Skip to main content

TL;DR:

  • The Monkees’ songwriter worked on a song by Linda Ronstadt.
  • He wrote the song with two other music industry songwriters.
  • Ronstadt’s version of the track was not the original version.
Linda Ronstadt holding a microphone
Linda Ronstadt | Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images

The Monkees‘ songs sound very different from Linda Ronstadt’s songs. Despite this, one of Ronstadt’s hits was co-written by one of The Monkees’ regular songwriters. The songwriter said he was “desperate” to contribute to the track.

A few words inspired a Linda Ronstadt song that was co-written by 1 of The Monkees’ songwriters

Bobby Hart co-wrote some of The Monkees’ most famous songs, including “Last Train to Clarksville,” “(Theme from) The Monkees,” “I Wanna Be Free,” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone.” In his 2015 book Psychedelic Bubble Gum: Boyce & Hart, The Monkees, and Turning Mayhem Into Miracles, Hart discussed working with professional songwriters Bobby Weinstein and Teddy Randazzo on “Hurt So Bad,” a song by Little Anthony and the Imperials that Ronstadt covered.

“Weinstein suggested some titles, and when Teddy heard the words ‘hurts so bad,’ he began to sing a melody, crafting an arrangement on the piano as he went,” Hart wrote. “My two co-writers were in perfect sync and began trading lyric line contributions: ‘I know you — don’t know what I’m going through … ‘”

The Monkees’ songwriter ‘blurted out’ lyrics to ‘Hurt So Bad’ because he ‘desperately’ wanted to contribute to the song

Hart recalled how the song evolved. “It was shaping up to be a story of lost love and the pain of running into an old flame again on the street,” he wrote. ‘By the time the first chorus was ending, ‘Let me tell you that it hurts so bad to see you again,’ I was trying desperately to contribute. 

“After ‘to see you again,’ I blurted out, ‘like needles and pins,'” Hart continued. “It was a rhyme where no rhyme was needed. The chorus was already complete, and we were heading back into a new verse. But Teddy liked the tactile description and added a little descending melody line to accommodate the extra words.” Hart called the finished version of “Hurt So Bad” an “epic.”

Related

The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz Wanted to Cry While Singing This Beatles Song from ‘The White Album’

How Linda Ronstadt’s ‘Hurt So Bad’ and its parent album performed on the charts in the United States

Ronstadt’s version of “Hurt So Bad” reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. It stayed on the chart for 14 weeks.

Ronstadt released her rendition of “Hurt So Bad” on the album Mad Love. The album hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200, remaining on the chart for 36 weeks. Mad Love became Ronstadt’s biggest solo album of the 1980s.

“Hurt So Bad” was a hit for Ronstadt and it has an interesting connection to The Monkees.

Best in Entertainment