Cruel to be Kind
February 15th, 2012 | Published in general
This is my current song obsession. I like other Nick Lowe songs but it’s really hard to top Cruel to be Kind as a perfect little nugget of pop music. Exactly as long as it needs to be, and even though he had a reputation to just bash out songs, this is perfectly crafted. Listen to the rising and falling bass lines, the spot-on harmonies, and the melody that pushes at the envelope of Americana pop just enough to propel into the next hook. A 3:26 lesson in pop songcraft.