Cruel To Be Kind
	Produced by Nick Lowe
	Released on July 1979
	UK CHART POSITION #12 . . . US CHART POSITION #12 (charted July 28, 1979 for 15 weeks)
	Find it at GEMM
3-11018 wo. picture sleeve [high resolution scan]

H ard to believe that “Cruel To Be Kind” was the third single from Labour’s labor, following “American Squirm” and the in-all-ways inferior “Cracking Up.” (Who doused the idea of releasing “Dose of You” as a single?) As the A side is identical to the elpee version, the real attraction for me was the nonalbum B side, “Endless Grey Ribbon.” It’s a spare song, sort of like Nick Lowe’s take on Johnny Cash, about a man driving home (the endless grey ribbon is the road, in case you’re wondering) thinking about the sad state of his romantic affairs. Unfortunately, I’ve made it sound better than it is. A good candidate for an album of early outtakes and also-rans (Labour of Least?), but you can live without it. However, it does segue nicely into today’s English language lesson: the difference between GREY and GRAY. Just as LABOUR is the accepted English spelling of America’s LABOR, GREY is the English spelling of the preferred American GRAY. Earl Grey tea. The gray area in the geneva convention. You get the idea.

TRACK LISTING

1. CRUEL TO BE KIND    (Nick Lowe)    3:26
2. ENDLESS GREY RIBBON    (Nick Lowe)    3:15
   
   US Columbia Hall of Fame 7-inch single
   
1. SO IT GOES
2. CRUEL TO BE KIND
   
   CAN Columbia Hall of Fame 7-inch single
   
1. CRUEL TO BE KIND
2. SWITCHBOARD SUSAN

CREDITS

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