What Kind of a Girl (Do You Think I Am)

Album: Fist City (1967)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In this Top 10 country single, Loretta Lynn refuses to go all the way to prove her love to a boy. Lynn wrote the song with Teddy Wilburn, of the country duo The Wilburn Brothers, while they were on tour together. Some radio stations refused to play the tune, assuming it was racy because of the title.
  • After a preacher came backstage and praised Lynn for writing a song with such a positive message for young girls, Lynn saw her songwriting in a whole new light. She explained in her 2012 book Honky Tonk Girl: My Life in Lyrics: "I realized my songs could do more than make people happy or sad, they can make people think. Songs can make people change the things they do. I passed this song around to my own daughters, and I know a lot of daughters that it helped. All I have to say is: any young girl that has a problem with a boy that she goes with should be able to say to him, without any problem, 'What kind of girl do you think I am?'"
  • Lynn was way past the dating stage when she recorded this. She married Doolittle Lynn nearly 20 years earlier, at just 15 years old.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Jon Foreman of Switchfoot

Jon Foreman of SwitchfootSongwriter Interviews

Switchfoot's frontman and main songwriter on what inspires the songs and how he got the freedom to say exactly what he means.

Wherefore Art Thou Romeo Lyric

Wherefore Art Thou Romeo LyricMusic Quiz

In this quiz, spot the artist who put Romeo into a song lyric.

Colin Hay

Colin HaySongwriter Interviews

Established as a redoubtable singer-songwriter, the Men At Work frontman explains how religion, sobriety and Jack Nicholson play into his songwriting.

Lecrae

LecraeSongwriter Interviews

The Christian rapper talks about where his trip to Haiti and his history of addiction fit into his songs.

Elton John

Elton JohnFact or Fiction

Does he have beef with Gaga? Is he Sean Lennon's godfather? See if you can tell fact from fiction in the Elton John edition.

Emmylou Harris

Emmylou HarrisSongwriter Interviews

She thinks of herself as a "song interpreter," but back in the '80s another country star convinced Emmylou to take a crack at songwriting.