Since time immemorial, adverse life events - whether bitter, heart-breaking, tragic or all - have inspired countless great poems and songs. The elder Hank Williams' divorce from his first wife, Audrey Mae Sheppard, was just an such example. They married in 1944 and went on to record several duets together (and produce a son, Hank Williams Jr.), but Williams' drinking ultimately caused an irreparable rift in their marriage in what would become the last year of his life

When Williams described his first wife as "a cheatin' heart" to another fellow country singer, Billie Jean Jones, and future second wife, he was inspired to write the song after uttering the title phrase while chatting with her en route to her parents' home in Louisiana to announce their engagement.

Williams recorded this in September 1952 during what would be his last session in Nashville. He would die just months later from heart problems the following New Year's Day, in Oak Hill, West Virginia, on the way to a concert in Canton, Ohio scheduled later that night. The song was posthumously released in January 1953 and topped the Country & Western Billboard Charts for six weeks.

Many artists have covered this over the years, among others Fats Domino, whose cover recording came almost nine years (June 20, 1961) after Hank's original. Fats Domino's version is a relative 'backseater' to his myriad other songs, with one placing (#97) in the 1961 Billboard.

More Info: www.songfacts.com