You're Breakin' My Heart
"You're Breakin' My Heart" is a song by American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson, appearing on his 1972 album Son of Schmilsson. It is notorious for the opening line, "You're breakin' my heart / You're tearin' it apart / So fuck you".[1]
Recording
The song was written by Nilsson about the then-recent separation from his wife Diane; the lyrics contain self-blame for the break-up, as well as several unpleasant diatribes towards his former partner. Biographer Alyn Shipton speculated that at least one line was a coded reference to Nilsson's relationship with his close friend Ringo Starr.[2]
During recording, Nilsson had begun to drink heavily and started to record more experimental and controversial material; producer
Personnel
The backing track features George Harrison on slide guitar[4] and a horn section comprising Bobby Keys, Jim Price and Klaus Voormann.[2] The other musicians on the recording are Peter Frampton (on electric guitar), Nicky Hopkins (piano) and Barry Morgan (drums), while Voormann also played bass guitar.[5]
Legacy
The song is listed in the book The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era, where it is simply described as "terse and to the point".[6] It was used in the 1983 teenage comedy Private School.[7]
In 1995, former
In 2021,
References
- ^ a b c Matthew Greenwald. "Song review: You're Breaking My Heart". AllMusic. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-199-75657-5.
- ISBN 0-345-25680-8.
- ISBN 978-0-946-71950-1.
- ISBN 0-345-25680-8.
- ISBN 978-1-135-46296-3.
- ^ "Harry Nilsson - biography". hollywood.com. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
- ^ Liner notes to Working With God, Ipecac Records, 2021.