"How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" is a song released by the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...

on 28 May 1971, with B-side " Country Woman" (a

Maurice Gibb Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician and songwriter. He achieved global fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb wer ...

composition). It was written by Barry and Robin Gibb and was the first single on the group's 1971 album '' Trafalgar''. It was their first US No. 1 single and also reached No. 1 in '' Cashbox'' magazine for two weeks. In the US

Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the com ...

issued both mono and stereo versions of the song on each side as a promo single. "Country Woman" was the B-side here too. The song appears in the 2013 film '' American Hustle'' and on its soundtrack. It also provided the title to director Frank Marshall's 2020 documentary film '' The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart''.

Writing and recording

Barry and Robin Gibb wrote the song in August 1970 with " Lonely Days" when the Gibb brothers had reconvened following a period of break-up and alienation. "Robin came to my place," says Barry, "and that afternoon we wrote 'How Can You Mend a Broken Heart' and that obviously was a link to us coming back together. We called Maurice, finished the song, went to the studio and once again, with only 'Broken Heart' as a basic structure, we went in to the studio with that and an idea for 'Lonely Days', and those two songs were recorded that night". They originally offered the song to

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

, but ended up recording it themselves, although Williams did later cover the song on his album ''You've Got a Friend''. Barry also explains, "We might imitate a certain group, later on, the group will pick up on the song and say that suits us."

possibly had a hand in the writing of the song, although it is officially credited to Barry and Robin Gibb alone. The 2009 release ''Ultimate Bee Gees'' officially credited Maurice for the first time as co-writer of the song, for both the "Ultimate" CD and DVD, and it was credited to the moniker Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The single version was recorded on 28 January 1971 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, the same day as " We Lost the Road", "When Do I", "If I Were the Sky", "Bring Out the Thoughts in Me" and " Ellan Vannin". The group's later song " My World" followed along the same musical ideas on this song. Robin Gibb's remarked on the song, "The whole thing took about an hour to complete. The song reached the number one spot, to our great satisfaction."

Reception

The song was sung live for the first time in 1971, in a performance that was notable as drummer Geoff Bridgford's first appearance with the band. Although failing to chart on the UK Singles Chart, the song became the Bee Gees' first US number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and also reached number four on the ''Billboard''

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the No. 5 song for 1971. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' described the song as being "a slower, almost country-ballad styled performance which links an intricate melody segment with more powerful thrusts to give the track top forty impetus." '' Record World'' called it a "lovely tune

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

can't miss." In Spain, it was released under the title "Cómo Puedes Arreglar Un Corazón Destrozado". Following the release of "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart", the song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo Or Group along with George Harrison's " My Sweet Lord" and others. It was performed as part of a medley on '' The Midnight Special'' on 10 October 1975, in Japan on the Japanese TV special ''Love Sounds'', and on the '' Mr. Natural'' tour in 1974. A live version recorded on November 17 and 18, 1989, at the National Tennis Centre,

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...

, was used for the benefit album '' Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal''. Between 1997 and 1999, the song was performed on the ''One Night Only'' tour as part of a medley. It was last performed by the Bee Gees in 2001. Barry Gibb re-recorded the song as a duet with

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her Optimism, optimistic and Idealism, idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including Rock music, rock, Po ...

for his 2020 solo album, '' Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1.''

Personnel

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Along with his younger fraternal twin brothers, Robin Gibb, Robin and Maurice Gibb, Maurice, he rose to global fame as a member ...

– lead and harmony vocals, rhythm guitar * Robin Gibb – lead and harmony vocals *

– harmony vocals, bass guitar, piano, rhythm guitar,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

* Geoff Bridgford – drums * Bill Shepherd – orchestral and strings arrangement

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Bee Gees version

Al Green version

Other versions

;1970s *1971: Johnny Mathis recorded a version of this song for his LP '' You've Got a Friend''. *1972: Al Green recorded the song for his album '' Let's Stay Together'' and the song also appeared on the soundtracks of 1997's '' Good Will Hunting'', 1999's '' The Virgin Suicides'', 1999's '' Notting Hill'' and 2010's '' The Book of Eli''. Green's cover was also featured in season 4 episode 2 of the American television series ''

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

''. Green's version was released as a single in France on Cream Records. In 2008, Green's version was remade into a duet with Joss Stone for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the film adaptation of ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...

'', with her vocals overdubbed onto the track. *1973:

Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...

covered the song on her 1973 album '' Half-Breed''. *1977: Florence Henderson performed the song during a medley on an episode of '' The Brady Bunch Variety Hour''. ;1980s *1984: Single release by Deirdre and Louise Rutkowski (later of 4AD supergroup

This Mortal Coil This Mortal Coil were a British music collective led by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British record label 4AD. Although Watts-Russell and John Fryer were the only two official members, the band's recorded output featured a large rotat ...

) for their debut "In An Ideal World" (1984) with their first band Sunset Gun. *1985: Mexican Group ''El Tiempo'' recorded a

Spanish-language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

version called "Cómo curar un corazón" on their album ''Cada día más'' ;1990s *1991: Teddy Pendergrass recorded a version of this song on his LP '' Truly Blessed''. ;2000s *2003: Michael Bublé recorded this song, with Barry Gibb performing backup vocals, on his '' self-titled album''. Bublé's version reached number 22 on the US ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart. It was Buble's first single. *2003: American Idol's second winner Ruben Studdard covered the song on his debut album '' Soulful''. *2005: Mari Wilson, English pop and jazz singer, included a cover on her album ''Dolled Up''. *2005: Steve Brookstein recorded it on his number-one album '' Heart and Soul''. *2006: The song is covered in Julio Iglesias's album '' Romantic Classics''. *2007: Barry Manilow's version appears on his album '' The Greatest Songs of the Seventies''. *2009:

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

singer-pianist Diana Krall covered this song on her album '' Quiet Nights''. *2009:

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

recorded a version for his album '' Soulbook'', though it was left off the final track listing. ;2010s *2014: Eef Barzelay recorded a version for a fundraising CD titled ''More Super Hits of the Seventies'' for freeform radio station WFMU. *2017: Chris Stills recorded a version for the feature film '' I, Tonya''. *2020: Kahil El'Zabar recorded an instrumental version titled "How Can We Mend Broken Heart" for his 2020 album ''America the Beautiful''.

References

Literature

*Melinda Bilyeu, Hector Cook, and Andrew Môn Hughes, with Joseph Brennan and Mark Crohan. ''The Ultimate Biography of the Bee Gees''. London: Omnibus, 2001. *Unpublished list of tape reels, Universal/Polygram, viewed in 2000 by Joseph Brennan.

External links

* Allmusic entry
Superseventies.com entry

Gibb Songs
{{DEFAULTSORT:How Can You Mend a Broken Heart 1971 singles 1971 songs Atco Records singles Polydor Records singles Songs written by Barry Gibb Songs written by Robin Gibb Bee Gees songs Al Green songs Diana Krall songs Joss Stone songs 2003 debut singles Michael Bublé songs Cher songs Andy Williams songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Robert Stigwood Song recordings produced by Barry Gibb Song recordings produced by Robin Gibb Song recordings produced by Maurice Gibb Songs about loneliness Songs about heartache