You Always Hurt the One You Love

"You Always Hurt the One You Love" is a pop standard, words by Allan Roberts and music by Doris Fisher. It has been performed by many artists over the years, such as The Mills Brothers, Connie Francis (#13 on the UK Singles Chart in 1959), Fats Domino, The Impressions, Frankie Laine, Richard Chamberlain (as the b-side of his single "Rome Will Never Leave You"), Peggy Lee, Maureen Evans, Michael Bublé, Kay Starr, Hank Thompson, Ringo Starr (in his 1970 album Sentimental Journey), and Clarence "Frogman" Henry, whose version became a top twenty hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961. It was also popular in a parody version by Spike Jones. The song was performed by Ryan Gosling and featured prominently in the 2010 film Blue Valentine.

The Mills Brothers' version

The recording by The Mills Brothers was released by Decca Records as catalog number 18599. It first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on June 22, 1944 and lasted 20 weeks on the chart, peaking at #1. The Mills Brothers version also reached number five on the Harlem Hit Parade.

The flip side, "Till Then," also charted in the top 10, making the record a two-sided hit.

Spike Jones version

The Jones parody of the song is essentially the straight song with most of the parody being in the way the song is presented, in three parts:

• A slow, deliberate rendering of the first half of the song, vocal by Carl Grayson, in a style imitating The Ink Spots.
• A spoken rendering of the second half of the song, by Red Ingle, with elaborations ("honey child, honey doll, honey lamb, honey pie") in a style reminiscent of The Ink Spots's bass singer Orville "Hoppy" Jones.
• A frantically-paced reiteration of the full song, in "Dixieland" style, with vocal again by Carl Grayson, accompanied by shotguns and other typical Jonesian sound effects.

Lyrics

You always hurt the one you love,

The one you shouldn't hurt at all.

You always take the sweetest rose,

And crush it till the petals fall.

You always break the kindest heart,

With a hasty word you can't recall.

So, if I broke your heart last night,

It's because I love you most of all.

References

Preceded by "Swinging on a Star" by Bing Crosby	U.S. Billboard Best Sellers in Stores number-one single October 7, 1944	Succeeded by "I'll Walk Alone" by Dinah Shore
Preceded by "I'll Walk Alone" by Dinah Shore	U.S. Billboard Best Sellers in Stores number-one single October 21, 1944–October 28, 1944	Succeeded by "I'll Walk Alone" by Dinah Shore
Preceded by "I'll Walk Alone" by Dinah Shore	U.S. Billboard Best Sellers in Stores number-one single November 25, 1944–December 2, 1944	Succeeded by "I'm Making Believe" by The Ink Spots and Ella Fitzgerald