Loretta Lynn‘s new rendition “One’s on the Way,” featuring Margo Price, proves that, 50 years after its original release, the classic country song remains as relevant as ever. That Lynn’s original lyrics detailing the mundane, yet hectic, life of a pregnant mother in Topeka, Kan., sound as though they were written recently all the more proves her point.
Lynn and Price trade lines throughout “One’s on the Way,” turning what was originally an uptempo solo lament into a gossipy conversation between two friends: “They say to have her hair done, Liz flies all the way to France / And Jackie’s seen in a discotheque doin’ a brand-new dance,” Lynn opens. The names used throughout the song are those of prominent female celebrities of the late 1960s and early ’70s, but in 2021, they could represent any number of people on social media, famous or not.
“But here in Topeka, the rain is a-fallin’ / The faucet is a-drippin’ and the kids are a-bawlin’ / One of ’em’s toddlin’ and one is a-crawlin’,” they sing, adding in later refrains that “the screen door’s a-bangin’ / The coffee’s boilin’ over and the wash needs a-hangin’ / One wants a cookie and one wants a changin’ … The dog is a-barkin’ and the floor needs a-scrubbin’ … And one’s on the way.”
“Obviously I love her voice, I love the way she sings — it’s so powerful,” Price shares in a behind-the-scenes video, “but it is what she’s saying and how she’s saying it [that made me a fan] … [Lynn’s story-songs] gave me the blueprint, as a country artist and just as a writer in general.”
Lauded poet, author and songwriter Shel Silverstein wrote “One’s on the Way,” which served as the title track of a 1972 album from Lynn. Following its November 1971 release, the song hit No. 1 on the Billboard country singles chart.
“It was an important song at the time, and it’s still an important song, to be able to talk about birth control and women’s rights in country music. It was legendary,” says Price of the song, which followed “Don’t Come Home a-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)” in Lynn’s list of single releases, but preceded “Rated X” and “The Pill.”
The mother of six, Pride adds, “was not afraid to step on any toes. She wrote her truth.”
Lynn and Price’s version of “One’s on the Way” comes from Lynn’s forthcoming 50th studio album, Still Woman Enough. The 13-track record of country traditionals, new renditions of Lynn’s own hits and one new song, the title track, also features collaborations with Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood (“Still Woman Enough”) and Tanya Tucker (“You Ain’t Woman Enough”).
Still Woman Enough is due out on March 19. Lynn’s daughter Patsy Lynn Russell and John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, produced the project, which was largely recorded at the Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tenn.
Loretta Lynn Through the Years: