This week in 1970: Police used tear gas to disperse a rally of 12,000 Black Panther supporters in Connecticut; 128 U.S. jets carried out heavy air strikes in North Vietnam; National Guardsmen shot four students dead at a Kent State protest rally in Ohio; and a singer from Itawamba County, Miss., had her 12th hit record.
A lot of hit songs have been written-or-co-written-because several writers got together and just sat around until someone came up with a line or a guitar lick or an idea for a song. And according to Norro Wilson, Tammy Wynette's 1970 hit "He Loves Me All the Way" was written just that way.
Norro commented, "I think Carmol Taylor came up with that title and that's how that song got started. Back in those days we were just sort of a "songwriter factory." And we'd just get together and sit around until somebody thought up something and that's all we did with that song."
"I think it might have been Billy Sherrill who came up with the line "He Loves Me All The Way." But you know that line or that idea covers a lot of territory and we thought it was a good title and it turned out to be a good song."
Tammy Wynette's Epic Records single "He Loves Me All the Way" entered the country music charts May 23, 1970, and made it to No. 1 on July 4th and stuck there for three weeks.
Tammy Wynette was born Virginia Wynette Pugh in Mississippi in 1942. She placed 73 songs on the country music charts between 1966 and 1998-including duets with David Houston, Mark Gray, Wayne Newton, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and George Jones.
She joined The Grand Ole Opry in 1970 and was inducted into The Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1998.
Tammy Wynette died in 1998.
Doug Davis' "Story Behind The Song" is heard weekdays at 6:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on KPGG-FM 103.9