The Wild Side Of Life

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You wouldn't read my letters if I wrote them
You ask me not to call you on the phone
But there's something I've been waiting for to tell you
So I wrote it in the words of this song

I didn't know God made honky tonk angels
I might have known you'd never make a wife
You gave up the only one that ever loved you
And went on back to the wild side of life

The glamor of the gay nightlife has lured you
To the places where the wine and liquor flow
Where you wait to be somebody else's baby
And forget the truest love you'll ever know

I didn't know God made honky tonk angels
I might have known you'd never make a wife
You gave up the only one that ever loved you
And went on back to the wild side of life, oh yeah

Well the glamor of the gay nightlife has lured you
To the places where the wine and liquor flow
Where you wait to be somebody else's baby
And forget the truest love you'll ever know

I didn't know God made honky tonk angels
I might have known you'd never make a wife
You gave up the only one that ever loved you
And went on back to the wild side of life, oh yeah

I didn't know God made honky tonk angels
I might have known you'd never make a wife
You gave up the only one that ever loved you
And went on back to the wild side of life

The Wild Side Of Life (unreleased cover)
Written byArlie A. Carter and William Warren
Performed byThe Coward Brothers (1985)
Elvis Costello, T Bone Burnett & The Imposters (2011-07-19)

First known performance:
June 27, 1985, Auckland, New Zealand
Last known performance:
July 19, 2011, Asheville, NC
     (6 known performances)


Category:Unreleased covers1999-00-00 live.jpg


Recordings by other artists

 Artist  Year  Release  Links
 Jimmy Heap & The Melody Ranchers  1951  A-side of single
 Hank Thompson  1952  A-side of single
 Burl Ives & Grady Martin  1952  A-side of single
The Stanley Brothers  1961
 Bill Haley & His Comets  1961 Bill Haley's Jukebox
 The Wilburn Brothers  1961 City Limits
 Mickey Gilley  1962  B-side of "Caught In The Middle"
 Ray Price  1963 Night Life
 Tommy Quickly & The Remo Four  1964  A-side of single
Jerry Lee Lewis  1965 Country Songs For City Folks
 Hank Locklin  1965 Once Over Lightly
 Ernest Tubb  1965 My Pick Of The Hits
 Charlie Walker  1965 Close All The Honky Tonks
Conway Twitty  1966 Look Into My Teardrops
 Charlie Feathers  1967
 Webb Pierce  1967 Where's Ya Stay Last Night
 Freddy Fender  1974 Before The Next Teardrop Falls
 Tompall Glaser  1976 The Great Tompall And His Outlaw Band
Status Quo  1976  A-side of single
Rod Stewart  1976 Night On The Town
Willie Nelson & Leon Russell  1979 One For The Road
 Jeanne Pruett  1979 Encore and B-side of "Back To Back"
Waylon Jennings & Jessi Colter  1981 Leather And Lace
 Bonnie Tyler  1981 Goodbye To The Island
Hank Williams  1998 The Complete Hank Williams (recorded 1952)
Merle Haggard  2001 Roots Volume 1

Internal links

External links