Marty Robbins – Devil Woman

“Devil Woman” is a song written and recorded by Marty Robbins and released in June 1962 as the lead single and title track from his album Devil Woman. Issued by Columbia Records and produced by Don Law, the single was backed with the B-side “April Fool’s Day” and runs at a concise radio-friendly length. The record arrived during a period when Robbins was a well-established crossover artist, capable of placing songs on both country and pop charts.

Musically the track departs from straight honky-tonk templates by employing a steady, mid-tempo groove with distinctive rhythmic shading and prominent guitar figures. The arrangement keeps the instrumental bed relatively spare so the vocal narrative remains central; the feel has been described in contemporary accounts as slightly exotic or Latin-tinged compared with mainstream country singles of the time, a textural choice that helped the song stand out on radio playlists.

Lyrically, “Devil Woman” is a compact moral vignette. The narrator confesses an affair with a seductive “devil woman,” admits the betrayal to his wife Mary, and describes the emotional fallout—shame, remorse and ultimately a measure of forgiveness. Robbins presents the story in plainspoken lines and a clear refrain, favoring directness over elaborate metaphor. The song’s focus on temptation and contrition gives it dramatic immediacy while remaining economical in its storytelling.

On release the single became one of Robbins’s biggest commercial successes. It reached number one on the U.S. country chart—Robbins’s seventh chart-topping single—and held that position for multiple weeks, while also crossing over to the pop market where it reached the upper teens on the Billboard Hot 100. The record’s broad appeal extended overseas as well, making it one of Robbins’s more internationally noticed entries from the early 1960s.

The recording’s success secured “Devil Woman” a durable place in Robbins’s catalog. It has appeared on numerous compilation packages and reissues and was influential enough to attract covers and language-adaptations in the years following its release. Performers from different traditions recorded their own versions, and the song’s concise narrative and memorable hook made it adaptable across styles and markets.

In retrospective assessments “Devil Woman” is often cited as an example of Marty Robbins’s versatility: his ability to combine straightforward storytelling, a tailored sonic palette, and radio-minded arrangements. The single reinforced Robbins’s standing as an artist who could move between country and pop audiences without losing narrative clarity, and it remains one of the recognizable singles from his productive run in the late 1950s and early 1960s.