Tammy Wynette – I Don’t Wanna Play House, is a song written by Billy Sherrill and Glenn Sutton. In 1967, the song was Tammy Wynette’s first number one country song as a solo artist. «I Don’t Wanna Play House» spent three weeks at the top spot and a total of eighteen weeks on the chart. The recording earned Wynette the 1968 Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. The song was released in the UK in 1976, which made the Top 40.

In the song, the narrator, a young mother whose husband has left her, overhears her daughter describing to a neighbor boy their broken home, and informing him that she doesn’t want to play house since, after observing her parents’ troubles, she knows that it cannot be fun.

Tammy Wynette – I Don’t Wanna Play House
From the album Take Me to Your World / I Don’t Wanna Play House
B-side «Soakin’ Wet»
Released July 1967
Genre Country
Length 2:38
Label Epic
Songwriter(s) Billy Sherrill Glenn Sutton
Producer(s) Billy Sherrill

COUNTRYPEDIA

Tammy Wynette – I Don’t Wanna Play House Lyrics

Today I sat alone at the window
And I watched our little girl outside at play
With the little boy next door like so many times before
But something didn’t seem quite right today

So I went outside to see what they were doing
And then the teardrops made my eyes grow dim
‘Cause I heard him name a game and I hung my head in shame
When I heard our little girl say to him

I don’t wanna play house
I know it can’t be fun
I’ve watched mommy and daddy
And if that’s the way it’s done
I don’t wanna play house
It makes my mommy cry
‘Cause when she played house
My daddy said good-bye

I don’t wanna play house
I know it can’t be fun
I’ve watched mommy and daddy
And if that’s the way it’s done
I don’t wanna play house
It makes my mommy cry
‘Cause when she played house
My daddy said good-bye

GENIUS