Kathy Kirby - The Way of Love (1965)

An intensely powerful rendering of a song about the travails of love. Should have been a smash hit for Kathy, but it only charted at #88 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1965 (her only song to chart in the US) and #22 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Criminally, and despite many other stellar singles to come, she had no further hits in the UK either following her previous single, "I Belong". Although the most famous version of the song was that recorded by Cher (charting at #7 Hot 100 and #2 Adult Contemporary) in 1972, "The Way of Love" has an interesting history and instead of paraphrasing it myself, I'll excerpt part of the entry for the song from "Wikipedia": Originally written by Jack Diéval with French lyrics by Michel Rivgauche the song was introduced as 'J'ai le mal de toi'. It was written for the singer Frédérica in 1960, who took part that year in the national elimination rounds of France for the Eurovision Song Contest. This song was not selected and was evidently not recorded by Frédérica. Subsequently the song was performed on Belgium's BRT radio station by vocalist Lily Castel, singing it in the "Musik Ohne Grenzen" competition; Castel was backed by Fernand Terby's orchestra with Jacques Dieval providing piano accompaniment. The first evident recording of "J'ai le mal de toi" was made in 1964 by Colette Deréal. In June 1965 the English rendering entitled "The Way of Love" was issued in the UK as a single by Kathy Kirby; lyricist Al Stillman had previously provided the lyrics for Kirby's English language hit version of "Malagueña" entitled "You're the One". Recorded by Kirby with her regular collaborators: musical director Ivor Raymonde and producer Peter Sullivan, "The Way of Love" failed to reach the UK Top 50 but became a regional hit in the United States reaching #88 nationally. In 1966 a new French version, also by lyricist Michel Rivgauche, was recorded by Dalida as "Parlez-Moi De Lui" ("Tell me about him"). This rendition slightly alters the original melody. This adaption was covered by Françoise Hardy in 1969. Written by Al Stillman & Jacques Dieval (as Jack Dieval). B-side is "Oh Darling How I Miss You" which is just as good, and which I've also posted.