“Lady Down on Love” is a song that Randy Owen wrote. American country music band Alabama recorded the track. Released in August 1983, it was the third and final single from the album of Alabama: The Closer You Get.
“Lady Down on Love” is a song about divorce. In the first part, the woman tells the story. The second verse is from the man’s side.
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Randy Owen, the composer, shared that the idea for the song came during a performance. He vividly recalled this to country music journalist Tom Roland. When he was singing at a hotel nightclub, he discovered that a group of women was celebrating a friend’s divorce. With a night out in Bowling Green, Kentucky, these girls were at the same hotel nightclub. However, the divorcée was not having a good time. At that moment, she was mourning the end of her marriage. At the same time, she was thinking about her life’s what should and could have been.
The Story of Lady Down on Love
In the first verse, the unnamed divorced woman is observing her first night in the town. The first time she went there was at a very young age of 18. She is resigned to having lost time to achieve her hopes and dreams. Now that her long-lived marital ties are broken, she is at a loss. She does not know how to act, much less achieve her goals. As she is observing, she reflects on the night her now ex-husband asked her to marry. Now, older and wiser, she shockingly realizes that the love in her marriage had died so soon.
The second verse, told from the first-person point of view of the husband, reflects on how the marriage used to have love. He achingly remembers the times when he offered “that special touch”. However, work commitments keep him away from home for days at a time. Eventually, the two grow lonely for each other. One day, he makes the mistake of falling for another woman. In the end, the husband admits that his wife just could not live with a man she could not trust.
The refrain recalls Owen’s interaction with the woman in the nightclub.
She’s got her freedom, but she’d rather be bound
To a man that would love her and never let her down
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Alabama, divorce, Lady down on love