Love Hurts

"Love Hurts"
Song by The Everly Brothers
from the album A Date with The Everly Brothers
Released 1961
Recorded July 1960
Genre Country
Length 2:22
Label Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s) Boudleaux Bryant

"Love Hurts" is a song written and composed by the American songwriter Boudleaux Bryant. First recorded by the Everly Brothers in July 1960, the song is also well known from a 1975 international hit version by the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth and in the UK by a top five hit in 1975 by the English singer Jim Capaldi.

Appearances

The song was introduced in December 1960 as an album track on A Date with The Everly Brothers, but was never released as a single (A-side or B-side) by the Everlys. The first hit version of the song was by Roy Orbison, who earned Australian radio play, hitting the Top Five of that country's singles charts in 1961. A recording by Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons was included on Parsons' posthumously released Grievous Angel album. After Parsons' 1973 death, Harris made the song a staple of her repertoire, and has included it in her concert set lists from the 1970s to the present. Harris has since re-recorded the song twice.

The most successful recording of the song was by hard rock band Nazareth, who took the song to the U.S. Top 10 in 1975 and hit number one in Norway and the Netherlands. In the UK the most successful version of the song was by former Traffic member Jim Capaldi, who took it to number four in the charts in November 1975 during an 11-week run. The song was also covered by Cher in 1975 for her album Stars. Cher re-recorded the song in 1991 for her album of the same name. Rod Stewart recorded the song in 2006 for his album Still the Same... Great Rock Classics of Our Time which was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Roy Orbison version

"Love Hurts"
Single by Roy Orbison
A-side "Running Scared"
Released 1961
Format 7-inch single
Recorded 1961
Genre Pop
Length 2:26
Label Monument
Songwriter(s) B. Bryant

Roy Orbison covered "Love Hurts" in 1961 and issued it as the B-side to "Running Scared". While "Running Scared" was an international hit, the B-side only picked up significant airplay in Australia. Consequently, chart figures for Australia show "Running Scared"/"Love Hurts" as a double A-Side, both sides peaking at No. 5. This makes Orbison's recording of "Love Hurts" the first version to be a hit.

Chart (1961) Peak
position
Australia 5

Jim Capaldi version

"Love Hurts"
Single by Jim Capaldi
from the album Short Cut Draw Blood
B-side "Sugar Honey"
Released 1975 (1975)
Format 7-inch single
Recorded 1975
Genre Pop
Length 3:29
Label Island
Songwriter(s) Boudleaux Bryant
Producer(s) Steve Smith
Jim Capaldi singles chronology
"It's All Up to You"
(1974)
"Love Hurts"
(1975)
"Goodbye Love"
(1976)

"It's All Up to You"
(1974)
"Love Hurts"
(1975)
"Goodbye Love"
(1976)

Jim Capaldi reached number 4 in the UK charts with his interpretation of "Love Hurts" in November 1975, which was to prove his highest charting UK single.[1] Described by Rolling Stone as having "a sense of pain very different from Roy Orbison's."[2] the single also charted in the US,[3] Germany,[4] and Sweden.[5]

Chart (1975) Peak
position
Germany 42
Sweden 16
UK 4
U.S. 97

Nazareth version

"Love Hurts"
Single by Nazareth
from the album Hair of the Dog
B-side "Down" (non-U.S.)
"Hair of the Dog" (U.S.)
Released 1974 (1974)
Format 7-inch single
Recorded 1974
Genre
Length 3:53
3:03 (U.S. single)
Label Vertigo
Songwriter(s) Boudleaux Bryant
Producer(s) Manny Charlton
Nazareth singles chronology
"This Flight Tonight"
(1973)
"Love Hurts"
(1974)
"Shanghai'd in Shanghai"
(1974)

"This Flight Tonight"
(1973)
"Love Hurts"
(1974)
"Shanghai'd in Shanghai"
(1974)

Performed as a power ballad,[7] the Nazareth version is the most popular version of the song and the only rendition of "Love Hurts" to become a hit single in the United States, reaching No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1976. Billboard ranked it as the No. 23 song for 1976.[8] As part of the "Hot Tracks (EP)" it also reached No. 15 in the UK in 1977.[9] Nazareth's version was an international hit, peaking at No. 1 in Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa and Norway, and remains the best-known recording of the song. The Nazareth single was so successful in Norway that it charted for 61 weeks on the Norwegian charts (VG-lista Top 10), including 14 weeks at No. 1, making it the top single of all time in that country.[10]

A later recording by Nazareth, featuring the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, peaked at No. 89 in Germany.

The lyrics of the song remained unchanged on all versions up until Nazareth's 1975 recording, where the original line "love is like a stove/it burns you when it's hot" was changed to "love is like a flame/it burns you when it's hot".

Cher covered this version for her 1991 album of the same name.

Media

The song was used in an advertisement for Esurance,[11] and also in a series of advertisements by Zurich.[12]

A cover was sung by Nan Vernon for the film Halloween II.

Charts and certifications

Cher version

"Love Hurts"
Single by Cher
from the album Love Hurts
B-side "One Small Step"
Released 1991
Recorded 1991
Genre Pop rock
Length 4:07
Label Geffen
Songwriter(s) Boudleaux Bryant
Producer(s) Richie Zito
Cher singles chronology
"Save Up All Your Tears"
(1991)
"Love Hurts"
(1991)
"Could've Been You"
(1992)

"Save Up All Your Tears"
(1991)
"Love Hurts"
(1991)
"Could've Been You"
(1992)
Audio sample
  • file
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Cher also recorded the song in 1975 but did not have a hit with it at the time. She recorded a second version in 1991 for the album of the same name. The single became a minor hit in the UK in December 1991.

Chart (1991) Peak
position
Denmark (Tracklisten)[24] 8
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[25] 43

Live performances

Cher performed the song on the following concert tours:

References

  1. Jim Capaldi in the UK charts Archived 2012-09-12 at Archive.is, The Official Charts. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
  2. Marsh, Dave (11 March 1976). "Album review". Archived from the original on April 30, 2009. Retrieved 2011-08-12. , Rolling Stone.
  3. Jim Capaldi in the Billboard charts, Allmusic. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
  4. "Chartverfolgung / Jim Capaldi / Single". Music Line (in German). Germany: Media Control Charts. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  5. "Love Hurts" in the Swedish charts, swedishcharts.com. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  6. Phil Hardy (1995). The Da Capo Companion to 20th-century Popular Music. Da Capo Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-306-80640-7.
  7. SPIN Media LLC (June 1995). SPIN. SPIN Media LLC. pp. 104–. ISSN 0886-3032.
  8. Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1976
  9. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 388. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  10. 1 2 "BEST OF ALL TIME – SINGLES". VG-lista. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 2 November 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  11. "Esurance TV Commercial, 'The Pain Won't Last Long' Song By Nazareth". ispot.tv. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  12. "Zurich Film Advert By McCann: True Love, Warmth: Ads of the World™". adsoftheworld.com. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  13. "Austriancharts.at – Nazareth – LOVE HURTS" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  14. "Ultratop.be – Nazareth – LOVE HURTS" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  15. "NAZARETH - LOVE HURTS (SONG)".
  16. "Dutchcharts.nl – Nazareth – LOVE HURTS" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  17. "Charts.nz – Nazareth – LOVE HURTS". Top 40 Singles.
  18. "Norwegiancharts.com – Nazareth – LOVE HURTS". VG-lista.
  19. "Swedishcharts.com – Nazareth – LOVE HURTS". Singles Top 100.
  20. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  21. "Nazareth Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  22. "Canadian single certifications – Love Hurts". Music Canada.
  23. "American single certifications – Love Hurts". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
  24. "Danishcharts.com – Cher – Walking in Memphis". Tracklisten. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  25. "Cher: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
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