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The '90s were a truly magical time for country music, and one of the decade's pioneering voices was undeniably Jo Dee Messina. With her fiery red hair, relatable lyrics, and powerhouse voice, Messina was an unstoppable force. While she had several songs chart for multiple weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, one of her most beloved hits was undoubtedly "Lesson in Leavin'."
The song is the ultimate breakup anthem, a tribute to scorned lovers everywhere and the delicious satisfaction of facing due karma. Years later, the sassy, fearless, and empowering song still has a chokehold on fans. In fact, Messina recently proved it when she posted a video of herself jamming out to her own tune in the car.
Fans were happy to chime in and reminisce about one of the songs that defined her career.
"Do you know you raised an entire generation of girls to know their worth?" asked one fan.
"I know every word to this song! My first husband was my target audience," quipped another.
"I learned this song at the age of 6 when my mom finally left my stepdad, & it still brings back the best memories of me & her in the car SCREAMING this at the top of our lungs! Hopefully, one day we can see you in concert," shared another.
What many may not realize, though, is that while Messina certainly breathed her own life into the track, the song was actually originally an '80s hit by another prolific country voice.
Related: '90s Country Queen's TikTok Reveal Has Fans Losing Their Minds
A History Lesson on "Lesson in Leavin'"
In 1980, songwriters Randy Goodrum and Brent Maher took "nervous tick" knee slaps and turned the catchy beat into a legendary anthem. The two felt so strongly about it that they had a very specific vision for the track, with none other than Dottie West at its center to crush the vocals.
“We thought about Dottie,” Goodrum recalled, according to American Songwriter. “We imagined her standing in the back door with a frying pan in her hand, and a wink in the eye, and a tongue in the cheek. And the song just sort of fell onto the page. In about an hour, maybe, we had the whole thing pretty much written. We took that to Dottie, and she just flipped out. And that turned out to be the core of the sound we were trying to create for her. We did build around it. We did some really nice sort of intelligent ballads for her.”
And it truly worked — West's version climbed to the top of the country charts and stayed there for 15 weeks. Combined with Jo Dee Messina's hit cover and the passionate reaction it still garners from fans today, calling it a timeless breakup anthem is more than fair.
