My Stupid Heart

Album: My Stupid Heart (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Smart people can do very stupid things if they're letting the wrong organ make the decisions. Shawn Mullins has a very stupid heart, and unfortunately, that's what guides him, always playing him for a fool.

    It's that kind of sentiment we can all relate to on some level, and there are no shortage of songs about love clouding our judgment, but Mullins felt this more acutely than most. His first marriage ended in the '90s when life as a touring musician caused a fissure, leading to infidelity (on her part). He married again later in the decade and the couple had a son in 2009, but they split up a year later. Undeterred, Mullins married again a short time later, and that union quickly ended in divorce.

    These tribulations led to many of the songs on his 2015 album My Stupid Heart, including the title track, where he takes himself to task for his folly. He wrote the song while sitting on his porch thinking about how he needs to own up to these mistakes, but how much easier it would be to just blame it on his heart, so that's what he did.
  • Mullins wrote this song with his longtime collaborator Chuck Cannon; the album was produced by Cannon's wife, Lari White. Cannon, who had co-written the John Michael Montgomery country hit "I Love The Way You Love Me," sought out Mullins when he heard his 1998 song "Lullaby."
  • Mullins kept listening to his heart and letting it make the calls. A few years after this song was released, he entered into his fourth marriage. "If I fall in love with someone, I tend to want to marry them," he told Songfacts.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Donny Osmond

Donny OsmondSongwriter Interviews

Donny Osmond talks about his biggest hits, his Vegas show, and the fan who taught him to take "Puppy Love" seriously.

Mike Love of The Beach Boys

Mike Love of The Beach BoysSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer/lyricist of The Beach Boys talks about coming up with the words for "Good Vibrations," "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Kokomo" and other classic songs.

Emilio Castillo from Tower of Power

Emilio Castillo from Tower of PowerSongwriter Interviews

Emilio talks about what it's like to write and perform with the Tower of Power horns, and why every struggling band should have a friend like Huey Lewis.

How "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss" Became Rock's Top Proverb

How "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss" Became Rock's Top ProverbSong Writing

How a country weeper and a blues number made "rolling stone" the most popular phrase in rock.

Bill Withers

Bill WithersSongwriter Interviews

Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."

Lou Gramm - "Waiting For A Girl Like You"

Lou Gramm - "Waiting For A Girl Like You"They're Playing My Song

Gramm co-wrote this gorgeous ballad and delivered an inspired vocal, but the song was the beginning of the end of his time with Foreigner.