"It Hurts to Be in Love" is a song written by

Howard Greenfield Howard Greenfield (March 15, 1936 – March 4, 1986) was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building. He is best known for his successful songwriting collaborations, including o ...

and

Helen Miller Helen Miller may refer to: * Helen Miller (cricketer) (1915–1972), New Zealand cricketer * Helen Miller (politician) (born 1945), American politician * Helen Miller (songwriter) (1925–2006), American songwriter * Helen Hill Miller (1899–1995), ...

which was a Top Ten hit in 1964 for

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 hit singles, inclu ...

. It was one in a long line of successful "Brill Building Sound" hits created by composers and arrangers working in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Brill Building The Brill Building is an office building at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood. It was built in 1931 as t ...

at 1619 Broadway. The song has been covered by many other artists, notably

Bobby Vee Robert Thomas Velline (April 30, 1943 – October 24, 2016), known professionally as Bobby Vee, was an American singer who was a teen idol in the early 1960s and also appeared in films. According to '' Billboard'' magazine, he had thirty-e ...

. In 1981,

Dan Hartman Daniel Earl Hartman (December 8, 1950 – March 22, 1994) was an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Among songs he wrote and recorded were " Free Ride" as a member of the Edgar Winter Group, and the solo hits ...

recorded a version which peaked at No. 72 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. This "It Hurts to Be in Love" is not to be confused with a similarly titled tune, co-written by

Julius Dixson Julius Edward Dixson (who also used the spelling Dixon) (May 20, 1913 – January 30, 2004) was an American songwriter and record company executive. Life and work Born in Barnwell, South Carolina, he served in the Army during World War II in Engl ...

and

Rudy Toombs Rudolph Toombs (1914 – November 28, 1962) was an American performer and songwriter. He wrote "Teardrops from My Eyes", Ruth Brown's first number one R&B song, and other hit songs for her, including " 5-10-15 Hours". He also wrote "One Mint ...

, first recorded by

Annie Laurie "Annie Laurie" is an old Scottish song based on a poem said to have been written by William Douglas (1682?–1748) of Dumfriesshire, about his romance with Annie Laurie (1682–1764). The words were modified and the tune was added by Alicia Sco ...

De Luxe Records De Luxe Records (later DeLuxe Records) was a record company and label formed in 1944 by brothers David Braun (1908–1985) and Julius "Jules" Braun (1911–2002), the sons of Hungarian Jewish immigrants, in Linden, New Jersey. The label ...

(1957), and subsequently recorded by

Frankie Lymon Franklin Joseph Lymon (September 30, 1942 – February 27, 1968) was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll doo-wop group Th ...

Trini Lopez Trinidad López III (May 15, 1937 – August 11, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and actor. His first album included a cover version of Pete Seeger's "If I Had a Hammer", which earned a Golden Disc for him. His other hits included ...

Freddie King Freddie King (September 3, 1934December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and B.B. King, none of whom were blood related). Mos ...

, and

John Mayall John Mayall, OBE (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, musician and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among it ...

, among others.

Gene Pitney version

"It Hurts to Be in Love" was originally intended to be sung by Howard Greenfield's long-running songwriting partner

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

, but Sedaka's record label at the time, RCA Victor, refused to release Sedaka's new recording because he had not recorded it in their studios, as stipulated by his contract. Sedaka attempted another recording of this song in RCA's studios, but the results were unsatisfactory. Greenfield and Helen Miller, the song's co-writers, offered it to

instead, and he took the existing musical track, replacing Sedaka's lead vocal track with Pitney's own. Everything else was Sedaka's, including his own arrangement and backing vocals, piano-playing, and usual female backup singers. Pitney ended up with a top ten hit in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for himself and his record label, Musicor, in 1964. The personnel on the original recording included

Artie Kaplan Artie Kaplan is an American recording artist, songwriter and a session musician. He has also been a music contractor where he was hired to musicians for sessions. In the 1960s, he was casting musicians for sessions for Aldon Music. When musicia ...

on saxophone, Bill Suyker, Charles Macy, and

Vinnie Bell Vincent Edward Gambella (July 28, 1932 – October 3, 2019), known as Vinnie Bell, was an American session guitarist, instrument designer and pioneer of electronic effects in pop music. Life and career He was born in Brooklyn">p> Life and car ...

on guitar,

Milt Hinton Milton John Hinton (June 23, 1910 – December 19, 2000) was an American double bassist and photographer. Regarded as the Dean of American jazz bass players, his nicknames included "Sporty" from his years in Chicago, "Fump" from his time on the ...

on bass,

Artie Butler Arthur Butler (born December 2, 1942) is an American composer, arranger, songwriter, and session musician. In a long career, he has been involved in numerous hit records and other recordings, and has been awarded over 60 gold and platinum albums ...

on organ,

Gary Chester Gary Chester (born Cesario Gurciullo; October 27, 1924 – August 17, 1987) was an American studio drummer, author, and teacher. Beginning in the 1960s, he played on hundreds of records for bands such as The Coasters, The Monkees, and The Lovin ...

on drums, and

Toni Wine Toni Wine (born June 4, 1947 in Washington Heights, New York City, United States) is an American pop music songwriter, who wrote songs for such artists as The Mindbenders ("A Groovy Kind of Love"), Tony Orlando and Dawn (" Candida"), and Checkma ...

on backing vocals. In the US, "It Hurts to Be in Love" spent 16 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at No. 7, also reaching No. 7 on the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' Top 100, and No. 6 on ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

''s "100 Top Pops".100 Top Pops
, ''

'', October 17, 1964. Retrieved June 27, 2018. The song also made No. 2 on Canada's ''RPM'' Top 40-5s and No. 36 on the UK's ''

Record Retailer ''Record Retailer'' was the only music trade newspaper for the UK record industry. It was founded in August 1959 as a monthly newspaper covering both labels and dealers. Its founding editor was Roy Parker (who died on 27 December 1964). The title ...

'' chart.Gene Pitney - Full Official Chart History

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

. Retrieved June 27, 2018. Although not characteristic of Pitney's pop sound, as heard in "

Town Without Pity ''Town Without Pity'' (German: ''Stadt ohne Mitleid'') is a 1961 American/Swiss/West German international co-production drama film directed by Gottfried Reinhardt. Produced by The Mirisch Corporation, the film stars Kirk Douglas, Barbara Rütti ...

" and "

(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, which was released by Gene Pitney in 1962. It spent 13 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 4, while reaching No. 2 on Canada's CHUM Hi ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

noted that "It Hurts to Be in Love" "was about as close as any of his major hits came to straight-ahead rock & roll." In 2007,

Razor & Tie Records Razor & Tie was an American entertainment company that consisted of a record label and a music publishing company. It was established in 1990 by Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld. Based in New York City (with additional offices in Los Angeles an ...

released the original Sedaka demo as part of the anthology album '' The Definitive Collection''.

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Durocs version

In 1979 a

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...

version of the song was recorded by Durocs, a studio group comprising singers, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists

Ron Nagle Ron Nagle (born February 21, 1939) is an American sculptor, musician and songwriter. He is known for small-scale, refined sculptures of great detail and compelling color. Nagle lives and works in San Francisco, California. Life Born in San Fr ...

and

Scott Mathews Scott Mathews (born July 25, 1955) is an American music producer, composer, performer, and entrepreneur. He has appeared as a musician, songwriter or producer on recordings with sales of more than 40 million units which earned more than 20 gol ...

. Mathews and Nagle performed almost all the vocal and instrumental parts on the recording themselves, with the exception of the saxophone solo, which was performed by renowned session musician Steve Douglas, a long-time member of The Wrecking Crew. It was the first single released from the self-titled Durocs album, issued the same year on

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

. The song was promoted with a pioneering

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

, conceived and directed by Matthews and Nagle, which gained some exposure outside the U.S., including Europe and Australia, and the single reportedly charted in Europe. However it was not successful in America (MTV did not launch until late 1981, so the video gained only limited exposure in the USA) and Capitol dropped the group soon after, partly due to Nagle and Mathews' unwillingness to put together a touring band to promote the album.

Dan Hartman version

In 1981, American singer-songwriter and musician

released a version on his fourth studio album ''

It Hurts to Be in Love "It Hurts to Be in Love" is a song written by Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller (songwriter), Helen Miller which was a Top Ten hit in 1964 for Gene Pitney. It was one in a long line of successful "Brill Building Sound" hits created by composers ...

''. The song was the second single from the album and reached No. 78 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

. It also charted No. 48 on the ''Billboard'' Disco Top 100 chart.

Critical reception

In a review of ''It Hurts to Be in Love'', John Smyntek of the ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

'' noted: "Hartman doesn't even bother to change the arrangement so he knows a good thing when he hears it." ''

The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after ''The Express-Times''. In 2020, the newspaper permanently closed its Al ...

'' felt Hartman's version "sounds remarkably similar to the original". Dave Marsh of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' considered Hartman's rendition "a terrific version". ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' felt Hartman's take of the "frothy pop tune does little to improve on the original".

Track listing

;7" single (US release) #"It Hurts to Be in Love" - 2:44 #"Pick It Up" - 3:02 ;7" single (Dutch release) #"It Hurts to Be in Love" - 2:44 #"All I Need" - 4:07

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1964 songs 1964 singles Songs with lyrics by Howard Greenfield Songs written by Helen Miller (songwriter) Gene Pitney songs Neil Sedaka songs Brill Building songs Bobby Vee songs Dan Hartman songs Musicor Records singles