Country music isn’t so much obsessed with cheating as it is obsessed with the question of fidelity. What’s the difference? Well, many so-called “cheating” songs aren’t really about the action of cheating as much as they are about the decision to cheat or to remain faithful. In other words, they’re about the serious moral and ethical choices upon which relationships are built, and by which they are sometimes broken.
That having been said, here are a few songs in which the moment of truth comes and the guy doesn’t cheat. It’s a (modern?) country theme – the tempted husband ultimately doing the right thing (even if it is for all the wrong reasons).
On the Other Hand – Randy Travis
On one hand I could stay and be your lovin’ man
But the reason I must go is on the other hand
She’s All Lady – Jamey Johnson or Joe Nichols
You’re everything a man could dream of, baby
You’re all woman, but she’s all lady
Happy With the One I’ve Got – David Ball
I said “no thank you, I’d better not”
I’m happy with the one I’ve got
Spoken Like a Man – Blaine Larsen
She walks across the bar with her number on a napkin
He gives it to a buddy with a wink and a smile
No Man in His Wrong Heart – Gary Allan
It would have been easy for me to be a goner
But something a whole lot stronger made me run
Like no man in his wrong heart would have done
From Where I Stand – Vince Gill
From where I stand there’s a golden band
And I swear I couldn’t stand to lose it all
So I better run while I still can
Because I can’t, baby, not from where I stand
Doin’ Right for All the Wrong Reasons – Robbie Fulks
And tonight I lay me down, alone in a far-off town
Dreamin’ about the woman I could be pleasin’
I did a thing that’s good, but not because I should
Lord, I’m doing right for all the wrong reasons
A Country Gothic Playlist