Late '80s recording stars The Forester Sisters rose from singing in church in Lookout Mountain, Georgia to Warner Bros. signees with an ideal balance of roots-based harmonies and mainstream-friendly songs. In 1987, the quartet followed up the instant success of its self-titled 1985 debut and the following year's Perfume, Ribbons and Pearls with with You Again, a top 15 album which included "Lyin' in His Arms Again," a cheating song which seems to go against the sisters' Methodist upbringing.
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Kathy Forester brought up this conundrum to the Reno Gazette-Journal in April 1988. She referred to "Lyin' in His Arms Again" as "your blatant cheating song."
"I feel it's a real quality song, a very strong song," she continued. "I can't sing it from the heart, because I haven't done that (cheating), but you have to put yourself in that situation."
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Indeed, songwriters JL Wallace and Terry Skinner's dual meaning of "lyin'" really did make for a Hot Country Song-- Not that prior Forester Sisters hits "I Fell in Love Again Last Night" and "Mama's Never Seen Those Eyes" weren't a little racy for the after-church lunch crowd.
Country singers have always put themselves in situations separate from their own life experiences. Johnny Cash never shot a man just to watch him die, Maren Morris doesn't own an '80s Mercedes and John Prine is not an old woman named after his mother. With that in mind, Kathy and her sisters June, Kim and Christy were not confessing to or glorifying any real-life sins. They merely followed in a tradition of singing songs about imaginary characters' believable struggles.
"Lyin' In His Arms Again" Lyrics:
Lyin' in his arms again
Sayin' things that I don't mean
Makin' love while I pretend
You're the one who's holding me
How it hurts to think I lie
To the one who thinks the world of me
So tonight I'll let him hold me
And tell him I love him
Lyin' in his arms again
My heart is aching, filled with pain
'Cause tonight I meant to tell him
But I put it off again
Oh, I don't mean to hurt his pride
'Cause he has always been to me
A lover and a friend to me
And I just couldn't bear to see him cry
So I'm lying in his arms again
Saying things that I don't mean
Making love while I pretend
You're the one who's holdin' me
How it hurts to think I'd lie
To the one who thinks the world of me
So tonight I'll let him hold me
And tell him I love him
Lyin' in his arms again
It won't be long now till I tell the truth
I'm gonna get my courage up
And tell him about you
This ring I'm wearin', it fits so tight
Oh, you know it's choking me
I wish that it would set me free
Or I'll have to play pretend again tonight
But I'm lyin' in his arms again
Sayin' things that I don't mean
Making love while I pretend
You're the one who's holdin' me
How it hurts to think I lie
To the one who thinks the world of me
So tonight I'll let him hold me
And tell him I love him
Lyin' in his arms again
Lyin' in his arms again
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