Tempted

The first few times I heard this, I just wrote it off as a song about cheating. But upon listening to the lyrics a bit more closely, I feel like this guy's girl left him, and even though she's gone, he feels like he's cheating if he is even remotely attracted to someone else. Sort of a wistful feel to it, obviously.

This song is about a man or woman who loves fruit. They used to have a favorite grocery in the town, but then they found another store with cheaper prices.

They feel guilty about moving their custom elsewhere, as they were friends with the old grocer.

"Past the church and the steeple, the laundry on the hill"

I think the imagery in the song can be read literally, in which case it's about a businessman travelling out of town and having an affair there. However, I also think that they have more significant symbolic meanings, While he may simply be passing the "church and the steeple" as he drives/flies/rides the train out of town, he's also leaving behind what they represent, his marriage. Likewise, the "laundry on the hill" represents his domestic, married life.

It's about how he's cheated on his girl and she kicked him out so he decided to leave town (hence him buying the toothbrush, toothpaste, etc., etc., and a suitcase and going to the airport). And he starts missing his girl and realizing that "there's no other". He even dreams about her (which are interrupted by the alarm clock going off ("i fumble for the clock alarmed by the seduction" - i.e. he was having a dream of him and her and the alarm clock went off)). It's pretty much a song about regret.

This one was driving me nuts because it could mean different things. It was written in a cab and well, here is the best explanation I heave heard from Jim Beviglia from the link:

americansongwriter.com/2013/06/squeeze-tempted/

“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,” he said. “I also must have anticipated a good time on tour as the chorus suggests.”

“Tempted” tells of the narrator’s futile attempts to stay faithful to the woman he addresses in the song while dealing with temptations on the road. Squeeze had a secret weapon to help put the song across in keyboardist-vocalist Paul Carrack. Carrack joined the band for East Side Story, and his soulful vocals found some profound, buried emotions in Difford’s guilt-ridden to-do-list.

It’s a credit to Difford that he is willing to show his narrator’s struggles maintaining his fidelity, as opposed to writing another clichéd anthem about the rock star on the road pining for his girl at home. For his part, Tilbrook created a melody that’s both instantly catchy and sturdy enough to endure. And Carrack pulled it all together with a vocal that makes you feel every bit of this guy’s torment, which is crucial to making him relatable to the audience.

We leave this sad sack standing in front of a mirror asking his reflection for some kind of sign as to the path he should take. The song wouldn’t hit even the Top 40 in the US, but it would become ubiquitous in TV shows, movies, and commercials over the years while it simultaneously gained a foothold on 80’s-based radio stations. They may not have been Lennon and McCartney, but Difford and Tilbrook, with a big assist from Carrack, sure captured Beatlesque pop perfection with “Tempted.”

The way I see it, the singer has an affair that he later regrets or at least questions. He is at first tempted by the fruit of a forbidden love, but later on he finds himself pining for the love he left behind.

Despite his early claim that he'll forget it all once he's gone, it seems that memories of his old love and old life linger. I would think that this would confuse and upset him, but the song maintains a celebratory tone that seems to embrace a crossroads such as this as one of life's big, painfully beautiful struggles.

I think the song captures the feeling of homesickness and nostalgia that follows the initial excitement and hopefulness of leaving behind your current life in order to chase after a new life and find freedom. It's the dichotomy between starting all over again and holding on to what's familiar.

You leave behind your old life only to miss it when it's gone.

I don't know, sounds like he couldn't get it up. "But it's not my conscience that hates to be untrue."

Yes, I agree with Emamon, it is about regret. This guy need love like everyone else, so since the one he really loves is not available he'll move forward and find someone else. But he hasn't forgotten his only one and truly love. He's tempted in every way with this new girl, but that's it, he's only temptednot in love.. Its like another song...Love the one your with....doesn't mean you really love them, it just satisfys what you need at the time.... Does that make sense to you?

I Think that "tempted" and "fruit" refer to the story of Adam and Eve

Someone brought up this song could be from the point of the of the cheater or the one cheated on. I always thought it was a confession from the cheater - however, after re-listening, I think it’s from the point of view of the one cheated on and the pain of dealing with the aftermath. In the beginning of the song he's buying some personal items and 'a case' - he's moving out. As he's doing this, he notices the familiar neighborhood of his girlfriend's and he says he will forget it all. The pain here is that he is taking it all in - noticing every detail - and that he likes the neighborhood and the happy memories he had there. It's painful to reconcile these happy memories with the fact that he has been betrayed - so he resolves to 'forget it'. OK, so how does that make him the cheatee? I'm getting to that. To me, it’s the line 'there's no other.' That is, even though he's been cheated on and she's gone, he has not moved on and still loves her. 'Tempted by the fruit on another' - he's talking about her - not himself. The line about the seduction refers to that even though she has cheated on him, they are still living together and she is making attempts to be amorous in an effort to put the cheating behind them. However, he can't forgive her, he wishes she would stop touching him. The last line is most heartbreaking: even though he is deeply hurt, he still buys her gifts - and then asks himself, 'what the hell am I doing??'.