You Always Hurt the One You Love

"You Always Hurt the One You Love" is a pop standard, written by Allan Roberts and 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 Buble, Kay Starr, Hank Thompson, 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 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. cite book
last = Whitburn
first = Joel
authorlink = Joel Whitburn
title = Top Pop Records 1940-1955
publisher = Record Research
location = Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin
year = 1973 ]

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

pike 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 suggestive of Amos and Andy.
*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.

References