I Never Meant To Hurt You

Written by Laura Nyro in 1967, famously covered by Barbra Streisand, I first fell in love with the song aged 12, when I heard Barbara Cook sing it in concert in London. It was the introspection, the honesty and the vulnerability, coupled with the extraordinary musicianship of this song that had me hooked from the off; no guile or artifice, just pure heartache. This is a new arrangement by myself & Joe Atkins, recorded at Real World Studios and produced by Chris Porter with the wonderful Chris Cameron on keys. I like to think that if this song was a city it would be Laura’s own home town of New York, with its smokey sidewalks and its lonely bars, and across the whole of our track, Steve Walker’s plaintive trumpet sings whilst Rich Pardy’s heartbroken saxophone cries, fusing together the very different worlds of jazz, folk and blues. Our track is a celebration of a great writer and singer who influenced the influencers but who spurned success and died tragically young.

Composer Laura Nyro
Publisher Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Arrangement Liza Pulman / Joseph Atkins
Orchestrations Joseph Atkins
Musicians
Piano Chris Cameron
Drums Danny Cummings
Bass Tom Mark
Alto Sax Richard Pardy
Trumpet Steve Walker
Guitar Andy Taylor-Vebel

Recording Real World Studios
Date 2019
Producer Chris Porter
Exec Producer Steve Hutt for Highfield Productions
© 2020 Highfield Productions