Every Little Bit Hurts

"Every Little Bit Hurts"
Single by Brenda Holloway
from the album Every Little Bit Hurts
B-side"Land of a Thousand Boys"
ReleasedMarch 26, 1964
GenrePop-soul
Length3:17
LabelTamla
SongwriterEd Cobb
ProducersHal Davis, Marc Gordon
Brenda Holloway singles chronology
"I Ain't Gonna Take You Back"
(1964)		 "Every Little Bit Hurts"
(1964)		 "I'll Always Love You"
(1964)
"Every Little Bit Hurts"
Single by Spencer Davis Group
from the album Their First LP
B-side"It Hurts Me So"
Released5 February 1965
GenrePop, rock
LabelFontana
SongwriterEd Cobb
ProducerChris Blackwell
Spencer Davis Group singles chronology
"I Can't Stand It"
(1964)		 "Every Little Bit Hurts"
(1965)		 "Strong Love"
(1965)

"Every Little Bit Hurts" was originally a 1964 hit single for Motown soul singer Brenda Holloway, written by Ed Cobb and featured on Holloway's album of the same name.

Background

Though Brenda Holloway was against recording the song again (she had recorded it in 1962 for Del-Fi before signing with Motown), she reluctantly recorded the song and the label released it in the summer of 1964 on Tamla. "Every Little Bit Hurts" was a big hit peaking at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, and became one of Holloway's trademark singles.

Covers

Chart history

Brenda Holloway
Chart (1964) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 13
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 18
Spencer Davis Group
Chart (1965–1967) Peak
position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)9
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)2
UK Singles (Official Charts)41
Graeme "Shirley" Strachan

Weekly charts

Chart (1976–1977) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report) 3

Year-end charts

Chart (1976) Position
Australia (Kent Music Report) 37
Chart (1977) Position
Australia (Kent Music Report) 74

Alicia Keys version

"Every Little Bit Hurts"
Promotional single by Alicia Keys
from the album Unplugged
Released2006
RecordedJuly 14, 2005
StudioBrooklyn Academy of Music (New York)
GenreSoul
Length4:01
LabelJ
SongwriterEd Cobb
Music video
"Every Little Bit Hurts" on YouTube

"Every Little Bit Hurts" was covered by American singer-songwriter Alicia Keys during her MTV Unplugged performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on July 14, 2005. The performance was subsequently included on Keys' live album Unplugged (2005), and released as a promotional single.

Critical reception

Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine felt that Keys treated the song "like [a] vocal audition[...] and not the blank canvas[...] of an interpretive artist".

Music video

Directed by Justin Francis, the video premiered on January 17, 2006 on BET's 106 & Park.

Track listing

  1. "Every Little Bit Hurts" (Radio Edit) – 3:58
  2. "Every Little Bit Hurts" (Call Out Hook) – 0:10
  3. "Every Little Bit Hurts" (Radio Edit) (MP3 format) – 3:58

References

  1. ↑ Marsh, Dave (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. Plume. p. 599. ISBN 0-452-26305-0.
  2. ↑ The Complete Motown Singles Vol 4: 1964 [CD liner notes]. New York: Hip-O Select/Motown/Universal Records.
  3. ↑ Every Little Bit Hurts. Songs With Earlier Histories.com. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  4. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 289.
  5. ↑ Every Little Bit Hurts at AllMusic
  6. 1 2 "Spencer Davis Group Songs and Albums | Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  7. 1 2 "Top Singles. Volume 8, Issue 3 (1967-09-16)". RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  8. 1 2 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book Ltd. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  9. ↑ Every Little Bit Hurts. Covers. Second Hand Songs. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  10. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  11. ↑ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, June 20, 1964". Archived from the original on February 7, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Adult Contemporary. Volume 8, Issue 1 (1967-09-02)". RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  13. ↑ "National Top 100 Singles for 1976". Kent Music Report. 27 December 1976. Retrieved 15 January 2022 – via Imgur.
  14. ↑ "Kent Music Report No 183 – 26 December 1977 > National Top 100 Singles for 1977". Kent Music Report. Retrieved 13 June 2021 – via Imgur.com.
  15. ↑ Cinquemani, Sal (2005-10-13). "Alicia Keys: Unplugged". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2015-10-24.
  16. ↑ Every Little Bit Hurts (US promotional CD single liner notes). Alicia Keys. J Records. 2005. 82876-75977-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

Every Little Bit Hurts at Discogs (list of releases) Edit this at Wikidata