| Breakdown | |
| Cover: | TP_-_Breakdown_single.png |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers |
| Album: | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers |
| B-Side: |
|
| Recorded: | 1976 |
| Studio: | Shelter Studios (Hollywood) |
| Label: | Shelter |
| Producer: | Denny Cordell |
| Next Title: | Anything That's Rock 'n' Roll |
| Next Year: | 1977 |
"Breakdown" is the first single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' self-titled debut album. It became a Top 40 hit in the United States and Canada.[1]
Played live, Petty sometimes incorporated "Breakdown" with Ray Charles's "Hit the Road Jack". A live recording of this variation appears on The Live Anthology.
"Breakdown" was a song written and recorded for the band's debut album. Initially, the song had lead guitarist Mike Campbell with a distinct guitar lick being played only near the end of the song. While playing it back one night, Tom Petty and Dwight Twilley, a friend of Phil Seymour, were in the studio, and Twilley enjoyed it. He suggested that the lick should be used throughout the song, and Petty obliged. At 2 AM, he gathered the Heartbreakers to join him in re-recording the song. Their final take was seven to eight minutes long, but it was pared down to 2 minutes and 39 seconds on the album.[2] Guests on the song's recording include guitarist Jeff Jourard, a common collaborator with the band in their early days, and Phil Seymour, who sings backing vocals.
Record World called it a "slow, sultry rocker, dominated by guitar, with Petty's distinctive vocal again standing out."[3]
A. "Breakdown" – 2:39
B. "The Wild One, Forever" – 3:01
A. "Breakdown" – 2:39
B. "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)" – 3:54
A. "Breakdown" – 2:42
B. "Luna" – 3:59
A. "Breakdown" – 2:42
B. "Strangered in the Night" – 3:32
| Chart (1977–78) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100[4] | 40 | |
| US Cash Box Top 100[5] | 33 | |
| Canada RPM Top Singles[6] | 40 |
| Breakdown | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Grace Jones |
| Album: | Warm Leatherette |
| B-Side: | Warm Leatherette |
| Released: | October 1980 |
| Genre: | Reggae |
| Length: | 5:30 (album/12" version) 3:00 (single version) |
| Label: | Island |
| Prev Title: | The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game |
| Prev Year: | 1980 |
| Next Title: | Demolition Man |
| Next Year: | 1981 |
Jamaican singer Grace Jones recorded a reggae-inflected version of the song on her 1980 album Warm Leatherette. Petty wrote a third verse of the song specifically for Jones to record; "It's OK if you must go / I'll understand if you don't / You say goodbye right now / I'll still survive somehow / Why should we let this drag on?"[7] The song was edited from its full, 5:30 album version to a 3-minute-long track on single release. It was released as a US-only single in July 1980 but did not chart.
A. "Breakdown" – 3:00
B. "Warm Leatherette" – 4:24
A. "Breakdown" – 5:30
B1. "Breakdown" (edit) – 3:10
B2. "Warm Leatherette" – 4:24
A. "Breakdown" (stereo edit) – 3:00
B. "Breakdown" (mono edit) – 3:00