Only Love Can Break a Heart

"Only Love Can Break a Heart"
Single by Gene Pitney
from the album Only Love Can Break a Heart
B-side	"If I Didn't Have a Dime (To Play the Jukebox)"
Released	September 1962
Format	7" (45 rpm)
Genre	Pop
Length	2:50
Label	Musicor Records
Writer(s)	Hal David, Burt Bacharach
Producer(s)	Wally Gold, Aaron Schroeder

"Only Love Can Break a Heart" is the title of a popular song from 1962, performed by the American singer-songwriter Gene Pitney. The song was written by Hal David (words) and Burt Bacharach (music) and appears on Pitney's second album Only Love Can Break a Heart.

Pitney had enjoyed some success as a songwriter prior to breaking through as a performer in his own right. He wrote the songs "Hello Mary Lou", "Rubber Ball", and "He's a Rebel", the latter a number-one Billboard Hot 100 hit for The Crystals in 1962. Ironically, Pitney's success as a singer was beginning at this time, and "He's a Rebel" kept "Only Love Can Break a Heart" from topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it spent one week at No. 2. The song also spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart in October and November 1962, while reaching No. 2 on New Zealand's "Lever Hit Parade".

Country music singers Sonny James and Kenny Dale also recorded cover versions of "Only Love Can Break a Heart". Both versions reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart during the 1970s. James' version peaked at No. 2 in March 1972, held out of the top by Freddie Hart's "My Hang-Up Is You." As a result, "Only Love ..." just missed continuing James' record-breaking streak of consecutive number-one singles, which had reached 16. Dale's version of the song reached number seven on the Hot Country Singles chart in 1979 and it was his biggest hit on the country charts.

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Wikipedia