I'm a Honky Tonk Girl

"I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" was Lynn's debut single in 1960. She reported writing the the song while leaning up against her home's bathroom toilet seat in twenty minutes, using a seventeen dollar guitar that her husband bought her as an anniversary present. Norm Burley heard her sing the song on a local TV station, was impressed & asked her husband to bring her to LA to record the song. It was released on Zero Records, a minor label. The song was promoted primarily by Lynn and her husband. In spite of this the song reached #14 on the Billboard country chart.

Ever since you left me, I've done nothing but wrong
Many nights I've laid awake and cried
We was so happy, my heart was in a whirl
But now I'm a honky tonk girl
(up 1) F - C - / G F C - :// 
So turn that jukebox way up high
And fill my glass up while cry
I've lost everything in this world
And now I'm a honky tonk girl
G F C - /  / F - C - / G F C -
I just can't make a right with all of my wrongs
Every evening of my life seems so long
I'm sorry and ashamed for all these things you see
But losing him has made a fool of me

So fill my glass up to the rim
To lose my memory of him
I've lost everything in this world
And now I'm a Honky Tonk Girl(tag) I've lost everything in this world
And now I'm a Honky Tonk Girl

- lyrics & music by Loretta Lynn
© Hall Clement Publishing, Sure Fire Music Co. All rights reserved.