“YES MA’AM, I KNOW I’M NOT THE KIND OF GIRL YOU’D WANT YOUR SON TO KNOW.” — ONE SONG. OVER 50 YEARS. STILL BREAKS HEARTS. Leona Williams recorded this on Hickory Records back in 1970. She was one of 12 children from Vienna, Missouri. Had her own radio show at 15. Played bass guitar in Loretta Lynn’s band. Later married Merle Haggard and wrote two of his number one hits.But none of that tells you why this song still hits different.It’s a woman talking to her boyfriend’s mother. No excuses. No drama. Just the raw truth — “He found me in a honky-tonk.” She knows she doesn’t look right on paper. She knows what that mother is thinking. And then she says the one thing nobody expects.Not a defense. Not an apology. Something that made even the toughest barroom crowds go quiet. What Leona whispered in that final verse — after admitting she’d “partied with a crazy crowd” — changed everything about how you hear this song.The first woman to ever record a live album inside San Quentin prison… and her most vulnerable moment was this three-minute confession to a mother she wanted to love her.
“Yes Ma’am, I Know I’m Not the Kind of Girl You’d Want Your Son to Know.” The Song That Still Breaks Hearts Some songs do more than tell a story.…