Can't Get Used to Losing You



"Can't Get Used to Losing You" is a song written by Jerome "Doc" Pomus and Mort Shuman, first made popular by Andy Williams in a 1963 record release, which was a #2 hit in both the US and the UK. Twenty years later, British band The Beat took a reggae re-arrangement of the song to #3 in the UK.

Andy Williams recording
"Can't Get Used to Losing You" was recorded by Andy Williams in December 1962 and released in 1963. It peaked at number 2 in both the US and the UK. In the US, the single spent four weeks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (behind "He's So Fine" by the Chiffons and "I Will Follow Him" by Little Peggy March) and topped the Easy Listening chart for four weeks, peaking on both in April 1963. Williams' recording peaked at #1 on the Cashbox charts. Williams' vocals on the song's verses were double-tracked in unison, and overdubbed on the choruses so the listener hears Andy singing harmony with himself. The song appears on an album entitled Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests in North America and Can't Get Used to Losing You and Other Requests in the United Kingdom.

Other 1960s and 1970s covers
In 1963 Patti Page recorded a version of the song, with strings background, as part of the Say Wonderful Things album. In the same year Paul Anka sang the song on the album Song I Wish I'd Written; Julie London performed the song on The Wonderful World of Julie London. Bobby Rydell did a versions the same year. In 1965 Chad and Jeremy's cover appeared on their Before and After.

Daddy and the Israelites performed a reggae version in 1970.

The Beat recording
The Beat (known as The English Beat in the USA) originally recorded their cover of "Can't Get Used to Losing You" as a track on their 1980 album I Just Can't Stop It. It was not released as a single until three years later, just as The Beat announced that they were breaking up. The single was remixed slightly from the album track, and became the band's fifth and final top ten UK hit, and their highest charting single release ever.

Other recordings
This song has been covered by Amen Corner, Madeline Bell, Julie London, Patti Page, Alton Ellis, Skeeter Davis, Bobby Darin, Paul Anka, Bobby Rydell, Renegade Soundwave, Percy Faith and Chad & Jeremy.

This song has been covered in French by Pierre Lalonde in 1963, "Je ne peux pas t'oublier". Italian pop singer John Foster also covered the song in 1963 as "Eri Un Abitudine".

Beyoncé heavily sampled the song in the single "Hold Up" from her 2016 album Lemonade.

This song was used as the closing song of season 1 episode 8 2008 in the FX television show Sons of Anarchy.