You know that old movie cliché, the one where the leading man grabs the girl and kisses her. At first she tries to push him away but eventually gives in because it's what she really wants. Well The girl of "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)" perpetuates that myth, of the man knowing what's good for the woman, but also takes it a step further by having her act like she loves it when he hits her.

Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote this creepy tune and, according to songfacts.com, were "...inspired to write it after Little Eva(their babysitter) told them about her relationship with an abusive boyfriend who beat her almost on a regular basis. When they asked her why she tolerated the abuse, she answered that it symbolized how much he loved her."
The Crystals apparently hated the song but recorded it and released it as a single because Phil Spector liked it. Allmusic.com says "“He Hit Me” might have passed at least as satire. But Spector showed no sign of appreciating that, nor did he feel any need to. No less than the song’s writers, he was not preaching, he was merely documenting.Unfortunately, very few people agreed with him. While radio play was initially encouraging, the complaints quickly began pouring in and, with the general public itself apparently preparing to rise up in protest against the record, igniting one of those periodic feeding frenzies to which society is so oddly prone, Spector pulled the single, ironically just as it prepared to enter the chart. Controversy can encourage sales, after all, as well as cripple them."
Phil Spector