“Love Is a Hurtin’ Thing” (Lou Rawls)

Lou Rawls’ “Love Is a Hurtin’ Thing” is today’s classic song of the day. Released as a single in October of 1966, this smooth soul track went all the way to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Singles chart.

“Love Is a Hurtin’ Thing” was written by Ben Raleigh and David J. Luff, writing under the pseudonym of Dave Linden. It was Mr. Rawls’ first song to hit Billboard’s top forty and the first to make it all the way to the top of the R&B chart.

Lou Rawls was a Chicago soul singer, a former member of the gospel group the Pilgrim Singers and friend of Sam Cooke and Curtis Mayfield. He’d signed with Capitol Records in 1962 but generated only one minor hit before his big break, a song called “Three O’Clock in the Morning.” Rawls made more waves as a consummate live performer, however, with his 1966 LP Lou Rawls Live! topping the R&B album chart and hitting #4 on the mainstream Billboard 200 chart.

“Love Is a Hurtin’ Thing” was the perfect song for Rawls’ soulful baritone. The track was produced by David Axelrod and featured backing by some of the best L.A. studio musicians, including Barney Kessel on guitar and Earl Palmer on drums. Soulin’, the album that contained the single, went gold and hit #7 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

Rawls had several big hits over the course of his long career, including “Your Good Thing (Is About to End),” “Dead End Street,” “A Natural Man,” “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine,” “Groovy People,” and “Lady Love,” and won three Grammy Awards. He kept singing for four more decades after his first big hit, passing away on January 6, 2006, of lung cancer.

And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Mr. Lou Rawls performing “Love Is a Hurtin’ Thing” live on the November 6, 1966, episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. Man, that voice…