Only a Fool Breaks His Own Heart

Last updated

"Only a Fool Breaks His Own Heart" is a song that was composed in Brooklyn New York in 1964 by Norman Bergen and Shelly Coburn in response to a request by United Artists Music who was looking for songs for British duo Chad & Jeremy. Going for a British sound, Bergen started with a chord progression based on The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and Coburn added a lyric. The writers did not receive the usual $25 or $50 advance, but the company did pay for a one-hour demo recording which took place with studio players including Frank Owens (piano) and Kenny Karen (vocals). The session ended early so producer Ken Lauber spent the final ten minutes changing the original uptempo concept to a ballad approach. He asked Karen to do his best Jerry Butler impression, and asked Owens to play the way he had on the Dionne Warwick records (that piano part is still copied today on many of the newer versions of the song.) The next day, at Coburn’s suggestion, the writers took the demo to Hy Weiss at Old Town Records for jazz singer Arthur Prysock. Old Town used the demo track, added Prysock’s vocal plus strings arranged by Mort Garson, and it became the next single.

Contents

Success Overseas

The record received ‘easy listening’ airplay but not much in the way of sales. However, the song took off overseas through cover versions in the Caribbean Islands including #1 calypso singer Mighty Sparrow, and a Finnish translation by Juha Vainio as “Muisto vain jää", a top five hit performed by Jouko and Kosti. In 1968, the song was included on Tom Jones' #1 LP Delilah .

The version by The Mighty Sparrow with Byron Lee & the Dragonaires charted in 1969 in the UK as well as in the Netherlands, where it re-entered the charts in 1977, spending a staggering 27 weeks on the charts and peaking at #2 in the spring of 1978. [1] During its charts stay, in March 1978, “Only a Fool” appeared in Billboard Magazine's International Charts section at #8 in the Netherlands [2] by Mighty Sparrow, released by United Artists Records. The record company’s Dutch affiliate had not realized the incorrect writer and publisher information was edited on the label: the song had been credited to Slinger Francisco, Mighty Sparrow’s real name. The situation was later corrected and the record would become the #3 hit of 1978.

The song has since become a true standard in Finland as “Muisto vain jää”, with recent versions by Harri Marstio, Kari Tapio, Pekka Tiilikainen and Beatmakers, The Heartbreakers, and inclusion in the soundtrack of the 2009 film Rööperi (aka Hellsinki ).

It has also been translated into Dutch as "Zonder Gevoel" by Jan Rot, Swedish as "Bara ett fån gör så mot sig själv" by Moneybrother (Anders Wendin), and German as "Noch einen Tag und es ist aus".

Current activity

There are now more than 80 versions of the song with new recordings all the time. In some ways it has come full circle. In recent years it was recorded by Dion DiMucci who is from the Bronx, the first by a New York singer since 1965; it was recently performed at Brooklyn College in New York by the Mighty Sparrow, a few blocks from where the song was first written. It has been recorded in most styles including pop, blues, r&b, c&w, rock, and reggae, and can be found on internet lists from ‘Words of Inspiration’ to ‘The Most Depressing Songs of All Time’, and is even mentioned on a website devoted to vampires.

In addition to the aforementioned mistake in the Netherlands, quite a few singer-songwriters have been credited with the composition, some by their own doing, and some through the assumptions of others. Arthur Prysock admitted that he had told people he wrote the song, but corrected things before a Los Angeles audience in 1988. One recording artist apparently told the president of a record label that he had written a ‘great new song’ and then played his version of “Only a Fool…” over the phone.

Recorded versions

Related Research Articles

Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. It was developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Stranger Cole, Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods and with many skinheads.

Slinger Francisco ORTT CMT OBE, better known as Mighty Sparrow, is a Grenadian calypso vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist. Known as the "Calypso King of the World", he is one of the best-known and most successful calypsonians. He has won Trinidad's Carnival Road March competition eight times, Calypso King/Monarch eight times, and has twice won the Calypso King of Kings title.

Hortense Ellis was a reggae musician, and the younger sister of fellow artist Alton Ellis.

Boris Gardiner is a Jamaican singer, songwriter and bass guitarist. He was a member of several groups during the 1960s before recording as a solo artist and having hit singles with "Elizabethan Reggae", "I Wanna Wake Up with You" and "You're Everything to Me".

"Again" is a popular song with music by Lionel Newman and words by Dorcas Cochran. It first appeared in the movie Road House (1948), sung by Ida Lupino. An instrumental rendition was used in the movie Pickup on South Street (1953). By 1949, versions by Vic Damone, Doris Day, Tommy Dorsey, Gordon Jenkins, Vera Lynn, Art Mooney, and Mel Tormé all made the Billboard charts.

Quinn the Eskimo (Mighty Quinn) Song by Bob Dylan

"Quinn the Eskimo " is a folk-rock song written by Bob Dylan and first recorded during The Basement Tapes sessions in 1967. The song was recorded in December 1967 and first released in January 1968 as "Mighty Quinn" by the British band Manfred Mann and became a great success. It has been recorded by a number of performers, often under the "Mighty Quinn" title.

"The Deck of Cards" is a recitation song that was popularized in the fields of both country and popular music, first during the late 1940s. This song, which relates the tale of a young American soldier arrested and charged with playing cards during a church service, first became a hit in the U.S. in 1948 by country musician T. Texas Tyler.

Jamaican Gold is an independent record label from Netherlands specialized in Jamaican music reissues.

Marcia Griffiths

Marcia Llyneth Griffiths is a Jamaican singer. One reviewer described her by noting "she is known primarily for her strong, smooth-as-mousse love songs and captivating live performances".

Byron Lee and the Dragonaires are a Jamaican ska, calypso and soca band. The band played a crucial pioneering role in bringing Caribbean music to the world. Byron Lee died on 4 November 2008, after suffering from cancer for a sustained period.

Everybodys Somebodys Fool

"Everybody's Somebody's Fool" is a song written by Jack Keller and Howard Greenfield that was a No. 1 hit for Connie Francis in 1960. A polka-style version in German, "Die Liebe ist ein seltsames Spiel", was the first German single recorded and released by Connie Francis, and it reached No. 1 on the single chart in 1960 in West Germany.

Barry Biggs is a Jamaican reggae singer, best known in the UK for his cover of the Blue Magic song, "Sideshow", which got to number 3 in the UK Singles Chart in 1977.

"Born Free" is a popular song with music by John Barry, and lyrics by Don Black. It was written for the 1966 film of the same name and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Byron Lee, OJ, CD, born Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee, was a Jamaican musician, record producer, and entrepreneur, best known for his work as leader of Byron Lee and the Dragonaires.

<i>Dr. No</i> (soundtrack) 1963 film score by Monty Norman / John Barry

Dr. No is the original soundtrack for the first James Bond film of the same name.

Chain of Fools 1967 single by Aretha Franklin

"Chain of Fools" is a song written by Don Covay. Aretha Franklin first released the song as a single in 1967 and subsequently it appeared on many of her albums.

You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) 1979 single by Sylvester

"You Make Me Feel " is a 1978 single by American disco/R&B singer Sylvester. The song was written by James Wirrick and Sylvester. It appears on Sylvester's 1978 album, Step II. Music critic Robert Christgau has said the song is "one of those surges of sustained, stylized energy that is disco's great gift to pop music".

Cynthia Richards is a Jamaican singer whose career began in the 1960s.

Norman Bergen is an American pianist, arranger, record producer, band leader, musical director, and vocalist.

The Mighty Pope

The Mighty Pope is a Jamaican-Canadian singer.

References

  1. ↑ Chart history of "Only a fool" credited to The Mighty Sparrow with Byron Lee & the Dragonaires in the Dutch Top 40; the record spent 30 weeks on the hitlist, however not in a single run: it entered in June 1969, spending just 3 weeks on the charts peaking at #31, and upon re-entering in the last weekly chart of 1977, it spent another staggering 27 weeks in the charts, peaking at #2 for 5 consecutive weeks in the spring of 1978. It was rewarded by a golden disc for its huge sales.
  2. ↑ Only a Top 10 was published.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.