SAN DIEGO – November 29, 2011 – Infidelity. Adultery. Cheating. When you are a family law attorney, you get to know a lot about extramarital affairs. Judging by the headlines, you might start thinking everybody out there has had an affair.
The truth is that most people don’t cheat. Surveys about adultery over the past few years show the rate of cheating has remained pretty consistent over the years. One in four married men and 18 percent of married women admit to having a sexual relationship with someone outside their marriage.
Affairs are one of the few subjects most Republicans and Democrats agree on. Four out of five Americans say that extramarital sexual relations are always wrong, the highest percentage in 50 years. A 2009 Gallup Poll found that more people found having an affair morally wrong (92%) than felt that way about 16 other behaviors such as having an abortion, or wearing fur. Eighty-nine percent of Democrats and 97% of Republicans agreed.
We can also all agree that cheating has produced some great music. Talk about taking lemons and making lemonade and maybe getting a little payback with a big hit.
Songs about sleeping around are a favorite on country music and R&B charts, but there are plenty of them of all musical types.
Since I’m as much of an expert as anyone, this is my Top Ten list of songs about affairs.
10. She’s Acting Single (I’m Drinking Doubles) – Gary Jackson (1975)
Best. Title. Ever.
9. How Long – Ace (1974)
One hit wonder from a 70s British band. It's surprising how well the song holds up. The hairstyles, not so much.
8. Suspicious Minds – Elvis Presley (1969)
Elvis’s last new number one single before he died.
7. Lyin’ Eyes – Eagles (1975)
Glenn Frey says the band wrote the song about a woman they saw one night in a bar with a much older man. One band member commented that the woman couldn't hide her... you know the rest.
Singer Annie Lennox.
6. Who’s That Girl – Eurythmics (1983)
In the video, band member Dave Stewart is shown stepping out with many different women as singer Annie Lennox watches. One of them, singer Siobhan Fahey, became his wife a few years later.
5. Rumour Has It – Adele (2011)
This is from the best selling album of 2011 and it’s hard to miss Adele on the radio these days. She says she wrote the song to address the reasons for the breakup that is the topic of most of the songs on this album.
Motown singer Marvin Gaye.
4. I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye (1968)
Three other Motown artists recorded this song first, but Gaye’s version was the most popular. It became Motown’s longest running number one single ever. It’s number 80 on Rolling Stone’s list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
3. Your Cheatin’ Heart – Hank Williams (1952)
This is considered one of the greatest country music songs of all time.
2. Before He Cheats – Carrie Underwood (2005)
This song about revenge helped Underwood’s debut album to become the highest selling debut by a country artist of all time, and the most downloaded country single ever.
Me and Mrs. Jones was inspired by meetings in a Philadelphia cafe.
1. Me and Mrs. Jones – Billy Paul (1972)
Songwriter Kenny Gamble explained to National Public Radio in 2008 that he and co-writer Leon Huff got the idea for the song from trips to a little bar downstairs from their record company in Philadelphia. Gamble said the same guy used to come in every day, and a girl would come in after he got there. “They'd sit in the same booth, then go to the jukebox and play the same songs. We said, 'That's me and Mrs. Jones.' Then, when they'd get ready to leave, he would go his way and she would go hers… We created a story that there was some kind of romantic connection between these people, so we went upstairs to our office and wrote the song."
Honorable Mentions:
Tempted - Squeeze
Kiss and Tell – Bryan Ferry
Who’s Cheatin’ Who? – Alan Jackson
Sexual Healing – Marvin Gaye
Womanizer – Brittany Spears
Between the Sheets – Isley Brothers
Next Time You See Me – The Grateful Dead
Cheatin’ – Gin Blossoms
Should’ve Said No – Taylor Swift
Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw – Jimmy Buffet
Myra Chack Fleischer founded Fleischer & Associates in 2001 and serves as Lead Counsel with a focus on divorce, property, custody and support, settlement agreements, mediation, asset division and family law appeals. Read more Legally Speaking in the Communities at The Washington Times. Follow Fleischer & Associates on Facebook and on Twitter @LawyerMyra
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