Mary MacGregor - Torn Between Two Lovers

"Torn Between Two Lovers" is written by Peter Yarrow (of the folk music trio Peter, Paul & Mary) and Phillip Jarrell. It was inspired by Boris Pasternak's 1957 novel, Doctor Zhivago, which featured a man in love with two women. Yarrow originally intended the song to be sung by a man. 

"I never liked the song too much, and I still don't," Mary MacGregor has said. "'I didn't like Torn because it was boring to sing - a real 'sleeper' kind of ballad. Peter thought it was a real statement, and he wanted the song to be a success. He wanted a woman to sing it, and he wanted that woman to be me." 

Mary, who began her career in Minneapolis folk groups, offered a clue to why this particular song became a No.1 hit single. "A lot of people are torn between two lovers, or have been, or will be," she explained. "I guess this record must have touched a lot of them." 

Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio by Mary MacGregor in 1976, "Torn Between Two Lovers" reached #1 on the U.S. pop chart in February 1977 and the easy listening chart in the final week of 1976 and first week of 1977. The song also peaked at #3 on the country charts. "Torn Between Two Lovers" inspired the title of a television movie aired in 1979, starring Lee Remick, George Peppard, and Joseph Bologna, in which the song is played.

Original version of Peter Yarrow's:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH5c9...