They said George and Tammy were done — the storm had passed, the love burned out. But one night in 1976, long after the divorce papers were signed, a janitor at the Opry found a torn envelope backstage. It read: “To Tammy — for the nights when the songs hurt more than the truth.” Inside was a lyric sheet, handwritten in George’s shaky scrawl. At the bottom, he had written one last line: “If we can’t live the song together, at least let it remember us kindly.” Tammy never saw that note. But months later, she recorded “’Til I Can Make It on My Own.” And when George heard it on the radio, he turned off the lights, poured a glass, and whispered — “You did, baby. You did.”
They said George and Tammy were done — the storm had passed, the love burned out. But some fires never truly die; they just go quiet for a while, waiting…