Love Hurts
"Love Hurts" is a song written and composed by the American songwriter Boudleaux Bryant. First recorded by the Everly Brothers in July 1960, the song is also well known from a 1975 international hit version by the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth and in the UK a top five hit in 1975 by the English singer Jim Capaldi.
Appearances
The song was introduced in December 1960 as an album track on A Date with The Everly Brothers, but was never released as a single by the Everlys. The first hit version of the song was by Roy Orbison, who earned Australian radio play, hitting the Top Five of that country's singles charts in 1961. A recording by Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons was included on Parsons' posthumously released Grievous Angel album. After Parsons' 1973 death, Harris made the song a staple of her repertoire, and has included it in her concert set lists from the 1970s to the present. Harris has since re-recorded the song twice. Jennifer Warnes released a version on her self-titled album in 1976.The most successful recording of the song was by hard rock band Nazareth, who took the song to the U.S. Top 10 in 1975 and hit number one in Norway and the Netherlands.
In the UK the most successful version of the song was by former Traffic member Jim Capaldi, who took it to number four in the charts in November 1975 during an 11-week run.
The song was also covered by Cher in 1975 for her album Stars. Cher re-recorded the song in 1991 for her album of the same name.
Joan Jett included a version of the song on her 1990 album, The Hit List, a covers compilation.
Rod Stewart recorded the song in 2006 for his album Still the Same... Great Rock Classics of Our Time which was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
The bluegrass version appearing in both the Deadpool 2 "Super Duper Cut" and the "Once Upon A Deadpool" DVD, during the montages featuring the titular character's failed suicide attempts following Vanessa's death, was first recorded by The Osborne Brothers for their 1977 Release "From Rocky Top To Muddy Bottom: The Songs Of Boudleaux & Felice Bryant".
Jazz guitarist Julian Lage performs the song on his 2019 album of the same name.
Roy Orbison version
covered "Love Hurts" in 1961 and issued it as the B-side to "Running Scared." While "Running Scared" was an international hit, the B-side only picked up significant airplay in Australia. Consequently, chart figures for Australia show "Running Scared"/"Love Hurts" as a double A-Side, both sides peaking at No. 5. This makes Orbison's recording of "Love Hurts" the first version to be a hit.| Chart | Peak position |
| Australia | 5 |
Jim Capaldi version
reached number 4 in the UK charts with his interpretation of "Love Hurts" in November 1975, which was to prove his highest charting UK single. Described by Rolling Stone as having "a sense of pain very different from Roy Orbison's." the single also charted in the US, Germany, and Sweden.| Chart | Peak position |
| Australia | 6 |
| Canada RPM Top Singles | 15 |
| Germany | 42 |
| - | |
| South Africa | 13 |
| Sweden | 16 |
| UK | 4 |
| U.S. | 97 |
Nazareth version
Performed as a power ballad, the Nazareth version is the most popular version of the song and the only rendition of "Love Hurts" to become a hit single in the United States, reaching No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1976. Billboard ranked it as the No. 23 song for 1976. As part of the "Hot Tracks " it also reached No. 41 in the UK in 1977. Nazareth's version was an international hit, peaking at No. 1 in Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa and Norway, and remains the best-known recording of the song. The Nazareth single was so successful in Norway that it charted for 61 weeks on the Norwegian charts, including 14 weeks at No. 1, making it the top single of all time in that country.A later recording by Nazareth, featuring the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, peaked at No. 89 in Germany.
The lyrics of the song remained unchanged on all versions up until Nazareth's 1975 recording, where the original line "love is like a stove/it burns you when it's hot" was changed to "love is like a flame/it burns you when it's hot".
Cher covered this version for her 1991 album of the same name.
Media
The song was used in an advertisement for Esurance, and also in a series of advertisements by Zurich.A cover was sung by Nan Vernon for the film Halloween II.
The song has been featured in several video games, and films, including Click, The Doors, Spaceballs, Wayne's World, Josie and the Pussycats, Sid and Nancy, This Is Spinal Tap, Airheads, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Dude, Where's My Car?, Empire Records, High Fidelity, Dazed and Confused, Rock Star, The Rocker, The Full Monty, Napoleon Dynamite, Click, Monkeybone, Idiocracy, Speed, Lethal Weapon 4, Exit Wounds, , Guitar Hero II, Rock Band 3, Barnyard, Flushed Away, Detroit Rock City, Chicken Little, and Toy Story 3.
The song was featured in a dream sequence in Season 4, Episode 24 of That '70s Show, in which Fez daydreams that the characters Eric, Donna, Kelso and Jackie are performing the song after they hurt his feelings.
Also featured in the film Dazed and Confused during the junior high dance.
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
| Chart | Rank |
| South African Singles Chart | 3 |
| Chart | Rank |
| Australian Kent Music Report | 45 |
| Belgian BRT Top 30 | 10 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 14 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 23 |
All-time chart
Certifications
Cher version
recorded her first version in 1975 for the album Stars, but did not release this version as a single. She later recorded a second version in 1991 for her album of the same name. This version was a cover of Nazareth's version. The single became a minor hit in the UK in December 1991.| Chart | Peak position |