"Old Flames Have New Names" is a song written by Bobby Braddock and Rafe Van Hoy, 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.
Background
Braddock and Van Hoy wrote the song over the telephone in an attempt to create something along the lines of George Strait's 1987 country single "All My Ex's Live in Texas". They initially titled the song "Old Flames With New Names". Mark Wright, who would produce Chesnutt's record, suggested the change to "Old Flames Have New Names".[2]
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."
^Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. pp. 92–93. ISBN978-0-89820-177-2.
^Braddock, Bobby (2015). A Life on Nashville's Music Row. Nashville, Tennessee: Country Music Foundation Press/Vanderbilt University Press. pp. 234–236. ISBN978-0-8265-2082-1.
