Cruel to Be Kind

"Cruel to Be Kind" is a 1979 single by Nick Lowe, co-written by Lowe and his former Brinsley Schwarz band-mate Ian Gomm, that peaked at No. 12 in both the UK and U.S. charts that summer. It also peaked at No.12 in both Canada and New Zealand. In the U.S., where it is Lowe's most well-known work, it remains his only single to hit the top 40, whereas in the UK "I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass" remains his biggest hit after reaching No. 7 a year earlier.

Release history

The song was originally written and recorded for the last Brinsley Schwarz album It’s All Over Now, which was never officially released.

It next appeared as a non-album B-side on the single "Little Hitler" off Nick Lowe’s first solo album Jesus of Cool (retitled Pure Pop for Now People in the U.S.). This is now known as the "original" version, as compiled on Lowe’s 1999 Box Set The Doings: The Solo Years, as well as a bootleg based on the unreleased "It's All Over Now", of the same title. (Not to confused with the "Jesus of Cool" version).

It was finally released on Nick Lowe’s first solo album Jesus of Cool (1978) but was then re-recorded with Rockpile and appeared on Lowe's second (1979) album Labour of Lust, where it became a UK top 10 hit. It was released on the Radar Records label in the UK and Columbia Records in the United States.

The single was backed with the non-album Lowe solo song "Endless Grey Ribbon" which Lowe had originally composed for fellow Rockpile member Dave Edmunds, as seen in the BBC documentary "Born Fighters". Lowe included the Labour of Lust version of the song on the 1984 12" single of "Half a Boy and Half a Man" off his album Nick Lowe and his Cowboy Outfit, as well as the EP version of his single "All Men are Liars" from 1990’s Party of One. It also appears on the 2010 "soundtrack" album "inspired" by the 2006 motion picture The Ant Bully. Live versions of the song appear on Lowe’s 1998 EP "You Inspire Me", off his Dig My Mood album, and on the 2004 live album Untouched Takeaway.

The re-recorded, Labour of Lust, version of the song has been included in many compilations of Nick Lowe’s work, including 1985’s 16 All Time Lowes, 1990’s Basher: The Best of Nick Lowe, 1999’s The Doings: The Solo Years, 2002’s Anthology and 2009’s Quiet Please... The New Best of Nick Lowe. It has also been included on many various artists compilations of hits of the 70s, such as Poptopia! 70’s Power Pop Classics.

Music video

The video to the song was one of the first music videos aired on MTV, and is a combination of actual footage of Lowe's wedding to Carlene Carter (they needed someone to do it, so the director stepped in), as well as a humorous re-enactment of the wedding, featuring Carter as herself, Dave Edmunds as their limo driver, Terry Williams as the photographer, Billy Bremner as the baker, and Jake Riviera (Nick's manager at the time) as the best man. Both the wedding (certain parts) and video were shot on August 18, 1979 at the Tropicana Motel in West Hollywood. All family stayed there for the wedding, as well as the reception (slightly featured in the video). Filming for the video took so long, that Lowe was actually late to the wedding.

Cultural Reference

The song was featured in the 1999 film, 10 Things I Hate About You where it was sung by alternative rock band Letters to Cleo in the prom scene.

Chart performance

Weekly singles charts

Chart (1979)	Peak position
Australia	12
Canada RPM	12
New Zealand	12
UK	12
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	12
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 ^[2]	12
WLS survey (Chicago)	15

Year-end charts

Chart (1979)	Position
Canada ^[3]	90
U.S. Cash Box	93
WLS survey (Chicago) ^[4]	80

Covers

The track has been covered by many artists, notably including co-writer Ian Gomm, first on his own 1997 album Crazy for You, then again in 2005 for the various artists tribute album Lowe Profile: A Tribute to Nick Lowe. Japanese- and Greek-language versions have been released by various artists, as well as both instrumental versions and dance remixes.

A Wilco iTunes-only release in January 2012 features Lowe on vocals with the band backing (they were touring together at the time). The original recording was played during the end credits for the documentary I.O.U.S.A..^[5]

Singer-Songwriter Freedy Johnston often performs the song in concert, accompanied by solo ukulele.

Year	Singer/Group	Album	Comments
1982	Enjoh Santyuutei	Koi No Howan Howan [single]	Japanese version
1999	Pitwork	Shine [EP]
1999	Letters to Cleo	10 Things I Hate About You	included on the 2008 Letters to Cleo compilation album When Did We Do That?
2001	Marshall Crenshaw and Christine Ohlman	Labour of Love: The Music of Nick Lowe	tribute album to Nick Lowe
2002	Poti Poti	Poti Poti	Children's version
2002	Naím Thomas	No Tenga Prisa	also released as a single, with a dance remix version
2002	Robin Renée	All Six Senses
2004	Kay Hanley	Instant Live: The Paradise Boston MA 8/26/04	former lead singer of Letters to Cleo
2005	The Bleeding Hearts	eMusic Live: The Bleeding Hearts at Cat’s Cradle 3/18/2005
2006	Jody Whitesides	Cruel to be Kind [single]
2007	Lazlo Bane	Guilty Pleasures
2007	Sammy G	You Don’t Listen to Me
2010	Kurt Baker	Got It Covered	contains both vocal and instrumental versions
2010	Matt Durket	Atomic Batteries to Power
2010	Stavros Michalakakos	Vres to Nisi [single]	Greek version ("Find the Island")
2011	Lovers and Poets	Cruel to be Kind [single]

The Lowe/Gomm composition should not be confused with the song "You've Got to Be Cruel to Be Kind" which was a UK hit for Unit 4 + 2 in December 1965, nor for the song "Cruel To Be Kind" by Spacehog, released in 1996. No doubt all of these songs owe their inspiration, directly or indirectly, to Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act III, scene 4), in which Hamlet tells his mother, "I must be cruel only to be kind."

References

External links

Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Music video of the song on YouTube

Nick Lowe

His Cowboy Outfit: Martin Belmont Paul Carrack Bobby Irwin

Studio albums	Jesus of Cool Labour of Lust Nick the Knife The Abominable Showman Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit The Rose of England Pinker and Prouder Than Previous Party of One The Impossible Bird Dig My Mood The Convincer At My Age The Old Magic

EPs	Bowi Nick Lowe & Dave Edmunds Sing The Everly Brothers Live! On the Battlefield

Live albums	Untouched Takeaway

Singles	"So It Goes" "Keep It Out of Sight" "Halfway to Paradise" "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" "Little Hitler" "American Squirm" "Cracking Up" "Cruel to Be Kind" "Switch Board Susan" "Stick It Where the Sun Don't Shine" "Burning" "My Heart Hurts" "Ragin' Eyes" "Cool Reaction" "Wish You Were Here" "Half a Boy & Half a Man" "L.A.F.S." "I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock 'n' Roll)" "Lovers Jamboree" "All Men Are Liars" "You Got the Look I Like" "True Love Travels on a Gravel Road" "I Live on a Battlefield" "You Inspire Me" "Lately I've Let Things Slide" "She's Got Soul"

Compilations	16 All-Time Lowes Nick's Knack Basher: The Best of Nick Lowe The Wilderness Years Boxed The Doings Quiet Please... The New Best of Nick Lowe The Brentford Trilogy

Related articles	Brinsley Schwarz Stiff Records Dave Edmunds Rockpile Little Village Carlene Carter

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