Cruel to Be Kind

"Cruel to Be Kind" is a song co-written by Nick Lowe and his former bandmate Ian Gomm while the pair were in Brinsley Schwarz. The song only appeared as the 1978 B-side of Lowe's "Little Hitler" single until Columbia Records convinced him to rerecord it as a potential single for his 1979 album Labour of Lust. Musically, the song was inspired by "The Love I Lost" by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, an influence reflected in more recent performances of the song. The title comes from a quote from Hamlet, which reads "I must be cruel only to be kind."

Released as a single in 1979, the song peaked at number 12 on the charts of Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. In the US, where it is one of Lowe's most well-known works, it remains his only single to hit the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, whereas in the UK "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" remains his biggest hit, having reached number 7 on the UK singles chart a year earlier. The song was accompanied by a music video featuring Lowe's marriage to Carlene Carter.