Medley met his singing partner Bobby Hatfield while attending California State University, Long Beach. The pair began singing as a duo in 1962. Their first single was "Little Latin Lupe Lu"; their first hit was "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", produced by Phil Spector in 1964. Follow-up hits included "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration" and "Unchained Melody".
The duo broke up in 1968, but returned with another hit in 1974, "Rock And Roll Heaven", and they continued to appear together until Hatfield's death in November 2003. The Righteous Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2003 by one of their biggest fans, Billy Joel.
Medley also had a moderately successful solo career. In 1987 his duet with Jennifer Warnes, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life", was included on the Dirty Dancing motion picture soundtrack album and the single reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also won a 1988 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Hurt City
Bill Medley Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Plays an ol flat top guitar
And any song for a quarter
And right now his playing ours
The cars go fast on these freeways
There's so much glass and chrome
Everything in the world, is at my fingertips
And all I want to do is come home
[Chorus:]
An I don't want to live in hurt city no more
There's a hole in my ceiling, an tears on my floor
Ain't nothing in the world worth leaving you for
I don't want to live in hurt city no more
Oh no
Last night I talked to your sister hmm
She said that you were gone
She said I'll just hang if you call here again
Why don't you leave her alone
Well
I just wanted to ask you
How much should one heart ache
An why must I pay for the rest of my life
For one foolish mistake, I want to know
(Repeat Chorus)
(Half Verse /Bridge)
Lord these cars go fast on these freeways
There's so much glass and chrome
There's millions of people all around me
But all I want to do is come home
Let me come home
(Repeat Chorus)
(Vamp)
I don't want to live in hurt city
Ain't nothing in the world
I don't want to live in hurt city
Oh no, no more
Oh I don't want to live
I don't want to live in hurt city
Wo no more
In the song "Hurt City", Bill Medley sings about being in a modern, fast-paced city where everything is readily available at his fingertips, but he still feels unfulfilled. He starts the song by describing a street musician playing his guitar and taking requests for a quarter. The lyrics "and right now he's playing ours" suggest that the song being played is about the singer's personal woes. He then goes on to describe the city as full of fast cars, sleek highways, and endless glass and chrome buildings, but inspite of all this, he still has an unhealed wound in his heart that he cannot seem to shake off.
The chorus highlights his yearning to leave the hurt city and come home. The bridge stresses the same feeling of finding himself surrounded by millions of people, but still feeling incredibly lonely. The verse following the bridge talks about the singer's attempt to contact his lover through her sister but is unsuccessful. The last couplet of the verse brings forth the question of why the singer should have to live with the consequences of an error in his judgment throughout his life. The song ends on a final plea to leave hurt city and have a better life.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a man downstairs on the corner
There is a street musician playing an old guitar on the corner
Plays an ol flat top guitar
He plays an acoustic guitar
And any song for a quarter
He plays any song requested for a small fee
And right now his playing ours
He is playing a song for us at the moment
The cars go fast on these freeways
Cars move very quickly on the highways
There's so much glass and chrome
The city is full of buildings and cars with shiny metallic surfaces
Everything in the world, is at my fingertips
All resources and possibilities seem to be available in the city
And all I want to do is come home
Despite everything, the artist wants to go back home
An I don't want to live in hurt city no more
The artist does not want to continue living in a painful situation anymore
There's a hole in my ceiling, an tears on my floor
The artist's living conditions are poor, with a leaking ceiling and cry marks on the floor
Ain't nothing in the world worth leaving you for
There is nothing more valuable or important to the singer than their relationship
Oh no
Expresses a sense of worry or despair
Last night I talked to your sister hmm
The singer spoke with their partner's sibling recently
She said that you were gone
The partner is no longer in the picture
She said I'll just hang if you call here again
The singer is being rejected and troubled by their partner's family
Why don't you leave her alone
The partner's family or friends are advising the artist to stop bothering their loved one
I just wanted to ask you
The artist wants to have a conversation with their partner
How much should one heart ache
The singer is questioning the amount of emotional pain they are experiencing
An why must I pay for the rest of my life
The singer feels like they are stuck with the consequences of their past mistake for the rest of their life
For one foolish mistake, I want to know
The artist is regretting a past mistake and is seeking answers
(Repeat Chorus)
Repeats the chorus, expressing the singer's desire to leave the hurtful city and stay with their beloved
(Half Verse /Bridge)
A transitional section of the song
Lord these cars go fast on these freeways
Repeats an earlier line, emphasizing the high speed of cars in the city
There's millions of people all around me
The city is full of people, but the artist is still lonely
But all I want to do is come home
Emphasizing the singer's strong desire to go back home
Let me come home
A plea to return to a place of comfort and safety
(Repeat Chorus)
Repeats the chorus again
(Vamp)
A repeated musical section at the end of the song
I don't want to live in hurt city
The artist does not want to live in a place of emotional pain
Ain't nothing in the world
There is nothing more valuable than the singer's relationship
I don't want to live in hurt city
Repeats the earlier line
Oh no, no more
A final expression of the artist's hope to leave the painful city behind
Oh I don't want to live
Repeats the earlier line
I don't want to live in hurt city
A repeated statement of the song's main theme
Wo no more
A concluding expression of the singer's strong desire to move on from the hurtful city
Contributed by David H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.