Every night when my man goes out...

August 3, 2006 5:35 PM

Women who stray because their men don't pay them enough attention...

The last time I needed help compiling a list of songs about an obscure topic, ask.me was awesome. Pease help me again!

I need a list of songs sung about women who stray or contemplate cheating because they are being ignored/not taken care of by the men in their lives. Here's what I've got so far...

"Sick of being lonely" -- Field Mob
"Creep" -- TLC

Thanks so much!!!

posted by skjønn to media & arts (41 comments total)

Does it have to be financial, or do you want songs in which the men just don't spend enough time with their wives?

If the latter, "Where'd You Go" by Fort Minor.
posted by fogster at 5:39 PM on August 3, 2006

No not financial strictly at all... I was thinking mainly along the lines of time. Great suggestion thanks!
posted by skjønn at 5:40 PM on August 3, 2006

I would say Mel Tillis' Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town is the definitive song along this theme. Covered 215 times, my favorite is by Roger Miller.
posted by dobbs at 5:45 PM on August 3, 2006

Rihanna- unfaithful
but she kind of feels bad for cheating on him--- sniffle ---so this might be a miss
posted by stavx at 5:47 PM on August 3, 2006

Oh, and mine, she's cheating 'cause he's been crippled in the war, not because he's out not paying attenion.
posted by dobbs at 5:58 PM on August 3, 2006

Lyin' Eyes, by the Eagles, if you can stand it.
posted by lilboo at 6:13 PM on August 3, 2006

Eagles: Lyin Eyes
What's that song by what's his name with what's her name, I put the picture down, or something? Yeah that's it, I Put Your Picture Away by Kid Rock.
posted by forforf at 6:16 PM on August 3, 2006

Easy From Now On
posted by SPrintF at 6:31 PM on August 3, 2006

"Your Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye
"Daytime Friends" by Kenny Rogers
"Tempted" by Squeeze
posted by paulsc at 6:35 PM on August 3, 2006

If Loretta Lynn doesn't have a song like this, I'd be shocked. "Don't Come Home A Drinkin' With Lovin' On Your Mind" is more about a woman putting her foot down because she married a drunk.
posted by Frank Grimes at 6:44 PM on August 3, 2006

Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town hasn't been covered 215 times (a lot of those are certainly duplicates), but that link also doesn't mention the version by Cake.
posted by oaf at 7:00 PM on August 3, 2006

Wide Mouth Mason's King of Poison is about a guy whose wife leaves him because he drinks all the time. It's more about how he spends all his time drinking than about her leaving.
posted by oaf at 7:04 PM on August 3, 2006

"Smoke from a Distant Fire" by the Sanford & Townsend band.
posted by FYKshun at 7:06 PM on August 3, 2006

Oh, and the fookin' Pina Colada "Escape" song by Rupert somebody. Sorry in advance if that song gets stuck in anyone's head. I'm going to go try and dig it out of my head with a melon baller.
posted by FYKshun at 7:09 PM on August 3, 2006 [1 favorite]

"Lucille" But only if you do the Beat Farmers live version.

"You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille,
4 hundred children and a crotch that won't heal."
posted by KirkJobSluder at 7:17 PM on August 3, 2006

"Whatever You Became" and "Stupid Girl" by Cold
posted by rinkjustice at 7:18 PM on August 3, 2006

Where did you sleep last night?

Leadbelly
Bob Dylan
Nirvana
etc.
posted by jeremias at 7:22 PM on August 3, 2006

"I'll Go Stepping Too" is a good one. There are several versions of it, including ones by Emmylou Harris and Flatt and Scruggs.
posted by internet!Hannah at 7:26 PM on August 3, 2006

Oh, and the definitive:

"If your kisses won't hold, the man you love (your tears won't bring him back.)"

Love is like home cooking: good, and wholesome
But all men need some mutton on the outside now and then
If you find your boy is cheating,
Do the same, old dear
He's only giving you the chance that you've been waiting for for years
My goodness! Tears won't get you anything
Just a shiny red nose
Go on, paint up, powder up, put on your swellest clothes
Men: go and get 'em by the score
Neglected girls shouldn't worry
That's what God made sailors for!

The Rasputina version is probably easier to get than the original Sophie Tucker from the 20s.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 7:30 PM on August 3, 2006

Do Right Woman Do Right Man -- Aretha Franklin (and others).

Take me to heart and I’ll always love you
And nobody can make me do wrong
Take me for granted, leaving love unshown
Makes willpower weak, and temptation strong
posted by trip and a half at 8:00 PM on August 3, 2006

Red House Jimi Hendrix version is tops
posted by ptm at 8:01 PM on August 3, 2006

Wow, no one mentioned Destiny's Child's Bills Bills Bills?!
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 8:04 PM on August 3, 2006

And nobody's mentioned The Beatles' "You're Gonna Lose That Girl"!
posted by Addlepated at 8:26 PM on August 3, 2006

Christine Lavin, "Moving Target" is in the other direction -- a man who's leaving his woman because she can't face her life.
posted by SpecialK at 8:28 PM on August 3, 2006

Kris Demeanor's "Speed It Up" is about a woman who leaves a man because he never wants to do anything.
posted by Johnny Assay at 8:44 PM on August 3, 2006

Camping Ste-Germaine par les Cowboys Fringants. Lirics translated from Quebecois to English.
posted by gmarceau at 9:38 PM on August 3, 2006

Free Movement's "I've Found Someone Of My Own" is about two lovers who have both -- simultaneously and unbeknownst to the other -- found another because the original relationship has gone cold.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 10:06 PM on August 3, 2006

Criminal by Fiona Apple
Housewives' Choice by Derrick & Patsy
Baby I Don't Cry Over You by Billie Holiday

And Number One with a Bullet:
Happy Together by the Jam
posted by Methylviolet at 10:17 PM on August 3, 2006

Oh yeah, here's one about impotence -- !
Stutter by Elastica

Is there something you lack
When I'm flat on my back
Is there something that I can do for you?
It's always something you ate
Or something you hate
Tell me is it the way that I touch you?
Have you found a new mate
And is she really great
Or is it just that I'm much too much for you?
posted by Methylviolet at 10:20 PM on August 3, 2006

Garth Brooks, "Papa Loved Mama":

Papa loved mama,
Mama loved men...
Now mama's in the graveyard
papa's in the pen

Maggie Bell, "A Woman Left Lonely":

A woman left lonely,
will soon get tired of waiting
And she'll do crazy things
On lonely occasions
posted by nicwolff at 11:10 PM on August 3, 2006

A great one is "Porch Light" by Robert Cray - "Midnight/and her porch light's on/the signal/that her man is gone/he's at work/while we're at play/and my conscience hounds me/the whole long day
posted by vito90 at 11:27 PM on August 3, 2006

A major theme is that the man is more interested in drinking than in the woman. The one I like is "I'm home getting hammered while she's out getting nailed."
Banjo & Sullivan ("I'm Home Getting Hammered (While She's Out Getting Nailed)"). ...
posted by zackdog at 12:08 AM on August 4, 2006

Not quite there, but Jennifer Lopez, in "Love Don't Cost A Thing", is contemplating leaving because the man thinks spending money on her is a substitute for paying her attention.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 12:45 AM on August 4, 2006

Garth Brooks, "Papa Loved Mama." Lyrics here.
posted by Doofus Magoo at 4:22 AM on August 4, 2006

Im Losing You-two different songs, one originally by John Lennon and the better known one by the Temptations (and covered by Rare Earth among others).
posted by TedW at 5:03 AM on August 4, 2006

"Somebody Led Me Away," originally by Loretta Lynn, though there's a great Neko Case cover.

You come in with the sun in the morning
Like you've done so often before
But you won't find me asleep on the sofa
Exhausted from walkin' the floor.

So while you were leading somebody on
My heart was slippin' away
While you were leading somebody on
Somebody led me away.
posted by myeviltwin at 6:59 AM on August 4, 2006

Shake The Sugar Tree sung by Pam Tillus. If yer doin' country.

Love, you're getting lazy
You're forgettin' to give me
Sweet sugar words that I wanna hear
You've been neglectin' me
You know jealously
It is a bitter as a green spring berry
And just like fruit from a fickle vine
You turn sweet in the nick of time
Love you only come alive when you're losin' me
And it's a childish game
I've got to shake you up just to wake you up
To make you love me
I'll shake the sugar tree
Til I feel your love fallin' all around me
You've got to tend to what you planted
And if you take my love for granted baby
I'll shake the sugar tree
posted by Savannah at 7:36 AM on August 4, 2006

Idol with the Golden Head by the Coasters.
posted by dkg at 8:17 AM on August 4, 2006

I'll go out on a limb -- I could be wrong, this is just a guess -- and say:

You should probably talk to your boyfriend. ;)
posted by Merdryn at 8:23 AM on August 4, 2006

Combing your iTunes library for specific parameters is the greatest way to procrastinate at work evar.

Hip-Hop
Ghostface (f. Ne-Yo) - Back Like That. The verses go into detail, but the hook sums it up sweetly:
"Bouncin' around, when I'm up in these streets / Knowing that me and this [dude] got beef / Yo, what I did was wack /
But you don't get your man back like that, no "

Pharcyde - Groupie Therapy. Not the most sensitive title in the world, but it doesn't get much more your-theme-friendly than Fatlip's verse:
"She was my high school sweetheart down from start /
When all I had was high hopes my health and my heart /
But when I got fame she became unsure /
If I could still feel the same when I came off tour /
I said "for sure cuz what God gave me, girl, I'm grateful /
No need to be insecure baby your [man]'s faithful" /
So now I'm off doin' dates in a gang of states /
And as my status elevates I see the baddest eps /
At the backstage gate lookin' great straight /
waitin for a [dude] - so now I figure /
"Hey I only live once I'm goin' all out today" /
Made a call out to L.A. to say what had to say... /
Now I get back the very next week /
only to find the tables turned like a Technics /
twelve hundred - last thing in the world that I wanted /
was my girl goin' out every night gettin blunted /
And zooted with a clique of well known reputed /
groupie hos from all the hip hop shows /
Backstage with her little backpack tryin to get chose /
By another [dude] with talent wealth and fame /
Oh I suppose I guess I got myself to blame /
for turnin her out into a hip hop freak /
now I seek counseling from a therapist twice a week...

Reggae

Ken Boothe - Why Baby Why

Red Rat - Dwayne.
Sung/chatted to Dwayne, whose girl ran off because said guy couldn't handle his business or pay her adequate attention. If you can get past his hyper (and kind of annoying) voice/style/imitations and the thick patois, this one is hilarious...if coarse:
"She tell mi one night when di rain did a fall /
Di wickedest time when nature start call /
She waan yuh fi come tear dung har wall /
Yuh say yuh couldnt come 'cause you a watch FOOTBALL! "

Buju Banton - Wicked Dickie.
More about how women can get vindictive when cheated on, though not explicitly return the infidelity favor:
"over the dickie / Jackie get stabbed / and get bun' up with acid/ bad bad bad / look sweet and nice / but dem a guineagog..."
And no, I don't know exactly what a guineagog is.

R&B/Soul

Erykah Badu - Tyrone.
Not so much her stepping out with another man, but it is her kicking his ass out the house.

Jaheim - Put That Woman First
Pretty much the entire Marvin Gaye album Here, My Dear

Blu Cantrell - Oops Hit 'Em Up Style.
Again, not her getting with another man, but her using his credit cards to eff his life right the hell on up.

Blues
Robert Johnson - I'm a Steady Rollin' Man:
"You can't give your sweet woman everything she wants in one time / you can't give your sweet woman, everything she wants in one time / Well, boys, she get ramblin' in her brain / some monkey man on her mind"

Additional: Probably 173 different songs by Atmosphere. Poor Slug, he just can't help himself.
posted by LDL_Plackenfatz at 9:20 AM on August 4, 2006

Dolly Parton's "To Daddy" (also covered by Emmylou Harris)

One morning we awoke
Just to find the note
That momma carefully wrote
And left to daddy
And as he began to read it
Our ears could not believe it
The words that she had written there to daddy

She said our kids are old enough
And they don’t need me very much
So I’ve gone in search for love I need so badly
I have needed you so long
But I just can’t keep holdin’ on
She never meant to come back home
If she did, she never did say so to daddy
posted by macinchik at 4:30 PM on March 21, 2007