"All I Could Do Was Cry" is a doo-wop/rhythm and blues single recorded in 1960, and released in March that year by the singer Etta James.
[1] It was written for James by Chess songwriter Billy Davis, Berry Gordy and his sister Gwen Gordy.
[2] James would later re-record the song in the early 1990s.
to be inspired by James' former boyfriend Harvey Fuqua dating Davis' former girlfriend, who was Gwen.
Gordy and Fuqua later married the same year the song was recorded, which likely added to the tension in James' bluesy vocals.