Released March 1963 Genre Easy listening Label Columbia 42674 | Recorded December 1962 Length 2:20 | |
B-side "Days of Wine and Roses" | ||
"Can't Get Used to Losing You" is a song written by Jerome "Doc" Pomus and Mort Shuman, first made popular by Andy Williams in a 1963 record release, which was a #2 hit in both the US and the UK. Twenty years later, British band The Beat took a reggae re-arrangement of the song to #3 in the UK.
Contents
Andy Williams recording
"Can't Get Used to Losing You" was recorded by Andy Williams in December 1962 and released in 1963. It peaked at number 2 in both the US and the UK. In the US, the single spent four weeks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (behind "He's So Fine" by the Chiffons and "I Will Follow Him" by Little Peggy March) and topped the Easy Listening chart for four weeks, peaking on both in April 1963. Williams' recording peaked at #1 on the Cashbox charts. Williams' vocals on the song's verses were double-tracked in unison, and overdubbed on the choruses so the listener hears Andy singing harmony with himself. The song appears on an album entitled Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests in North America and Can't Get Used to Losing You and Other Requests in the United Kingdom.
The Beat recording
The Beat (known as The English Beat in the USA) originally recorded their cover of "Can't Get Used to Losing You" as a track on their 1980 album I Just Can't Stop It. It was not released as a single until three years later, just as The Beat announced that they were breaking up. The single was remixed slightly from the album track, and became the band's fifth and final top ten UK hit, and their highest charting single release ever.
Other recordings
This song has been covered by Amen Corner, Madeline Bell, Julie London, Patti Page, Alton Ellis, Skeeter Davis, Bobby Darin, Paul Anka, Bobby Rydell, Renegade Soundwave and Chad & Jeremy.
This song has been covered in French by Pierre Lalonde in 1963, "Je ne peux pas t'oublier".
Beyoncé heavily sampled the song in a single titled Hold Up from her 2016 album Lemonade.