“Cruel to Be Kind” (Nick Lowe)

Today’s classic song of the day is “Cruel to Be Kind” by Nick Lowe. Released in August of 1979, it peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100, the Cash Box Top 100, and the UK Singles chart. This made it the best-performing U.S. single of Lowe’s long and illustrious career.

Lowe wrote this one way back when he was with Brinsley Schwarz but rerecorded it for his 1979 album Labour of Lust. He wrote it with Brinsley Schwarz bandmate Ian Gomm, who had his own solo hit the same year with “Hold On,” a former classic song of the day. (Gomm’s big hit peaked slightly lower than Lowe’s, at #18 on the Hot 100.)

Believe it or not, Mr. Lowe says that “Cruel to Be Kind” was inspired by a Philly Soul classic:

“As a ’70s pub-rock band, it was kind of taboo for us to admit to liking disco, but we were fans, and I was in love with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes’ ‘The Love I Lost.’ So the original version of ‘Cruel to Be Kind’ was my attempt at a floor-filler for when we played clubs and freshers’ balls.”

The backing band on the single is Dave Edmunds and Rockpile and this really should have been a Rockpile record, but that’s a whole ‘nother story. Rockpile was a collaboration between Misters Edmunds and Lowe, along with Billy Bremer on guitar and Terry Williams on drums. They had one minor hit, 1980’s “Teacher, Teacher,” but functioned more or less as a backing band for the two leaders’ solo projects.

Here’s what Mr. Lowe remembers about it:

“I wrote [‘Cruel to Be Kind’] when I was with a band, Brinsley Schwarz, that I was with from the early ’70s to about the mid-’70s. … We recorded it on a demo, it never came out, and when I signed to Columbia Records the A&R man [Gregg Geller] there at the time suggested I record it again. And I didn’t think it would do anything, but he kind of bullied me into it… I said, ‘Boys, I’m sorry, I’ve got this song which I’ve been told we’ve got to record, and it goes like this.’ They grumbled a bit about it.”

Obviously, the song evolved over time.

Nick Lowe knew how to write catchy melodies with clever wordplay, and this song is one of his catchiest and cleverest. You gotta love the rhyme “You say your love is bonafide, but that don’t coincide.” I mean, come on, who else uses the words “bonafide” and “coincide” in their lyrics?

I listened a lot to Nick Lowe 45 years ago when I was in my final year of college. Or maybe I had already finished classes. Who remembers, anyway? All I know is that I used to pull out my acoustic guitar and play along with this one all day and into the night. The chorus goes F – G – Em – Am all day long, two chords per measure. Go ahead, you try it. I bet you can’t play it just once.

As an added treat, here’s the official video (the 67th aired on then-new MTV) for “Cruel to Be Kind.” It incorporates actual footage from Nick Lowe’s actual wedding to the actual Carlene Carter, who is the actual stepdaughter of the actual Johnny Cash. Yes, that’s right, the Man in Black was the Basher’s stepfather, at least for awhile. It is a crazy world in which we live.