Tag: Love Hurts

Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris – Love Hurts

This song has been covered many times. The one that is probably the most popular is by the hard rock band Nazareth. This version was the one that Nazareth heard to base their version on. It was written and composed by the American songwriter Boudleaux Bryant, who was a very prolific and successful songwriter for other artists throughout the 1950s and beyond.

Gram and Harris’s version is my favorite version of the song now. It was on Parson’s Grievous Angel album released in 1974. Parsons and Harris had a great musical partnership. You can hear it in this song on how their voices weaved together.

Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris

On the album… James Burton played electric lead guitar, Herb Pederson on rhythm, and Al Perkins on pedal steel. Bernie Leadon played dobro, and Byron Berline added some fiddle and mandolin. Linda Ronstadt always contributed vocals to a Harris-Parsons song that I will cover next.

Harris was talking about the making of the Grievous Angel Album: “Gram was in really good shape for that album, and we were really tight from working on the road together. The band knew what they were doing and we had the charts together by the time we got into the studio. We went in and, man, it was really fast – we did the tracks in five days and then a second five days for the vocals which were nearly all first or second takes. For all extent and purposes ist should be regarded as a ‘live’ album.”

“We didn’t really write songs together. He always carried those songs around in his head. He just needed a little prodding to get them out. That’s all I did. I helped him with a line here and there. I’d suggest something but those were his songs. I didn’t dispute the credit on ‘In My Hour Of Darkness’, which he gave to me. I think that was probably because at the same time, there was this big thing about that stupid album cover.”

What Harris was referring to about the cover was that it made Gram’s wife upset. It was originally a cover of Parson and Harris that Gram picked out. Parson’s manager was Phil Kaufman and he said that Gretchen Parsons, Gram’s wife, found out about the picture and fought with Parsons. So, she had the picture removed when it was released because Gram had passed away in September of 1973 and this album was released in 1974.

The Everly Brothers were the first to cover it, but they never released the song as a single. They planned to release this as a single, but industry politics got in the way. Their version is very good as well but Harris and Parson’s voices just sounded so good together for this particular song.

Emmylou Harris: “I really liked working with Gram, it was a completely new experience for me. I was a little weary at first because of Los Angeles and Hollywood and all, and I was very much East Coast orientated. I was very much on my guard but Gram was a very real person and, whenever I went out there, I always felt that I was in some kind of protective bubble. It was never Los Angeles itself, but always working with Gram and the music, and I kept myself in a very small circle.”

“It was the first time to have ever lost a close friend. I’m sure that all people have lost someone who is very dear to them, but Gram was young and so full of life. There are people who say ‘well, it was bound to happen’… but not to me because Gram was the most alive person I ever knew and breathed a whole lot into me and into my life. So he still remains very much alive in my heart.”

“Eventually Gram will find his place in history. He had a real creative vision of his own as a writer. Perhaps there is a shadow of that inspiration on my records but it’s not the gut level thing.”

Here is a live version from Gram and Emmylou from 1973. 

Love Hurts

Love hurts, love scarsLove wounds and marsAny heart not toughNor strong enoughTo take a lot of painTake a lot of painLove is like a cloudHolds a lot of rain

Love hurtsMmm-mm, love hurts

I’m young, I knowBut even soI know a thing or twoI’ve learned from you

I’ve really learned a lotReally learned a lotLove is like a stoveBurns you when it’s hotLove hurtsMmm-mm, love hurts

Some fools think of happinessBlissfulness, togethernessSome fools fool themselves, I guessBut they’re not fooling me

I know it isn’t trueKnow it isn’t trueLove is just a lieMade to make you blue

Love hurtsMmm-mm, love hurts

Love hurtsMmm-mm, love hurtsOh-oh, love hurts

Nazareth – Love Hurts

I owned Nazareth’s Hair of the Dog on 8-track tape (a book about 8-tracks from Deke) that was given to me as a kid. I still remember that CLICK during the title song. I expect to hear it when I listen to it today.  The only version I knew of Love Hurts was Nazareth for the longest time. Later I found out it has been covered by many people including The Everly Brothers.

I saw Nazareth in the early 80s. Dan McCafferty’s voice was rough, loud, and great. Instead of talking to the audience he screamed through a very hot mic…but they were awesome. The opened up for Billy Squire but I would have loved to seem them headline.

The album this song was on was Hair of the Dog. It would be Nazareth’s biggest album. The album peaked at #17 in the Billboard Album Charts and #20 in Canada in 1975.

Nazareth released Love Hurts as a single late in 1974. Surprisingly, it tanked, but in April 1975 it became a hit in South Africa, prompting their label, A&M, to release it in America. It took a while, but radio stations in Texas started playing the song, and others around the country gradually followed suit.

The song peaked at #1 in Canada and #8 in the Billboard 100 and #41 in the UK. Nazareth got their name from the first line of the Band’s “The Weight” – “I pulled into Nazareth…”

The Everly Brothers may have been the first to cover it, but they never released the song as a single. They planned to release this as a single, but industry politics got in the way. The group was managed by Wesley Rose, who was part owner of the publishing company Acuff-Rose. After a string of hits for Cadence Records, they left for Warner Bros. in 1960, and continued to make hits but Rose wanted them to release singles for which Acuff-Rose owned the publishing, and when the duo recorded covers of “Lucille” and “Temptation” (a song from 1933), he protested, leading to a split and a legal dispute. Rose had another one of his clients, Roy Orbison, record “Love Hurts” and released it as the B-side to his #1 hit “Running Scared” in 1961.

Don Everly: “Wesley covered us with Roy Orbison, which was outlandishly selfish,” Don Everly said in Walk Right Back: The Everly Brothers On Warner Bros. “The arrangement was ours, and it was written for us. We couldn’t release it as a single because we didn’t know if Acuff-Rose would license it or not because we were in a lawsuit with them. It got that bitter.”

Pete Aginew Nazareth bassist: “We all loved the song. We often covered songs that we liked that we used to listen to on tape. Every now and then, we’d just go back and try to do something with one of these things. If you could change it and make it yours, we’d do it in the studio and see if we could do something about it. When we did Love Hurts, I believe there were 42 different versions recorded of it. The one we used to listen to was Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, off the “Grievous Angel” [1974] album. We used to have that in our van and we loved the song. […] We recorded “Love Hurts” as a b-side and that’s how we saw it. Of course, when I hear it now, it’s probably one of the best rock ballads of all time and definitely the vocal is in the top three.”

From Songfacts

Nazareth made this song a hit, but it was originally released by the Everly Brothers on their 1960 album A Date With The Everly Brothers. Like their heartbreak hit from 1957, “Bye Bye Love,” it was written by Boudleaux Bryant.

Young love is hot with passion, but it burns you when it’s hot. The guy in this song has just made this discovery, which is a revelation of sorts – all those singing the praises of love are fools who will soon be burned, as love is just a lie made to make you blue.

The original Everly Brothers version runs 2:23 and is delivered in their distinctive, pleasing harmonies. The Nazareth version is 3:03, with sandpaper vocals by lead singer Dan McCafferty screamed out as if he’s falling into the pit of despair.

The group is from Scotland and had three UK hits under their belts when 
Nazareth’s Stateside success was short lived: “Holiday” reached #87 in 1980, and “Love Leads To Madness” went to #105 in 1982, but none of their other songs charted there.

The album version runs 3:52, with a guitar solo by Manny Charlton that is not on the 3:03 single.

By the time Nazareth brought this song to life, the Everly Brothers had been split for three years. When they re-formed in 1983, they added the song to their setlists for the first time, starting with their reunion concert at Royal Albert Hall, which was released as a live album. In later years, it sometimes seemed like they were singing it to each other on stage, as their relationship had clearly soured.

The Everly Brothers recorded a new version on their 1965 album Rock’n Soul. Other artists to release it include Ray Peterson, Jimmy Webb, and Gram Parsons with Emmylou Harris. Jim Capaldi is the only other artist to chart with the song; he took it to #97 US in December 1975.

***A Real 8-Track Museum in Dallas Texas***

Love Hurts

Love hurts

Love scars

Love wounds and marks

Any heart not tough or strong enough

To take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain

Love is like a cloud, it holds a lot of rain

Love hurts

Ooh love hurts

I’m young

I know

But even so

I know a thing or two, I learned from you

I really learned a lot, really learned a lot

Love is like a flame, it burns you when it’s hot

Love hurts

Ooh love hurts

Some fools think

Of happiness, blissfulness, togetherness

Some fools fool themselves, I guess

They’re not foolin’ me

I know it isn’t true I know it isn’t true

Love is just a lie made to make you blue

Love hurts

Ooh love hurts

Ooh love hurts

I know it isn’t true

I know it isn’t true

Love is just a lie made to make you blue

Love hurts

Ooh love hurts

Ooh, love hurts, ooh

…