Good morning!
Today we’re listening to “Cruel to Be Kind” by Nick Lowe
1979 might’ve been the wrong time to put out a song like this; disco was in full swing, what is today considered classic rock was still new, and punk was taking off, even if the musicians pretended they couldn’t care less.
Even Lowe himself didn’t put much stock into recording a song like “Cruel to Be Kind.” Bringing it to his former band Rockpile to help he noted,
“Sorry guys, I’ve got this wet song I did with the Brinsleys (Brinsley Schwarz) that Gregg Geller is insisting we cut.” I played it back to them and they weren’t impressed. But, God bless ’em, they all got down to it.”
But taste is fickle, and “Cruel to be Kind” wound up being a hit—his only hit stateside—peaking at #12 in the US.
Over the years, it’s been covered by everyone from Letters to Cleo to Wilco, who got Lowe to perform the song with them.
More:
Each time he rang me, he’d mention Cruel to Be Kind. But by 1979, I was this hip new wave producer who’d worked with Elvis Costello, Graham Parker and the Damned, and the song sounded embarrassingly pre-new wave to me. So I’d respond unenthusiastically. “Oh yeah, you like that, Gregg? Great. But I’ve got a better song here about a woman who was eaten by her dog.”
Read the rest of Lowe’s thoughts on the song here.
Listen:
Click the record to listen on your platform of choice.
“Cruel to Be Kind” by Nick Lowe | Labor of Lust, 1979
*An early version of the track also appeared on Lowe’s “Jesus Of Cool” record.
What’d you think of this one? Share your thoughts below!
Thanks for being here,
Kevin—
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one of my all time favs!
One of faves!!