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My Gen X Playlist: I Confess – The English Beat

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Daily writing prompt
Have you ever unintentionally broken the law?
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Mine is a pretty unremarkable story. I don’t lead an exciting life of crime. But I remember a time I unknowingly broke the law…a tiny bit.

I was making a grocery run, stocking up on food during the Covid lockdown. Once as I was loading up my car, I noticed a taco seasoning packet at the bottom of my cart. I must not have loaded it on the conveyor at check out. Part of me told myself to go back in and pay for it. The other side of me didn’t want to stand in that long line again for a dollar item. I began thinking of other times when I looked at a receipt in my car and noticed being overcharged. It also wasn’t worth my time to go back in to fix that either. I figured the universe finds ways to create balance. That’s what this was. So I called it even Steven. But I did feel a little guilt when I bit into my taco…

The English Beat released I Confess in 1982. Dave Wakeling explains the song was only partly autobiographical.

“’I Confess’ was only partly autobiographical. A lot of other references point to a story I’d seen in a magazine about how a guy screwed his wife’s sister on their wedding night. That was taking it a bit far. But it made me think that how people can get very sorry for themselves in any sort of situation regardless of their own actions.

And so two things in it that were really personal for me was that I found that I ruined three lives, but didn’t care, till I found out that one of them was mine.

And the second thing was, I noticed in my own life . . . when things started to go wrong . . , the argument was often about who loved each other the most, and the accusation was that the other person didn’t love as much as you did. And so it seemed to me that the hardest confession to make in those sort of situations were they were right, you didn’t actually care very much. And so really the deepest of the confessions for me in that song was if it’s all the same to you, I’ll stay indifferent.”

– Songfacts

A dollar taco seasoning packet? I’m not sure if that would have made the lyrics if Wakeling was standing in my Converse sneakers. Nothing really to confess here.

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Just out of spite,
I confess I've ruined three lives
Now don't sleep so tight
Because I didn't care till I found out that one of them was mine

Night after night time time after time
Done too much of both types of whining
Still wasn't right fight after fight
To get out of my life get away from me get away from that gun

No it's not a joke it's cards on the table time
I could have phoned I could have spoke
But how to break the news without beaking your heart

Being dead don't hurt,
No only dying
Cards on the table time,
Sometimes it's right to say goodnight

Always searching for paradise,
I'll admit that I'm good as blind
Darling I confess yes I've ruined three lives
And didn't care till I found out that one of them was mine

I confess
Our love seems like a punishment
And I confess,
If it's all the same to you I'll stay indifferent

I confess I confess I confess
I confess I confess I confess

No-one wins and there's no denying,
Don't pretend like you don't know why,
Just a little word here a little push there darling
I confess look I confess that I don't really care

I confess I confess I confess
Out like a light
Another boy who's given up trying
Blinded by fright

He scream my life's not open
Please get out,
I know I'm shouting,
I like to shout

It's not a joke it's cards on the table time
It's not a joke it's cards on the table time
I could have phoned I could spoke

But how to break the news without beaking your heart
Being dead don't hurt,
No only dying
Cards on the table time,
Sometimes it's right to say goodnight

Always searching for paradise,
I'll admit that I'm good as blind
Darling I confess yes I've ruined three lives
didn't care till I found out that one of them was mine

I confess
I deserve some type of punishment
I confess
If it's all the same to you I'll stay indifferent

I confess I confess I confess
I confess I confess I confess
I confess I confess I confess
I confess I confess I confess
I confess I confess I confess

18 thoughts on “My Gen X Playlist: I Confess – The English Beat”

  2. You hardened criminal! ^_^ I figure if I’ve unknowingly broken the law I still don’t know about it. And if I knowingly broke it, well I ain’t gonna confess it here for the whole world to see. ^_^

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  3. Nacho taco seasoning! Since I usually do ask for overcharges to be made right, I figure it’s only fair to go back. However, I will no longer go the extra mile to do the job of an employee. If they don’t care, I’m not going to fight them. Things do have a way of working out, I’d say.

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  4. I think with your confession you could probably consider your taco seasoning-sin absolved, in case that uneasy feeling ever comes back.

    Superb song choice. A friend took me to see The Beat/The English Beat as a birthday gift in the early 80s (unless it was one of their successor bands, General Public, that played many of the same songs around the same time I would have been at this show…) and can almost see them jamming to this tune! Thanks for jogging the memory. Great band(s).

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  8. Pingback: My Gen X Playlist: I Confess – The English Beat – MRCOLLINS IN ONLINE Finds

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