"Tempted" was the second single released from Squeeze's fourth album, East Side Story. Over the years it has become one of Squeeze's best-known songs, despite failing to crack the Top 40 in any country in which it was released (UK No. 41, Canada No. 45, US No. 49, Australia No. 90); Stewart Mason of AllMusic remarked, "Although its increasing ubiquity on '80s hits radio and on television (it was used in a successful clothing commercial in 2003) would suggest otherwise, Squeeze's "Tempted" was not actually a hit single." The song later became ingrained in public consciousness due to its use in commercials by Burger King and Heineken, film soundtracks like that of Reality Bites (which featured a 1994 remix), and the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (on the in-game radio station Emotion 98.3, and subsequently on the real-world CD, vol. 3, of the game soundtrack), and Rock Band. To this day, "Tempted" still gets moderate airplay from Classic hits, Classic rock and adult alternative-formatted radio stations. Unlike other Squeeze songs, which are usually sung by guitarist/songwriter Glenn Tilbrook or less often by guitarist/lyricist Chris Difford, the song's lead vocal is sung by keyboardist Paul Carrack, though Tilbrook and producer Elvis Costello also trade a few lines in the second verse (in the video and during live performances Difford sings the Costello parts; since Carrack's departure, Tilbrook has sung the lead vocal as well as his own original lines when live). The song was written by Difford and Tilbrook.
I bought a toothbrush, some toothpaste
A flannel for my face
Pajamas, a hairbrush
New shoes and a case
I said to my reflection
Let's get out of this place
Passed the church and the steeple
The laundry on the hill
Billboards and the buildings
Memories of it still
Keep calling and calling
But forget it all, I know I will
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
What's been going on
Now that you have gone
There's no other
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
I'm at the car park, the airport
The baggage carousel
The people keep on [Incomprehensible]
Ain't wishing I was well
I said it's no occasion
It's no story I could tell
At my bedside empty pocket
A foot without a sock
Your body gets much closer
I fumble for the clock
Alarmed by the seduction
I wish that it would stop
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
What's been going on
Now that you have gone
There's no other
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
I bought a novel, some perfume
A fortune all for you
But it's not my conscience
That hates to be untrue
I asked of my reflection
Tell me what is there to do?
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
What's been going on
Now that you have gone
There's no other
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
Squeeze singer and guitarist Chris Difford wrote the lyrics to this song. He explains: "Tempted was written in a cab on the way to Heathrow, I just wrote down what I saw and how I felt as we wormed our way through the traffic. I also must have anticipated a good time on tour as the chorus suggests."
Paul Carrack sang lead on this. He also sang with the bands Ace ("How Long") and Mike And The Mechanics ("The Living Years"). In 1987, he had a solo hit with "Don't Shed a Tear." Carrack was with Squeeze for their East Side Story album, replacing Jools Holland on keyboards and also contributing vocals. He rejoined Squeeze in 1993 for their album Some Fantastic Place, and sang on a new version of "Tempted" that the band recorded for the soundtrack of the 1994 movie Reality Bites.
Elvis Costello produced this track. You can hear him singing on the second verse. This was the first Squeeze song to crack the charts in America. Squeeze was already a big deal in their native England, where they had 7 Top-40 hits to this point. They managed just 2 more US hits: "Hourglass" and "853-5937," but "Tempted" remains their most enduring song in the States, where it continues to get airplay. Glenn Tilbrook, who writes the music for Squeeze, considers this one of his favorites. Says Tilbrook: "It was a sort of breakthrough song for us, in spite of the fact that it wasn't a hit, it was our first song. It was when we grew up, really, as a band. When we finished it I couldn't quite believe it was us." (Read more in our interview with Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford of Squeeze.) The bible passage this morning is taken from Genesis 3:1-7 and the theme is self expanitory "TEMPTATION"
But before we get started, let's get this straight, it's not Eve's fault!The serpent is the trickster. Adam and Eve are the dupes. It's not like Eve had to go to the back to get Adam. Look at the passage, he's right there with her. He's just standing there not saying anything. That either makes Adam the strong silent type or big and just plain stupid. You pick, it doesn't matter in the end. Here's the key point, Eve saw what the serpent was saying, the fruit was a delight to her eyes, to everybody's eyes. They ate the fruit and they discovered the truth, truth they never were intended to know.
It's kind of a theme for this song isn't it. The forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden, the ultimate temptation. Tempted by the fruit of another, tempted but the truth is discovered. This is the song about someone who is leaving town after a love affair ends badly. Packing up and leaving town, it's telling that one of the places that gets the attention of the singer on the way to the airport is a church.
But the memory of the place, in the place the garden, don't leave the singer alone. The memory of the Garden still are a part of the human experience. We long for paradise, we long to live side by side with God as beloved children, not as rebellious imps. But to this day we are still tempted by the fruit of another, tempted but the truth is discovered. Like the singer we try to make amends. The singer spends a fortune. We call it "salvation by works." Neither have the desired effect. We are saved by grace through faith. We are saved by the work of God in Christ. We are saved not by what we do, because what we do is forever tainted. We aren't tainted by what happened in the garden, we're tainted because what happened in the garden is what humans do with perfect freedom. Tempted by the fruit of another, tempted but the truth is discovered.
But the one who gives that freedom never turns from us. The one who gives that freedom stays alongside us to welcome us with open arms. It may be too late for the singer and that mythical other, but our lives and our Lord are not mythical.
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