The Flirtations - Nothing but a Heartache (1968)

According to Wikipedia the song is "a dense, dynamic, earth-shattering melodrama produced by Englishman [and sung by a] South Carolina trio", it never broke the top 30 but spent nearly a year in the charts.

I'm not sure why this song struck me so much, but it grabbed me by the collar, looked directly into my eyes and told me "Nothing but a heartache every day!" and I completely and utterly believed it. It was like a god speaking to me, it hard that sort of authority to it. This is your classic 1960s 'Motown' song: lush brass production, unearthly vocals and a enough of soul to be dangerous in the wrong hands.

It is under 3 minutes and the song is just repeated to reach that length, so you have just over a minute of music looped. There is little build-up, it starts with 10 seconds of brass and piano and then we're at the main chorus, by 30 seconds in we've returned to that chorus - and I'm standing up and cheering for it! I'm not sure why I'm so vulnerable to this song - maybe work/back pain has dropped my defense this week?

Play it loud enough and it becomes an analgesic.