Songoftheday - I've got nothin' to be ashamed of...

Juice Newton - "Love's Been A Little Bit Hard On Me"

from the album Quiet Lies (1982)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (two weeks)

weeks in the top-40: 13

Today's Song of the Day is by country-pop artist Juice Newton. Born Judy Kay Newton in Lakehurst, New Jersey, she started out with a band called Silver Spur. After going solo, Newton penned hits like "Sweet Sweet Smile", which the Carpenters' had one of their biggest country hits with.

But it wasn't until Newton's third solo album, Juice, that propelled her to A-list status in the early 80's giving her three consecutive top-10 singles, including her biggest, the #2 "Queen Of Hearts". For the first single, "Love's Been a Little Hard On Me", she went more in a mellow rock-ish direction, and while it gave her another top-10 (her last), it only reached #30 on the country chart. The accompanying video worked off a pun of the title....

The song would be nominated for a Grammy in the female pop category.

And here's a version by the songwriter Gary Burr, with Carole King on backup..

Up tomorrow: Nickelback's ancestral predecessor mourns a heartbreak.