The Pill
There's a gonna be some changes made right here on nursery hill
Welcome to new subscribers and regular readers! Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “The Pill” by T.D. Bayless, Don McHan, and Lorene Allen. If you’d like to hear the song before you read about it, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article. Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics which are written in italics.
✳️ Note: The level of this article is for students with a TOEIC of 550+, Eiken Pre-1, CEFR B2. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below.
(677 words)
This is the story of a woman who is in a situation that is hard for her to change. She finds a solution in a new medical discovery, the birth control pill.
The birth control pill was first sold in the U.S. In 1960. The 60s were a time of social change and changes in values. Young people in particular were trying new ways of living, and they experimented with sexual freedom. With the pill, it was possible to prevent pregnancy, giving women control over when they decided to have children.
The song was originally recorded in 1972, but it wasn’t released until 1975. The recording company thought the song was too controversial. However, doctors thanked Lynn for singing the song. They said it helped more women to find out about the pill.
The song begins with the woman talking to her husband. She says you wined and dined me. That means when he was first dating her, he took her out to nice restaurants and said sweet things to her, to try to get her to fall in love with him.
You wined me and dined me
When I was your girl
Promised if I'd be your wife
You'd show me the world
After they were married, she wanted to “see the world”. Instead, she got pregnant and became tied to the routine of raising a child. A brooder is a place that is kept warm for the chicks (baby chickens) to grow during the first few weeks.
But all I've seen of this old world
Is a bed and a doctor bill
I'm tearing down your brooder house
'Cause now I've got the pill
It wasn’t just one child. Her husband had affairs with other women, and she became pregnant again and again. However, because she now has the pill, she can take control over becoming pregnant. In saying You’ve set this chicken your last time, the woman is telling her husband that he can’t get her pregnant any more.
All these years I've stayed at home
While you had all your fun
And every year that's gone by
Another baby's come
There's a gonna be some changes made
Right here on nursery hill
You've set this chicken your last time
'Cause now I've got the pill
The woman’s self-esteem has returned. She is starting to take pride in herself again. She buys some new, fashionable clothes like hot pants, which were very short shorts back in the 1960s and 70s.
This old maternity dress I've got
Is going in the garbage
The clothes I'm wearing from now on
Won't take up so much yardage
Miniskirts, hot pants and a few little fancy frills
Yeah I'm making up for all those years
Since I've got the pill
Roosters, male chickens, crow, which means to make a loud noise to show they are ruling the area. To “crow” also means to be proud of yourself and tell others. The woman tells her husband that she knows he has slept with other women (your hens, female chickens).
I'm tired of all your crowing
How you and your hens play
While holding a couple (of children) in my arms
Another's on the way (the woman is pregnant again)
This chicken's done tore up her nest
And I'm ready to make a deal
And ya (you) can't afford to turn it down
'Cause you know I've got the pill
An incubator is a place where the eggs are kept before the chicks come out. The temperature is kept warm at all times.
This incubator is overused
Because you've kept it filled
The feeling good comes easy now
Since I've got the pill
To “roost” means to go somewhere to rest or sleep.
It's gettin' dark, it's roosting time
Tonight's too good to be real
Oh, but daddy don't you worry none
'Cause mama's got the pill
Ms. Lynn was almost banned from singing this song at the Grand Ole Opry, a radio broadcast of country-western music. According to Time magazine, country music radio stations still won’t play this song.
Leave a comment or ask a question. It’s a good way to improve your English!
Vocabulary
prevent 予防
pregnancy 妊娠
controversial 物議を醸す
self-esteem 自尊心
yardage 生地のヤード数
frills 縁飾り
rooster 雄鶏
hen 雌鶏
incubator 孵卵器
Sources
Chow, A. R. (2022, October 4). Country radio still won’t play Loretta Lynn’s “The pill.” Time. https://time.com/6219550/loretta-lynn-dies-the-pill-legacy/ Accessed 12 April 2025.
Sparkman, D. (2022, October 4). How Loretta Lynn’s banned song “the pill” shook up radio and changed country music. Wide Open Country. https://www.wideopencountry.com/loretta-lynn-the-pill/ Accessed 12 April 2025.
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