“Me and Mrs. Jones” by Billy Paul

Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones" came out in 1972 on CBS's Philadelphia International imprint and landed on his album 360 Degrees of Billy Paul. Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Cary Gilbert wrote it, Bobby Martin arranged it, and Paul sings it like a man savoring every minute of the trouble he's in.

It's a cheating song told from the inside: two lovers who slip off to the same cafe day after day to hold hands and talk, both knowing it's wrong and neither willing to end it. That hushed guilt took it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in December 1972, between Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" and Carly Simon's "You're So Vain", and it held the R&B number one for four. It was the only time Paul ever topped the Hot 100.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.