B-side "Postpone the Pain" Format CD Single, 7" Genre Country | Released February 1992 Recorded 1991 Length 2:24 | |
"Old Flames Have New Names" is a song written by Bobby Braddock and Rafe VanHoy, and recorded by American country music singer Mark Chesnutt. It was released in February 1992 and is one of his most well known songs. It was the leading single from Chesnutt's second album Longnecks & Short Stories.
Content
The protagonist — an apparent self-described "ladies' man" — moves back to his hometown after a two-year absence, hoping to resume his wild, womanizing ways with women he found desirable. But instead of receiving a grand homecoming and a night of carousing and lovemaking, he finds out some hard truths: that all of his former love interests have moved on with their lives and settled down.
Several of the protagonist's old flames are married, two are expectant mothers and another has taken up vows of sisterhood. Upon finding out these things about his former girlfriends, he bemoans that now they don't want anything to do with him, since "I'm just a bad reminder of their wild and wooly days."