It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels Lyrics
As I sit here tonight the jukebox playing
The tune about the wild side of life
As I listen to the words you are saying
It brings memories when I was a trusting wife
[Chorus]
It wasn't God who made honky tonk angels
As you said in the words of your song
There's many times married men think they're still single
That has caused many a good girl to go wrong
[Verse 2]
It's a shame that all the blame is on us women
It's not true that only you men feel the same
From the start most every heart that's ever broken
Was because there always was a man to blame
[Chorus]
It wasn't God who made honky tonk angels
As you said in the words of your song
There's many times married men think they're still single
That has caused many a good girl to go wrong
About
Written as an answer song to the Hank Thompson hit “The Wild Side of Life”, which lamented the plight of a man who is abandoned by a woman of questionable morals. Well’s answer challenges the old trope of men being led astray by femme fatales, and declares they should hold themselves responsible for their own infedelities.
The song uses the same melody as the Thompson song, which itself is borrowed from the song “Thrills That I Can’t Forget,” recorded by Welby Toomey and Edgar Boaz in 1925. Four years later, the Carter Family used the same melody for their own song “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes.” In 1936 Roy Acuff used the melody for his recording of the hymn “The Great Speckled Bird” (which Kitty Wells also recorded and Townes Van Zandt used the melody in 1972 for his song “Heavenly Houseboat Blues.”
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
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