“It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels” by Kitty Wells
— Friday, July 20th, 2012 —
Earlier this week I wrote a blog post about the legacy of the late Kitty Wells. Wells is most famous for her song “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels.” The song made history because it was a response, from a woman’s perspective, to Hank Thompson’s hit “Wild Side of Life.” In his song, Thompson cynically berates his ex-wife who left him. He should have known, he sings, that she’d “never made a wife.” She was instead a “honky-tonk angel,” predestined to be unfaithful to him.
Wells argued, in a deceptively sweet and gentle voice, that women were driven to the honky-tonk nightlife not by God’s design but by years of life with men who “think that they’re still single.”
Miss Kitty’s protest is not against womanhood, being a wife, a lover or a mother. Instead, she is crying out for those things to be true. She is calling men to live in a way that is worthy of their God-given role in the family structure. In this episode we will consider what a crucified, self-sacrificial, Christ-shaped headship looks like in contrast to the predatory, juvenile “headship” that so pervades much of American culture.
A GREAT follow-up to your post two days ago on Kitty Wells. God bless men like you who are able to impact other men in ways that women can’t when it comes to this whole issue of what I call the dichotomization of women which is not only prolific in the culture but also in the church.
I “came of age” during the hippie revolution of the late 60’s (that unleashed a huge wave of unrestrained sexual promiscuity into the culture) and to this day I can’t recall dating one man (Christian or otherwise) that didn’t expect sex while dating them (for the most part, I didn’t comply, although as a man you may not understand the kind of pressure that puts on young women in a society that tells them they are “prudes” if they don’t do it and where Christians have turned a blind eye for decades now).
I’m still single to this day by choice as I’ve seen enough bad marriages as the staggering divorce rate attests to and we have created a society of “disposable” relationships. And, while I have never considered myself a “feminist,” as in the Betty Friedan style of feminism, I do understand their frustration and anger. Our society constantly sexualizes women in every area–media, advertising, movies, you-name-it (and the vast proliferation of porn has caused havoc and destruction in many male/female relationships) while putting down any other positive image that women project in society, especially in the public arena– intelligent, thoughtful women who are trying to make a positive impact on society.
Men rarely listen to women on this issue, which is it why is it so important for men like you to speak up. Thank you, Dr. Moore, for doing that.
This was the most surprising “Cross and the Jukebox” so far. Being ignorant of this song beforehand, I did not expect to hear the tune of “The Great Speckled Bird.” And I was shocked– shocked!– to hear Janet Jackson. (My children started dancing around, and were confused why I was laughing so hard.)