The Weakness In Me

Album: Walk Under Ladders (1981)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • On of Joan Armatrading's most enduring songs, "The Weakness In Me" deals with infidelity and guilt in rather emotional fashion. "It's about somebody who has an affair and they've fallen for the person that they're having the affair with, but they love the person they were with whilst they were having the affair," she explained in a Songfacts interview. "It's a question of who do they choose, because they love both. In choosing one they will lose the other that they don't want to lose. So, it's that dilemma."
  • Armatrading used some notable session musicians on this track. Tony Levin, know for his work with Peter Gabriel, played bass; Andy Partridge of XTC played guitar; Nick Plytas played organ and guitar; Thomas Dolby added synthesizer.

    Dolby became a big name two years later when he had a hit with "She Blinded Me With Science," but before that, he was often called upon to lend a synth sheen to certain tracks, as he had quite a command of the instrument. You can hear him on Def Leppard's Pyromania album.
  • Steve Lillywhite produced the Walk Under Ladders album. He had worked on albums for Ultravox, Peter Gabriel, and U2 by this point, and would later produce The Pretenders, The Pogues and The Rolling Stones.

Comments: 1

  • Inyani Bosco from South Sudanits so inspiring and wonderful
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Music Video Director David Hogan

Music Video Director David HoganSong Writing

David talks about videos he made for Prince, Alabama, Big & Rich, Sheryl Crow, DMB, Melissa Etheridge and Sisters of Mercy.

Rock Revenge Songs

Rock Revenge SongsMusic Quiz

John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?

British Invasion

British InvasionFact or Fiction

Go beyond The Beatles to see what you know about the British Invasion.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."

Martin Page

Martin PageSongwriter Interviews

With Bernie Taupin, Martin co-wrote the #1 hits "We Built This City" and "These Dreams." After writing the Pretty Woman song for Go West, he had his own hit with "In the House of Stone and Light."

Chad Channing (Nirvana, Before Cars)

Chad Channing (Nirvana, Before Cars)Songwriter Interviews

Chad tells tales from his time as drummer for Nirvana, and talks about his group Before Cars.