Make It Easy On Yourself

Label

Smash Records

Genre

Baroque pop

Media Type

45s

Composer(s)

Burt Bacharach;Hal David

Entered Chart

Oct 16, 1965

Peak Date

Dec 4, 1965

Released

August 1965 (UK)September 1965 (US)

Recorded

June 1965 at Philips studios in Marble Arch

Catalog #

Smash 2009

B-Side

Doin' The Jerk

Original Artist

Jerry Butler

The most successful pop version of "Make It Easy on Yourself" was the 1965 single by the Walker Brothers which reached No. 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100 that December,[9] having been a No. 1 hit in the UK in September 1965. It was the opening song on the group's début studio album, Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers, and as the opening song on side 2 of their début US album, Introducing the Walker Brothers. Although based in London, the Walker Brothers were familiar with the original 1962 hit by Jerry Butler, which had been overlooked in its concurrent UK release, and group member John Maus suggested that the Walker Brothers record it. The track was recorded in a June 1965 session at the Philips Studios near Marble Arch in London, arranged by Ivor Raymonde, who conducted his orchestra, with production credited to Philips' head of A&R, Johnny Franz. Session personnel included Vic Flick and Big Jim Sullivan on guitars, and Ronnie Verrell on drums. The recording was in the style of Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound", and included a wordless chorus. It ended with a long cadence chord in the orchestra, while the Butler version ended in a fade-out during the coda. In most territories, the single was backed with "But I Do". In the US, Smash Records released a second pressing of the single in October 1965, with Scott Walker's debut composition "Doin' the Jerk" as the B-side. The up-tempo novelty dance track had already appeared as the B-side of the group's debut single, "Pretty Girls Everywhere". In 2001, the Walker Brothers' "Make It Easy On Yourself" was sampled extensively by the Northern Irish band, Ash, on their single, "Candy"

Oh, breaking up
Is so very hard to do
If you really love him
And there's nothing I can do
Don't try to spare my feelings
Just tell me that we're through
And make it easy on yourself
Make it easy on yourself
'Cause breaking up
Is so very hard to do
And if the way I hold you, can't compare to his caress
No words of consolation will make me miss you less
My darling, if this is goodbye, I just know I'm gonna cry
So run to him before you start crying, too
And make it easy on yourself
Make it easy on yourself
'Cause breaking up
Is so very hard to do
Oh baby, it's so hard to do
So make it easy on yourself
Make it easy on yourself
'Cause breaking up
Is so very hard to do