B-side "Love Can Run Faster" Format Vinyl Length 3:10 | Released July 1979 Genre Rock, hard rock Label Island Records | |
"Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)" is a 1978 song, written and originally recorded by Moon Martin, and later notoriously sung a year later by Robert Palmer. The song became one of Palmer's hit songs in his career.
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Background
Moon Martin originally recorded the song in 1978. Martin's record label Capitol Records released the song in the United Kingdom and Spain as a stand-alone vinyl single but inserted the song into the United States release of Martin's album Shots from a Cold Nightmare. His original recording did not enter the music charts.
Robert Palmer version
A year later the song appeared on Robert Palmer's 1979 album Secrets. In Palmer's home country, the United Kingdom, the song debuted and peaked at #61 on the UK Singles Chart on 7 July 1979.
The version became more successful in other countries. In the United States, Palmer's version reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, #10 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #1 on the Canadian RPM chart in 1979. The Palmer version was remixed with heavier guitars and drums for his greatest hits collection Addictions: Volume 1. The song was nominated for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards. In the Netherlands, it reached #2 on the Dutch Top 40 chart on 4 August 1979, five weeks after its debut (7 July) on the chart. In New Zealand, it reached #20 in the Top 40 Singles Chart on the week of 7 October 1979, five weeks after its debut at #43 on the chart (9 September).
The song begins with a stanza written in typical 8 bar blues structure & chord sequence, and then progresses to a 10 bar blues chorus. Other uses of mixing bar structure include "Bird Dog", recorded by The Everly Brothers and written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant in 1957, which has a 12 bar blues stanza and an 8 bar blues chorus. "Bad Case of Loving You", however, is an example of mixing the rarer 10 bar blues structure in charted country compositions.
Billboard reviewer Ed Harrison praised Palmer's rendition as "the kind of intelligent rock tune."
Other covers
Mexican-American singer Tatiana recorded a Spanish-language cover version in 1994 for her album Un Alma Desnuda and was released as the second single from the album. A cover version of the chorus also is part of the theme of the American syndicated series The Doctors.