The Right Suspicions Behind Toby Keith’s 1994 Hit “Wish I Didn’t Know Now”

I never ask you where you’re goin’ / I never ask you where you’ve been, sings Toby Keith in “Wish I Didn’t Know.” The mid-tempo ballad is told from the perspective of a man who learns the suspicions he has about his cheating lover are right.

I never ask you where you’re goin’,
I never ask you where you’ve been
I’ve never called and checked your story,
When you stayed out with all your friends
I’ve never tried to catch you lyin’,
I didn’t want to know the truth
I’d rather go on lovin’ blind girl,
Then go on lovin’ without you

I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then
I wish I could start this whole thing over again
I’m not sayin’ it’s you,
You could never be true
I just don’t want to know how it ends
You’d still have my heart in the palm of your hands
I’d still look like a fool in front of your friends
Yeah, I wish somehow I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then

[RELATED: From His Debut Album to a Jimmy Buffett Cover: Toby Keith’s Final Concert in Las Vegas in 2023 (Setlist and Videos)]

Released as the final single on Keith’s 1993 self-titled debut, “Wish I Didn’t Know” went to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart a year later.

Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band

For the title, Keith pulled a line from Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band’s 1980 song “Against the Wind.”

And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh-so-tight
Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then

Toby Keith also featured the country star’s No. 1 hits “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” and “A Little Less Talk and A Lot More Action.” The second single “He Ain’t Worth Missing” also reached No. 5, while the album broke the Top 20, landing at No. 17 on the Country chart.

Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for BMI