Paul Kelly – Darling It Hurts

Thought I would cover Paul Kelly today with this rock song Darling It Hurts. I’m starting to know his music more and more now. His Christmas song How To Make Gravy has been on my list since 2022. With this song, yes, I love that guitar, but that organ is what hooked me on this one. He kept the organ right below the surface, and it fits.  Below is a quick rundown of Paul. 

Paul Kelly was born in Adelaide, Australia, and began performing in Hobart in 1974. By 1976, he had relocated to Melbourne, working the pub circuit before forming the Dots, who released Talk (1981) and Manila (1982). He moved to Sydney in 1984 and, alongside Steve Connolly and Ian Rilen, released Post in 1985. The following year, he formed Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls and released Gossip (1986). The band later regrouped as Paul Kelly and the Messengers, issuing Gossip in the United States and following it with Under the Sun in 1987.

In 1993, Kelly published Lyrics, a collection of his songwriting, and continued evolving his sound with a new lineup that included Shane O’Mara, Bruce Haymes, Peter Luscombe, Stephen Hadley, and Spencer Jones. He has remained consistently active, continuing to record and release new material. His most recent album, Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train, arrived in 2021. Over the course of his career, Kelly has released 28 studio albums, along with 6 live albums, 8 compilations, and 64 singles.

This song was off his album Gossip, released in 1986. The song peaked at #19 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks. The album peaked at #15 in Australia and #34 in New Zealand.  The album was in the book,  100 Best Australian Albums. 

This link will take you to a live version that YouTube would not let me embed. 

Darling It Hurts

I see you standing on the corner with your dress so high
And all the cars slow down as they go driving by
Thought you said you had some place to go
What you doing up here putting it all on show?
Darling it hurts to see you down Darlinghurst tonight

Do you remember Darling how we laughed and cried
We said we’d be together till the day we die
How could something so good turn so bad?
I’d do it all again ‘coz you’re the best I’ve ever had
Darling it hurts to see you down Darlinghurst tonight

See that man with the glad hands
I want to kill him but it wouldn’t be right
Now here comes another man with the glad bags
I want to break him but it’s not my fight
In one hand and out the other
Baby I don’t even know why you bother
Darling it hurts to see you down Darlinghurst tonight

I see you standing on the corner with your dress so high
And all the cars slow down as they go driving by
In one hand and out the other
Baby I don’t even know why you bother
Darling it hurts to see you down Darlinghurst tonight
Darling it hurts to see you down Darlinghurst tonight
Darling it hurts to see you down Darlinghurst tonight

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all. View all posts by Badfinger (Max)