Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity

Subject: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: GUEST,John Evans
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 04:48 PM

In many British / American folk songs, a man straying is (from a male point of view) seen as something to celebrate. There are also lots of songs where the interloper gets caught and punished (especially if he's a tailor)

There are lots of songs sung from the female view which suggest that men can't be trusted, that they'll cheat on you etc.

Can anyone come up with any songs where the man feels really guilty for cheating on a woman?

Interested in anything, not just trad stuff.

Thanks

John Evans

There

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: MMario
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 04:51 PM

or actually feels not only guilt, but remorse and repentence? (Somehow I doubt there are many) (hey! men are geneticaly polygamists...or at least that's what they taught me in school. Handy excuse, ain't it?) (NOTE: JOKE!!)

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Gary T
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 05:13 PM

Doggone it, John, I'm sure there are many country songs with that sentiment, but I can't recall any right now. I'll keep thinking on it.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: SINSULL
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 05:13 PM

Frankie and Johnny. She shot the SOB and he regretted it.

C&W (Jim Reeves) "There She Goes" .....If I hadn't cheated; If I hadn't lied, I'd be the one who walking by her side . I love her still etc.

I think Hank Williams has a few of these.

"Who's Sorry Now?"

Mario, What school did you attend?

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: MMario
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 07:13 PM

Cornell

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Robo
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 07:40 PM

How about Roy Orbison's "Careless Heart"?

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Robo
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 07:41 PM

Another Orbison: "You're Not Alone Anymore."

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Amos
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 07:44 PM

Check "Ms Henley's Revenge" in the Mudcat Songbook -- it covers enforced regret for dalliance and revenge by the cuckoldee.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Callie
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 08:47 PM

Elvis Costello/Burt Bacharach "Toledo"

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Kelida
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 08:57 PM

People regret infidelity??? hmmmm. . . Mindboggling. . .

There are pretty many country songs about this, although I'm not much into country so couldn't tell what songs or who they're by. . .

--Keli

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Mbo
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 09:46 PM

I do, K, and there's not that many I know...must be "old country" stuff.

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: GUEST,JenEllen
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 09:56 PM

How about old Cajun? Jo-El Sonnier does a great version of "Knock,Knock,Knock" ~Elle

Knock, knock, knock
Let me on in
I don't wanna be locked outside again
Won't you let me tell you where I've been?
Don't make me sleep in that old dog house again

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Kelida
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 11:27 PM

Mbo--I don't, but then again, I'm a fairly loyal and true person. Also, the fact that I don't date much (better things to waste my time on--plus, have you seen the guys in my neck o' the woods?) helps me avoid problems like that.

Peace--Keli

Loyalty is a virtue, but not fanaticism.

Subject: Lyr Add: HERE'S TO YOU ROUNDERS (Don Lange)^^^
From: Art Thieme
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 11:37 PM

DON LANGE wrote a wonderful song called "HERE'S TO YOU ROUNDERS"
(It was on my first LP -- Kicking Mule 150---I recorded it even before Don did it on Flying Fish.)

chorus) Here's to you rounders and here's to you railroad bums,
Here's hopin' you make it home soon,
And here's to the womwn who married for love,
And lived with the man in the moon.

1)I never knew my grandad--he was always on the bum,
Every September he'd grab him an southbound and he'd ride,
Then along about Christmas me and my brother--we'd get some coins in the mail,
But we couldn't spend 'em----it was all he could send from the Mexico City jail.

2) Back in the thirties, when the going got tough, my grandad, he hit the road,
Mother was young then and only remembers his name,
Granny got work in the old canning factory and she took in some wash on the side,
She promised herself that she'd never forgive him,
A promise she kept 'til she died.

3) One time near the end he rolled into town--he was riding on the greyhound line,
O guess he got old and those boxcars got harder to climb,
He dropped his last dime in a call to my granny but "NO" was her only reply,
She hung up the phone and she cussed him in German---but I saw the pain in her eyes.

4) I never knew my grandad--he was always on the bum,
The Salvation Army sent us a note when he died,
Now me and my brother, we carry the memory of a face that we never did see,
Like some foreign coin layin' cold in the pocket of a young boy's faded blue jeans.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Mbo
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 11:59 PM

No no K, I meant "I do" listen to country music!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Kelida
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 12:16 AM

Sorry. It's early morning here in Cincinnati (or latenight. . .whatever). What WAS I thinking??? Country music all runs together in my mind, and I'm a bit muddled today anyway--excited, though. . .I got a new book 1850 new songs!!!

Peace--Bridget

I'm not crazy; I'm a princess!!

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Mbo
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 12:55 AM

That's OK, K! I when bonkers last Thursday when I found a Dixieland Jazz songbook at my University music library! Woo hoo!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Kelida
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 12:59 AM

Nothing like new music to distract me from everything else important. That plus the college stuff I got from Glasgow yesterday.

Peace--Keli

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: TheOldMole
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 01:17 AM

Ronnie Milsap, "That girl who waits on tables used to wait for me at home...patiently she waited, till all the love was gone"

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Mbo
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 01:26 AM

WOW Old Mole! How'd ye know I ADORE Ronnie Milsap? YES!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Davewilkes
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 01:46 AM

Long Black Rifle

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Escamillo
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 02:05 AM

One of the most beatiful songs I ever heard is Love Song from the movie Sanders of The River, circa 1930. It was recorded by Paul Robeson. I'm not sure that the subject is infidelity, cause I could never decipher the lyrics from that old record. If you want to see it partially, it is in a thread named Lyr Req: Love Song from Sanders of the River. Just put the word Sanders in "filter" and select 180 days, then it will appear. Un abrazo - Andres

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Sean Belt
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 12:07 PM

It's not necessarily "folk", but there's a pretty good John Hiatt song I use in my sets called "The Most Unoriginal Sin" that speaks to this issue.
I actually learned it off of a Willie Nelson CD. Now I play it as a sort of blues number.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 12:13 PM

I thought of Long Black Rifle too, but it doesn't regret the infidelity, the singer instead dies to protect the marriage of the one being unfaithful with him. And the other one I thought of, slightly off-kilter, is I Will Survive, where the singer is NOT regretting having thrown the unfaithful bum out. Maybe someone could write the song about how the thrown-out guy is watching her survive and wishing he were still along for the ride...

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Kelida
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 12:29 PM

My best friend and I sing "I Will Survive" just about every time we see each other, plus at other times to annoy the people we hang out with who don't like disco. he he heh. . .

Peace--Keli

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: GUEST,Mbo_at_ECU
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 01:24 PM

Oh that's cool, K! I like bugging people with songs from ELO's disco-esque album, Shine A Little Love, and Last Train to London! Wooo!

--Mbo (Disco DOESN'T suck!)

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Kelida
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 01:37 PM

Other songs we sing: The Scotsman, Please Kind Sir, Big Fuzzy Vikingman, just about anything by Weird Al Yankovic, The Devil and the Farmer's Wife, Maids When You're Young, and a lot of songs from Monty Python.

Personally, I prefer to sing more serious stuff, but fun stuff is always good. And annoying. . .

Peace--Keli

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: SINSULL
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 02:33 PM

"Make the World Go Away" Another C&W song.

Mario, Cornell teaches that men are genetically polygamists? I thought they taught agriculture.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 04:13 PM

What about Long Tall Sally? "Saw Uncle John with LTS, he saw Aunt Mary coming and he ducked back in the alley, ooh baby, baby, have some fun tonight" - At least he ran away, that shows regret, doesn't it? Or maybe just regret at getting caught?

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: GUEST,John Evans
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 04:19 PM

Thanks for all the suggestions

No one has yet come up with anything that expresses the pain in the pit of my stomach - or the constantly reccuring thought: 'why the hell did I do that?'

Thanks anyway,

John

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Margaret V
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 06:22 PM

John, perhaps you could write your own song. It might help you find answers to the question you've asked of yourself. I had to write one when I found myself perilously on the brink; it was about fidelity and infidelity at the same time; and it helped me assess what the heck was going on in my life. Hang in there, learn. Margaret

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 07:24 PM

Art those are very sad and truthful lyrics.
It would have been interesting to hear Grandad's telling of the story.

Bonnie

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: GUEST,flattop
Date: 22 Apr 00 - 07:29 PM

I don't think anyone regretted spending time with Long Tall Sally, Mrrrrr

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: GUEST,Frankie
Date: 22 Apr 00 - 08:47 PM

There is Gone, Gone, Gone a favorite of bluegrassers that start's out:

She said if I ever decieved her,
She'd leave before I could count to ten.
etc.

I've heard excellent versions by Carl Jackson and Brownie Ford.

F

PS You guys are talking about Long Black Rifle are you refering to Long Black Veil?

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Mbo
Date: 22 Apr 00 - 09:07 PM

Frankie, is that "She's gone gone gone, gone gone gone--crying won't bring her back...the more that I cry, the faster her plane flies out across the sky..."? Glen Campbell sang that really good!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Amos
Date: 22 Apr 00 - 09:13 PM

John,

I am sorry there is no song among these responses which can speak for you; I know it would help. But I think you really should consider Margaret's advice about speaking for yourself, in your own song. I know that would help, too.

A

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: harpgirl
Date: 22 Apr 00 - 09:24 PM

...John , type in @infidelity in the DT search box and see if any of those songs express what you are feeling...harpgirl

Subject: Lyr Add: SHE'S GONE GONE GONE (from Brownie Ford)
From: GUEST,Frankie
Date: 22 Apr 00 - 09:40 PM

It sounds like we're talking about the same one, Mbo. The way I learned it goes like this:

She's Gone, Gone, Gone

She said if I ever decieved her,
She'd leave before I could count to ten.
I guess I just did not believe her,
Now look at the trouble I'm in.

CHORUS

'cause she's gone,gone, gone,
Gone, gone, gone,
And the crying won't bring her back.
The more that I cry,
the faster that train,
Justs flies her right on down the track.

I lost every right to be happy,
I lost the new love that I found,
She said that she would and she left me,
Before my first tear hit the ground.

CHORUS

If I knew where I could find her,
I'd crawl there on my hands and knees.
Each tick of the clock just reminds me,
That she's one second farther from me.

CHORUS

Remorseful enough for you John ?(smile) The version by Brownie Ford includes some great backup guitar by David Doucet and a solo that was so perfect that I had to learn it note for note.

Frankie

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Mbo
Date: 22 Apr 00 - 09:45 PM

That's it Frankie! I guess Glen kinda updated it a little, eh? **BG**

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Kelida
Date: 23 Apr 00 - 12:23 AM

I just remembered--I wrote an apology poem to my ex-fiancee when I cheated on him (disgraceful, I know, but I was too young--15--and in a relationship that I wasn't mature enough for), and it could maybe be set to music. I certainly don't need it anymore, so anyone who wants to could do what they will with it--except record or sell it. . .

Never

Bridget McKinney, 1998

I never meant to fall in love,
Especially so soon,
You're all I ever dream of,
Nighttime or afternoon.
You're all that I could ever want,
And all I'll ever need again
You're my lover and my confidant
My pain and hurt and my best friend.

Never--never--never again
Never will I forget the pain--
The pain I caused to you

I never thought that we would last,
But this time I was wrong
I thought that you'd be in the past,
By this point in the song
I wish you were still here to hear
Exactly how sorry I am
Please forgive me soon, my dear,
Please realise just how lost I am (without you)

Never--never--never before
Has one of our fights evolved to a war
Why did I start it now?

I've never been in love 'till now
I never expected or wanted to be
Sometimes these things happen, but how
Oh how I could do that, I'll just never see
I suppose I thought you wouldn't know,
I didn't think that I'd get caught
I surely didn't think you'd go,
But mostly I just don't think I thought.

Never--never--never again,
Will I hurt you the way that I hurt you then
The question now is: Will you forgive me?

I don't know if anyone else here has ever felt that way, and I've put that in the past myself, but this is what I felt at the time.

Peace--Bridget

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: GUEST,Robin Greenstein
Date: 23 Apr 00 - 07:49 PM

what came to my mind immediately: "Long Black Veil" The ultimate remorse:

the guy dies for a murder he didn't commit because he was "in the arms of my best friend's wife"

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Amos
Date: 23 Apr 00 - 07:56 PM

Kelida,

Beautiful. If I needed one for the same reason, I would be taping yours!! Love it.

A

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 25 Apr 00 - 03:19 PM

OOPS - I was THINKING Long Black Veil when I answered the comment about Long Black Rifle, you're right. In Long Black Rifle, the singer deeply regrets killing his unfaithful love, no? Rather than the infidelity itself?

Subject: Lyr Add: INTO TEMPTATION (from Crowded House)
From: Ed Pellow
Date: 25 Apr 00 - 03:52 PM

As a commentary on the unfaithful 'one night stand' I think Neil Finn's (Crowded House) song, 'Into temptation' would be hard to beat:

you opened up your door
I couldn't believe my luck
you in your new blue dress
taking away my breath
the cradle is soft and warm
couldn't do me no harm
you're showing me how to give
into temptation
knowing full well the earth will rebel
into temptation

a muddle of nervous words
could never amount to betrayal
the sentence is all my own
the price is to watch it fail
as I turn to go
you looked at me for half a second
with an open invitation for me to go

into temptation
knowing full well the earth will rebel
into temptation
safe in the wide open arms of hell

we can go sailing in
climb down, lose yourself when you linger long
into temptation
right where you belong

the guilty get no sleep
in the last slow hours of morning
experience is cheap
I should've listened to the warning
but the cradle is soft and warm

into temptation
knowing full well the earth will rebel
into your wide open arms
no way to break the spell
don't tell

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: GUEST,NancAurelia
Date: 25 Apr 00 - 04:00 PM

How about Matty Groves? The husband kills his wife and her lover at the end. Of course, they don't live long enough to regret their infidelity, but it might be a lesson to some.

Subject: Lyr Add: ALL THESE YEARS ^^
From: Mbo
Date: 26 Apr 00 - 12:15 PM

Try this great song by Sawyer Brown, "All These Years"

She likes adventure with security
And more than one man can provide
She planned adventure feeling sure that he
Would not be home 'til after five
He turned on the lights and turned them off again
And said the one thing he could say

All these years
where have I been
I've been down the road to work and home again
But I'm still here
And until I'm gone
Don't you rub it in too hard that Ive been wrong
All these years

She said,'You're not the man you used to be'
And he said,'Neither is this guy'
She said,'There's some things you refuse to see
But I guess sometimes so do I'
She made no excuse why she was laying there
She said the one thing she could say

All these years
What have I done
I made your supper and your daughter and your son
I'm still here
And still confused
But I can finally see how much I stand to lose
All these years


--Mbo

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Jim Krause
Date: 26 Apr 00 - 04:42 PM

John, my friend, may I gently suggest that perhaps it is time to write your own song? I've sung other writer's I've been cheated on songs, but somehow they never sounded quite right. So I wrote a few of my own. Makes be feel better when I get in that I-wonder-what-she's-doing-now mood.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs that regret infidelity
From: Peg
Date: 26 Apr 00 - 04:53 PM

oooh, i was just about to post "Into Temptation" but some other genius beat me to it!

great, great song...

Joan Armatrading does a good one, too, I think it's called "Why Do You Come Here?"

peg

Subject: Lyr Add: The Weakness in Me^^
From: Tim Salt
Date: 26 Apr 00 - 06:16 PM

Yup Peg, that the one I was thinking about:


The Weakness In Me

Joan Armatrading


I'm not the sort of person who falls in and quickly out of love
But to you I gave my affection right from the start
I have a lover who loves me, how could I break such a heart
Yet still you gained my attention

Chorus:

Why do you come here when you know I've got trouble enough
Why do you call me when you know I can't answer the phone
You make me lie and I don't want to
You make someone else some kind of unknowing fool
You make me stay when I should not
Are you so strong or is all the weakness in me


Why do you come here and pretend to be just passing by
But I need to see you
And I need to hold you, tightly
Feeling guilty, worried, waking from tormented sleep
This old love has me bound but the new love cuts deep
if I choose now, I'll lose out, one of you has to fall
But I need you, and you.


Repeat chorus


The John Wright Band recorded a good version of it on the album "Other Roads" and as the sleeve notes say " I really admire a songwriter who can clearly and without fuss describe "real life situations". Joan Armartrading's song achieves this brilliantly. " ..... you make me lie, I don't want to". How many of us have been there?"

Couldn't have put it better myself!

Tim

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WEAKNESS IN ME^^ (Joan Armatrading)
From: Tim Salt
Date: 26 Apr 00 - 06:36 PM

I got a bit carried away with my line breaks. This is what I meant to put:

THE WEAKNESS IN ME
Joan Armatrading


I'm not the sort of person who falls in and quickly out of love
But to you I gave my affection right from the start
I have a lover who loves me, how could I break such a heart
Yet still you gained my attention

Chorus:

Why do you come here when you know I've got trouble enough
Why do you call me when you know I can't answer the phone
You make me lie and I don't want to
You make someone else some kind of unknowing fool
You make me stay when I should not
Are you so strong or is all the weakness in me
Why do you come here and pretend to be just passing by
But I need to see you
And I need to hold you, tightly

Feeling guilty, worried, waking from tormented sleep
This old love has me bound but the new love cuts deep
If I choose now, I'll lose out, one of you has to fall
But I need you, and you.....

Repeat chorus