Every Little Bit Hurts

Updated on Dec 28, 2023

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Format 7" single Vinyl single Genre Soul Label Tamla		Recorded 1964; Los Angeles Length 3:17 Writer(s) Ed Cobb

"Every Little Bit Hurts" was originally a 1964 hit single for Motown soul singer Brenda Holloway, written by Ed Cobb.

Though she was against recording the song again (she recorded it a couple of years before signing with Motown), she reluctantly recorded the song and the label released it in the summer of the year. Becoming a big hit peaking at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song would become one of Holloway's trademark singles and would spark remakes by acts like Small Faces and the Spencer Davis Group (with lead vocals by Steve Winwood).

Covers

Released in October 1976, it was covered by Graeme "Shirley" Strachan (lead singer of Skyhooks) as his debut solo release and peaked at No. 3 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Charts.

Alicia Keys version

"Every Little Bit Hurts" is a cover version by American recording artist Alicia Keys from her live album, Unplugged (2005). It was released as the album's second and last single in 2006. It failed to enter the US and international charts.

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".