''"Breakfast at Sweethearts"'' is a song from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Cold Chisel Cold Chisel are an Australian pub rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1973 by mainstay members Ian Moss on guitar and vocals, Steve Prestwich on drums and Don Walker on piano and keyboards. They were soon joined by Jimmy Barnes (at the ...

. Written by keyboardist Don Walker, it was released as a single in 1979, peaking at number 63 on the Australian charts. It appeared as a track on the album of the same name.

Details

"Sweethearts" was a cafè in the middle of

Kings Cross, Sydney Kings Cross is an inner-city locality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 2 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is bounded by the subu ...

in the 1970s and 1980s, "cramped between strip clubs and sex shops, patronised by the hookers, pimps and drug dealers and the lost and lonely debris of the night," where author Don Walker would frequently eat. He said, "The original Sweethearts Cafe is where McDonald's is now. That got demolished and Sweethearts moved over the road to where Krave Espresso Bar is now. That lasted for quite a few years, until the late 1980s, early '90s." Walker continued to live in Kings Cross for decades afterwards, and often wrote about the area. Author

Louis Nowra Mark Doyle, better known by his stage name Louis Nowra, (born 12 December 1950) is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist. He is best known as one of Australia's leading playwrights. His works have been performed by all o ...

said the song was, "the most immediately identifiable song about the Cross." Elsewhere, it was noted the song, "wasn't a cliched, red-light story of the night, it painted Kings Cross in its morning-time, aftermath rhythms." Elsewhere, Walker said the establishment was very small and run by a Yugoslavian family. "It had the reputation that when Nureyev was in Sydney, he would always have his coffee at Sweethearts and stuff like that. There was a beautiful middle-aged woman who used to serve coffee there and never said anything and she was reputed to be the girlfriend of quite a dangerous guy," he claimed. The song first appeared in performances in 1978, after the chorus was written on an organ while recording demos for the album.

Charts

References

{{Cold Chisel Cold Chisel songs 1979 singles 1978 songs Warner Music Group singles Songs written by Don Walker (musician) Song recordings produced by Richard Batchens