

I beg your pardon I never promised you a rose garden

Along with the sunshine there's gotta be a little rain sometime...

                                           
 -Lynn Anderson