Songfacts®:

• This song is about a couple who were doing just fine until the guy found fame and fortune. Now he pays little attention to his girl, leaving her alone most nights and never holding her like he used to. The conclusion: Success has made a failure of our home.
• One of Loretta Lynn's early songs, "Success" was her first Top 10 hit on the Country chart, rising to #6. By the end of the 1960s, she was one of the biggest stars in country music. She heeded this song's message and stayed remarkably grounded, keeping her friends and family as priorities. She stayed with her husband Doolittle until his death in 1996.
• "Success" was written by Johnny Mullins, who also wrote another song Lynn recorded, "Blue Kentucky Girl." It was produced by Owen Bradley, who also worked with Brenda Lee and Patsy Cline.
• Sinéad O'Connor covered this song in 1992 under the title "Success Has Made a Failure of Our Home." She was drawn to the song after landing a massive hit in 1990 with "Nothing Compares 2 U" from her second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. An unwitting celebrity, she soon realized that fame and the burdens that come with it were ruining her life. She responded by making her next album, Am I Not Your Girl?, a collection of cover songs with standards like "Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered" mixed with more obscure songs like "Scarlet Ribbons." "Success Has Made a Failure of Our Home" was released as the first single and was only a minor hit, as per her plan.
• The country singer Sonny Wright switched the gender when he covered the song in 1969, as did Elvis Costello, who included it on his 1981 album Almost Blue.
• This was the first song Sinéad O'Connor performed when she was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, October 3, 1992. Her next song was much more memorable. After singing Bob Marley's "War," she held up a picture of the Pope, said "fight the real enemy," and tore it to pieces.