Wagoner’s “The Cold Hard Facts of Life” Will Make You Sad

“The Cold Hard Facts of Life” is a song that portrays infidelity. In the complicated world that we live in, what’s your take on this song? To be in hell or rot in here? Well, why didn’t anyone teach us about the cold hard facts of life?

 The Cold Hard Facts of Life’s Original Artist

Porter Wagoner was a popular country singer in 1960s through the ’70s. He was well known for his fashion statement of flashy nudies and being the duo partner of Dolly Parton. With 81 charted singles, he was also known as Mr. Grand Ole Pry and then elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Wagoner was the original artist to release the song in 1966.

The Narrative of the Song

It is a classic country song that tells the story of infidelity. In the song, the husband decided to go home a day earlier to surprise his wife. He planned on going home without phoning his wife. As he passed by a wine store, he was imagining candlelit dinner with a bottle of champagne. He decided to buy one and saw a stranger who even gave him a small talk.

On his way home, he was two steps behind the stranger. To the husband’s surprise, the stranger pulled his car in the drive. That’s when he realized the cold hard facts of life. As the husband entered the house the wife and stranger screamed and cried. They pleaded the husband to put away the knife. The song ends with the husband’s line,

“I guess I’ll go to hell or I’ll rot here in this cell.”

Listen to Wagoner’s “The Cold Hard Facts of Life” here:

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