Music Blog

Twofer Tuesday 5.21

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Originally released by The Everly Brothers, “Love Hurts“, written in 1960 by Boudleaux Bryant, is a song that delves into the pain and anguish experienced when love goes wrong. The emotional depth conveyed through the lyrics and the haunting melody have made it a beloved and enduring piece of music.

The song’s popularity can be attributed to its universal theme of heartbreak. Love is usually portrayed as a beautiful and uplifting experience, but “Love Hurts” acknowledges the dark side of love, where heartache and emotional turmoil take center stage. This raw honesty has struck a chord with listeners of all generations. “Love Hurts” was never released by the Everly’s as a single and can be found on their album A Date With The Everly Brothers.

The song has been recorded as a duet by Greg Parsons and Emmylou Harris, by Roy Obison in 1961 as the B side to “Running Scared”, by English singer-songwriter Jim Capaldi whose version reached #4 in the UK charts and by the Scottish hard rock band, Nazareth.

Performed as a ballad by Nazareth, “Love Hurts” became the most popular version of the song and the only rendition to become a big hit single, reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1976.

I’d love to play all the versions of this great song but it is Twofer Tuesday and we can’t have pandemonium erupting on WordPress. After all this time together on The Elephant’s Trunk, I think you can guess which cover I chose to feature today.

This is the wondrous original version of “Love Hurts” by the Everly Brothers.

And this is what it sounded like when Nazareth recorded it:

That’s today’s Twofer Tuesday!

See you on the flip side. 😎

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39 thoughts on “Twofer Tuesday 5.21”

  4. 😳 My first and only exposure to this song was thru Nazarath, hot summer days out car windows, flattened on damp towels in swimsuit, on the cruddy sand of a local lake. Wailing song of teen angst. Loved it.

    I never knew the history. Thank you!

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    1. I’m of an age where I am familiar with each version I mentioned, while still quite young when the Everlys came out with this song. I’m a fan of Phil & Don, always impressed by the close harmony. Every song they recorded is a classic.

      Yet …. one simply cannot hear this song and not think of Nazareth. It isn’t possible, not should it be. This guy is singing his heart out and he’s breaking ours right along with him. Sensational stuff.

      Thanks, Liz.

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    1. Nazareth did an impressive job on this tune, Keith; the lead vocals are definitely those of a grieving man with a broken heart.

      The Everly Brothers, on the other hand, deliver the sounds of lonely and quiet desperation of a love gone bad. It’s a simple yet classic song.

      I appreciate your comments today, Keith. Thank you!

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  8. I love both these versions, but I adore Roy Orbison’s. I saw him in concert at the Cheshire County (NH) fair in the summer of 1988 and his voice was still as clear as a bell. He died later that year and I remember thinking how lucky I was to have heard him that one last time.

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    1. What an incredible story, D! Roy had such a distinctive voice, tender and pleading but he could rock with the best of them. I love his contribution to the Traveling Wilburys.

      I think the rest of us should get a chance to hear Roy sing “Love Hurts” one more time as well. Shall we?

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  10. Oh come on! If it wasn’t “Stairway to Heaven”, this was the last dance… a chance to find yourself stuck to another in a slow sway… Nazareth – honestly, can I name another of their songs? Probably not. This was the best.

    But, I gotta admit the Everly Brothers bring such a tenderness to the song.

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    1. Nazareth nailed this like nobody’s business but they did A LOT of songs such as Dream On and my favorite …. Hair Of The Dog. I do think they are most known for “Love Hurts”, though but that’s ok …. they did an unbefuckinglievable version that won’t be forgotten or repeated.

      Thanks, Dale!

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      1. You’ve got that right. It’s funny that this was the song that they are most known for… but as you said, they more than nailed it.

        My pleasure, Nancy!

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    1. Those of us of a certain age were fortunate to have all these singers who covered this fabulous song in our lives at one time or another. That’s the case for me. I love the Everly Brothers version, too. They were such a great duo with their sweet, perfectly-tuned harmony.

      Thank you for a great one from LC!

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    1. Nazareth’s song was huge here and many younger people thought they were the ones to do the song originally. I think their version in that genre is fantastic but I love the original with the Everlys. Roy Orbison does a great job, too; he had the perfect plaintive voice for a heartbreaker like this.

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  14. You know, though I really love Nazareth (and FB chat with ex-guitarist Billy Rankin now and then) I just can’t see why this was their greatest hit. They had SO many better songs in my opinion.
    And I’m not an Everly Brothers fan.

    So that leaves me to say my favourite version of this song, which I bought at the time, ,is Jim Capaldi’s.

    (I know – maybe I AM a bit weird.) 😉

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    1. No such thing as weird in music preference, Cee Tee. I like Jim Capaldi’s music a lot; I wouldn’t have even bothered mentioning his name if I didn’t. As a hard rock lover from way back, I thought Nazareth’s version was fantastic; Dan McCafferty’s voice was perfectly suited for this heart-wrenching song. I have a sweet spot for the Everly Brothers, though, so my choice today is their version.

      It’s good to have been around long enough to have experienced every rendition of this song!

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  16. I prefer Roy Orbison’s more operatic version to the soft, folksy sound of the Everly Brothers, but the Nazareth cover is the only one that sounded convincingly that love really can hurt. I believed the lead singer’s pain.

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    1. Roy Orbison did a bang up job; he’s done a lot of songs about pain and loss so he’s a natural. I have to agree that Nazareth really did a great rendition of this piece; it’s once of those that sounds like it could have been the original. And I do love my hard rock!

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