“Cuts Like A Knife” by Bryan Adams

"Cuts Like a Knife" is the title song of Bryan Adams' third album, and when A&M put it out as the record's second single in May 1983 it gave the Canadian rocker a hook as sharp as its name. That hook was a happy accident. Adams, by his own cheerful admission a champion mumbler, was jamming the chord changes with co-writer Jim Vallance with the tape rolling, and when they ran it back, one of his mumbles sounded like the phrase. They grabbed it and sang it over and over.

Adams and Bob Clearmountain produced it, and Clearmountain engineered and mixed it with a clean, punchy sheen. Keith Scott takes the guitar solo, Mickey Curry and Dave Taylor lock down drums and bass, Tommy Mandel adds organ, and a gang of backing singers, Adams and Clearmountain among them, stacks up the harmonies. It climbed to number 15 on the Hot 100.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.