2:17
single, 1959
written by Harlan Howard and Fuzzy Owen
I've never heard of Howard, but she had some hits in the honky-tonk Bakersfield style in the 1960s, and later became an author. Is "slip" in the title a minced oath for "sleep"? I bet it is. The narrator bemoans the fact that her husband, whom she adores, is sleeping with a side piece, but she sticks with him: "Deep down inside I know that I should leave you / How many tears must fall before I learn / I think of many ways that I could grieve you / And yet I'm always here when you return." Even though, as the song says, she would rather be the lover than the lonely wife. Not exactly a blow for feminism, but I guess it hadn't been invented yet.