| Breaking Up Is Hard to Do | |
| Cover: | Breaking-up-is-hard-to-do-neil-sedaka.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Neil Sedaka |
| Album: | Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits |
| B-Side: | As Long as I Live |
| Released: | June 1962 |
| Genre: | Brill Building, doo-wop |
| Length: | 2:18 |
| Label: | RCA Victor |
| Prev Title: | King of Clowns |
| Prev Year: | 1962 |
| Next Title: | Next Door to an Angel |
| Next Year: | 1962 |
"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" is a song recorded by Neil Sedaka, co-written by Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. Sedaka recorded this song twice, in 1962 and 1975, in two significantly different arrangements, and it is considered to be his signature song.[1] Between 1970 and 1975, it was a top-40 hit three separate times for three separate artists: Lenny Welch, The Partridge Family and Sedaka's second version. The song was also adapted into multiple languages, most notably in Italian and French.
In his daily mini-concert on June 12, 2020, Sedaka recalled that the song's iconic scat intro ("come-a come-a down, dooby doo down down") was a result of him and Greenfield being unable to come up with a lyric for that section of the song and Sedaka improvising a vocalise, which they liked so much that they kept it in the finished product.[2]
Described by AllMusic as "two minutes and sixteen seconds of pure pop magic,"[1] "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" hit No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 11, 1962, and peaked at No.12 on the Hot R&B Sides chart.[3] The single was a solid hit all over the world, reaching No. 7 in the UK, sometimes with the text translated into foreign languages. For example, the Italian version was called "Tu non lo sai" ("You Don't Know") and was recorded by Sedaka himself.
On this version, background vocals on the song are performed by the female group the Cookies.
The personnel on the original recording session included: Al Casamenti, Art Ryerson, and Charles Macy on guitar; Ernie Hayes on piano; George Duvivier on bass; Gary Chester on drums; Artie Kaplan on saxophone; George Devens and Phil Kraus on percussion; Seymour Barab and Morris Stonzek on cellos; and David Gulliet, Joseph H. Haber, Harry Kohon, David Sackson, and Louis Stone on violins.
| Chart (1962) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Argentina | 3 |
| Australia | 19 |
| Canada (CHUM Hit Parade)[4] | 1 |
| New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade)[5] | 1 |
| UK[6] | 7 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[7] | 1 |
| U.S. Cash Box Top 100[8] | 1 |
| Chart (1962) | Rank |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[9] | 8 |
| U.S. Cash Box [10] | 32 |
| Breaking Up Is Hard to Do | |
| Cover: | The Happenings Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | the Happenings |
| Album: | The Happenings Golden Hits |
| B-Side: | Anyway |
| Released: | June 1968 |
| Recorded: | 1968 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Length: | 2:20 |
| Label: | B.T. Puppy |
| Prev Title: | Sealed with a Kiss |
| Prev Year: | 1968 |
| Next Title: | Crazy Rhythm |
| Next Year: | 1968 |
In 1968, American sunshine pop and cover band The Happenings covered the song for their 1968 album, "The Happenings Golden Hits", in which the cover was a minor hit. Released in June 1968 on B.T. Puppy Records, the song reached Number 67 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Number 56 on the Canadian RPM charts.[11] [12]
| Breaking Up Is Hard to Do | |
| Cover: | Lenny welch breaking up is hard to do.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Lenny Welch |
| B-Side: | Get Mommy To Come Back Home |
| Released: | January 1970 |
| Recorded: | 1969 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Length: | 2:20 |
| Label: | CUR |
| Prev Title: | Halfway To Your Arms |
| Prev Year: | 1968 |
| Next Title: | To Be Loved |
| Next Year: | 1970 |
Though it was originally an uptempo song, Lenny Welch (best known for his 1963 hit version of "Since I Fell for You") re-recorded the song, reimagined as a torch ballad. Welch had approached Sedaka to see if he had any songs in his repertoire that fit Welch's style; as most of the songs Sedaka had written with his usual partner Howard Greenfield were upbeat pop songs, he did not, but playing around on the piano, he discovered "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" worked well as a slow ballad, so he wrote a new introduction and offered it to Welch.[13] It peaked at #34 on the US Billboard charts and #8 on the easy listening chart in January 1970.[14] It was Welch's third and final top-40 pop hit, and his first since 1964.
| Breaking Up Is Hard to Do | |
| Cover: | Breaking_Up_Is_Hard_to_Do_-_Neil_Sedaka_1975.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Neil Sedaka |
| Album: | Overnight Success (UK) The Hungry Years (US) |
| Released: | December 1975 |
| Genre: | Soft rock[15] |
| Length: | 3:14 |
| Label: | Rocket (US); Polydor (Int'l) |
| Producer: | Neil Sedaka, Robert Appere |
| Prev Title: | Bad Blood |
| Prev Year: | 1975 |
| Next Title: | Love in the Shadows |
| Next Year: | 1976 |
Five years after Welch's successful cover, Sedaka, in the midst of a comeback in his native United States after several years in career decline and a detour through the United Kingdom, re-recorded his signature song in the same style that Welch used. The song begins with the first few bars of Sedaka's 1962 recording, before fading and segueing into the slow version. Sedaka's slow version peaked at No.8 in February 1976 and went to No.1 on the Easy Listening chart.[16] It was one of only a few times an artist made the Billboard Top Ten with two different versions of the same song.[17] Sedaka has credited Welch's song "Since I Fell for You" as well as The Showmen and Dinah Washington as his inspiration for the new rendition.
| Chart (1975–1976) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia KMR[18] | 48 | |
| Canada RPM Top Singles[19] | 1 | |
| Canada RPM Adult Contemporary[20] | 1 | |
| US Billboard Hot 100[21] | 8 | |
| US Billboard Adult Contemporary | 1 | |
| US Cash Box Top 100 | 7 |
| Chart (1976) | Rank | |
|---|---|---|
| Canada RPM Top Singles[22] | 30 | |
| US Billboard Hot 100[23] | 91 | |
| US Billboard Easy Listening[24] | 18 | |
| US Cash Box[25] | 75 |
| Breaking Up Is Hard to Do | |
| Cover: | Breaking_Up_Is_Hard_to_Do_-_Partridge_Family.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | The Partridge Family |
| Album: | At Home with Their Greatest Hits |
| B-Side: | I'm Here, You're Here |
| Released: | June 1972 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Label: | Bell |
| Producer: | Wes Farrell |
| Prev Title: | Am I Losing You |
| Prev Year: | 1972 |
| Next Title: | Looking Through the Eyes of Love |
| Next Year: | 1972 |
Apart from Sedaka's own reworking of the song, by far the most successful cover of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" was done by the Partridge Family in 1972. While only a medium hit in North America, their version reached No.3 in both the UK and Australia. Their version was never released in stereo until the 2013 Bell/Legacy release, "Playlist: The Very Best of the Partridge Family".
| Chart (1972) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (KMR) | 3 | |
| Canada RPM Top Singles[26] | 18 | |
| New Zealand[27] | 11 | |
| South Africa[28] | 19 | |
| UK Singles[29] | 3 | |
| US Billboard Hot 100[30] | 28 | |
| US Billboard Adult Contemporary[31] | 30 | |
| US Cash Box Top 100[32] | 25 |
| Chart (1972) | Rank | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 18 | |
| UK[33] | 23 | |
| US (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual)[34] | 197 |
| Moi je pense encore à toi | |
| Cover: | Claude François Moi je pense encore à toi.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Claude François |
| Album: | Dis-lui |
| Language: | French |
| English Title: | I Still Think of You |
| Released: | October 1962 |
| Recorded: | Summer–fall 1962 |
| Genre: | Chanson, yé-yé, rock and roll |
| Length: | 2:20 |
| Label: | Fontana |
| Next Title: | Le Nabout Twist |
| Next Year: | 1962 |
| Moi je pense encore à toi | |
| Cover: | Sylvie vartan Moi je pense encore à toi.jpg |
| Alt: | Black and white photograph of French pop singer Sylvie Vartan holding a white cat |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Sylvie Vartan |
| Album: | Sylvie |
| B-Side: | M'amuser |
| Released: | November 1962 |
| Recorded: | Late 1962 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Length: | 2:18 |
| Label: | RCA Victor |
| Prev Title: | Le Loco-motion |
| Prev Year: | 1962 |
| Next Title: | Chance |
| Next Year: | 1963 |
"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" was adapted into French in late 1962 by André Salvet and Georges Aber as "Moi je pense encore à toi" (meaning "I Still Think of You"). The French adaption was first recorded and released by singer Claude François in October 1962 but failed to chart, however, one month later, a cover by French singer Sylvie Vartan would follow and would reach Number 12 on the French Belgian charts in early December 1962 and would be later featured on Vartan's debut album, Sylvie, around the same time.[35]
. Joel Whitburn . 1993 . Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993 . Record Research . 253.
