The Meaning Behind Loretta Lynn’s Self-Affirming Classic “You’re Lookin’ at Country”

Loretta Lynn said it all in one line: If you’re lookin’ at me, you’re lookin’ at country. “You’re Lookin’ at Country” was an ode to the pastoral imagery she passed on the open road while touring and her affirmation of being all-country. Released a year after “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” the song climbed to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, while the 1971 album You’re Lookin’ at Country peaked at No. 7.

“Real Country”

Lynn was first inspired to write the song after roaming her Hurricane Mills property in Tennessee with her husband Oliver Lynn (Doo). While showing her the new livestock he bought while she was on the road, Lynn was captivated by the natural landscape surrounding them and told Doo, “You’re lookin’ at country, real country.”

Within the song, Lynn sings about running barefooted through the old cornfields and her love of the land under her feet. To make the song move on the charts, she wrote it around a love interest.

[RELATED: 5 Songs You Didn’t Know Loretta Lynn Wrote for Other Artists]

Well, I like my lovin’ done country-style
And this little girl would walk a country mile
To find her a good old slow-talkin’ country boy
I said a country boy
I’m about as old-fashioned as I can be
So I hope you’re likin’ what you see
If you’re lookin’ at me
You’re lookin’ at country

You don’t see no city when you look at me
‘Cause country’s all I am
I love runnin’ barefooted through the old cornfields
And I love that country ham
Well, you say I’m made just to fit your plans
But there’s a barnyard shovel fit your hands
If your eyes are on me
You’re lookin’ at country, oh Bobby

Well, I like my lovin’ done country-style
And this little girl would walk a country mile
To find her a good old slow-talkin’ country boy
I said a country boy
I’m about as old-fashioned as I can be
So I hope you’re likin’ what you see
If you’re lookin’ at me
You’re lookin’ at country

“I had to write ‘You’re Lookin’ At Country’ as a love song or it wouldn’t sell,” said Lynn in the liner notes for the 1994 box set Honky Tonk Girl: The Loretta Lynn Collection. “But it wasn’t a love song. I got the idea from looking at my land. I wanted to write what I saw.”

[RELATED: 5 Songs You Didn’t Know Loretta Lynn Wrote for Other Artists]

Still Country

In 1978, Lynn performed her country paean on an episode of The Muppets Show. Actress Sissy Spacek later performed “You’re Lookin’ at Country” in two scenes of the 1980 film on Lynn’s life, Coal Miner’s Daughter, along with singing the song for the soundtrack.

Carrie Underwood covered Lynn’s classic in the 2010 tribute album, Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute To Loretta Lynn, and in 2014, Lynn joined Kacey Musgraves on stage to perform the song during the CMA Awards.

Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images