"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.
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 Philip Aaberg – keyboards Michael Boddicker – synthesizer George Doering – guitar Steve Forman – percussion Andrew Gold – electric guitar and solo, backing vocals Chris – backing vocals Juice Newton – guitar (uncredited on LP), lead vocals Rick Shlosser – drums Harry Stinson – backing vocals Neil Stubenhaus – bass Fred Tackett – acoustic guitar Otha Young – electric guitar, backing vocals
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 number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 that summer.Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications) It also charted at number four on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and number 30 on the Billboard Country chart. It also performed well in Canada, reaching number three on the Adult Contemporary chart and number 14 on the RPM Top 100 singles chart.
Weekly charts Chart (1982) Peakposition Canadian RPM Country Tracks 24 Canadian RPM Top Singles 14 Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks 3
Year-end charts Chart (1982) Rank Canada RPM Top Singles 71 US Billboard Hot 100 47 US Cash Box 37
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