"Love or Let Me Be Lonely" is a pop song recorded by the soul group The Friends of Distinction and released as a single in early 1970. The song was a multi-format success, peaking in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 at #6[2] on May 1, 1970 and at #13 on the R&B chart.[3] On the Adult Contemporary singles charts, "Love or Let Me Be Lonely" went to #9.[4]
The song is ranked as the 63rd biggest hit of 1970.[5]
The song returned to the charts in the summer of 1982 in a version by American singer-songwriter Paul Davis as the third and final single from his 1981 album Cool Night (Davis' seventh, final, and breakthrough album), which reached number 40 on the Hot 100[12] and number 11 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart. This would go on to be Davis' final single as the lead artist and last single overall for 5 years until he was featured on Marie Osmond's "You're Still New to Me", Davis would retire from music altogether in 1988 and died in 2008.[13] As with all tracks on Cool Night, Davis' version was co-produced by Davis himself and keyboardist Ed Seay.
In August 1970, the song was adapted into French as "La chasse à l'homme" (meaning "The manhunt") by Gilles Thibault and recorded by French pop singer Sylvie Vartan, who released her version as a non-album single, 5 months after the release of the original Friends of Distinction version.[16][17] Vartan's version peaked at Number 17 on the French Belgian charts on October 24, 1970.[18]