YOUR CHEATIN' HEART

(Hank Williams)

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© 1952 by Fred Rose Music, Inc.

Performed by Bob Dylan at a guest performance with Rick Danko/Levon Helm; Lone Star Cafe; NYC, NY, 16 Feb 1983).

Original recording: Hank Williams, Fall 1952 (demo acetate), Castle Studio, Nashville, TN, Sep 23, 1952 (same recording session as "Kaw-Liga", also covered by Dylan).

BILLIE JEAN WILLIAMS HORTON:
Hank and I became engaged in Nashville, Tennessee.... This was early summer, 1952.... Hank started telling me about his problems with his ex-wife, Audrey. He said that one day her "Cheatin' Heart" would pay. Then he said, "Hey, that'd make a good song! Get out my tablet, Baby; me and you are gonna write us a song!"

Just about as fast as I could write, Hank quoted the words to me in a matter of minutes....

Letter to Dorothy Horstman, Jun 3, 1974, reprinted in Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy, New York, 1976, pp. 219-220.

ORIGINAL LYRICS
as reprinted in Dorothy Horstman, Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy, New York, 1976, p. 220

Your cheatin' heart will make you weep,
You'll cry and cry and try to sleep.
But sleep won't come the whole night through,
Your cheatin' heart will tell on you.

When tears come down like fallin' rain.
You'll toss around and call my name.
You'll walk the floor the way I do,
Your cheatin' heart will tell on you.

Your cheatin' heart will pine some day
And crave the love you threw away.
The time will come when you'll be blue,
Your cheatin' heart will tell on you.