Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me

Last updated
"Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me"
Juice newton-loves been a little bit hard on me s.jpg
Single by Juice Newton
from the album Quiet Lies
B-side "Ever True"
ReleasedMay 22, 1982 (1982-05-22)
Genre
Length3:14
Label Capitol
Songwriter(s) Gary Burr
Producer(s) Richard Landis
Juice Newton singles chronology
"The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)"
(1981)
"Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me"
(1982)
"Break It to Me Gently"
(1982)

"Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me" is a song written by Gary Burr and recorded by the American country-pop singer Juice Newton for her seventh studio album Quiet Lies (1982). The recording garnered Newton a Grammy nomination for Best Female Vocalist in the Pop category.

Contents

Music video

The music video for this song comically plays off the emotional hurt of love by showing Juice Newton being physically injured by her lover in a series of accidents. The final shot is of Newton singing in the hospital in a full-body cast with her broken leg in the air. The video was awarded Video of the Year by the American Video Association in 1982.

Personnel

Musical analysis

Newton's version is in A major, and uses primarily A, D, and E chords with an occasional F♯ minor. But in the introduction, outro, and interludes between verses, a rarely heard (in popular music) pedal point is used in the bass and rhythm guitars, under changing chords in the upper instruments (A, D, E, A). Also of interest is the use of a descending parallel pattern of the chords D, C♯ minor, B minor, and A in the bridge, which is also atypical of popular music from that era. The second bridge also includes a moment of a capella singing, similar to another Newton favorite, "Queen of Hearts".

Chart performance

"Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me" was released as the album's first single in May 1982 and reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 that summer. [1] It also charted at No. 4 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and No. 30 on the Billboard Country chart. It also performed well in Canada, reaching No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 14 on the RPM Top 100 singles chart.

Weekly charts

Chart (1982)Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100 [2] 7
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [3] 30
US Adult Contemporary ( Billboard ) [4] 4
Canadian RPM Country Tracks24
Canadian RPM Top Singles14
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks3

Year-end charts

Chart (1982)Rank
Canada RPM Top Singles [5] 71
US Billboard Hot 100 [6] 47
US Cash Box [7] 37

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References

  1. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications)
  2. "Juice Newton Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  3. "Juice Newton Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  4. "Juice Newton Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-08-11. Retrieved 2017-07-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Musicoutfitters.com
  7. "Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 25, 1982". Archived from the original on July 11, 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2017.