"It Won't Hurt" is a song written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Dwight Yoakam Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and film director. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album '' Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerab ...

. It was released in November 1986 as the third and final single from his debut album ''

Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. ''Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.'' is country music artist Dwight Yoakam's first album. It was also the first of three consecutive No. 1 Billboard Country albums for him. This was Yoakam's first time working with record producer-guitarist Pete A ...

''. While it missed the top 30 on the ''

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 Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart, it became a top ten hit in Canada, peaking at number 7 on the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' country singles chart. The song can be heard during the outro to Yoakam's

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 ...

for "

Honky-Tonk Man "Honky-Tonk Man" is a song co-written and recorded by American singer Johnny Horton. It was released in March 1956 as his debut single on Columbia Records, and the album of the same name reaching number 9 on the U.S. country singles charts. Ho ...

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

, of ''

'' magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling it a "classic hurtin' and drinkin' song convincingly sung."''

'', November 1, 1986

Chart performance

"It Won't Hurt" debuted at number 64 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of November 15, 1986.

Demo Version

A demo version of the song can be found on Yoakam's 2002

boxed set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

, Reprise Please, Baby, as well as his 2006 reissue of "

References

{{authority control 1986 singles 1986 songs Dwight Yoakam songs Songs written by Dwight Yoakam Reprise Records singles Song recordings produced by Pete Anderson