"Let the Heartaches Begin" is a song performed by British singer

Long John Baldry John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including t ...

. The single was a number one hit in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

on 22 November 1967 where it stayed for two weeks. It was the second of two consecutive UK number one hits for the writing partnership of

Tony Macaulay Tony Macaulay (born Anthony Gordon Instone; 21 April 1944) is an English author, composer for musical theatre, and songwriter. He has won the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors Award twice as 'Songwriter of the Year' (1970 an ...

and John Macleod. The title of the B-side song is "Annabella (Who Flies To Me When She's Lonely)".

Composition and recording

An early version of the song was written by

a few years before it was recorded. Long John Baldry was a blues singer but did not have much chart success for ten years, and in 1967 he moved from

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhoo ...

to pursue a more pop-oriented recording career. Macaulay, who had just written a hit song with John Macleod, "

Baby Now That I've Found You "Baby, Now That I've Found You" is a song written by Tony Macaulay and John MacLeod, and performed by the Foundations. Part of the song was written in the same bar of a Soho tavern where Karl Marx is supposed to have written ''Das Kapital''. The ...

", for

The Foundations The Foundations were a British soul band (m. 1967–1970). The group's background was: West Indian, White British, and Sri Lankan. Their 1967 debut single "Baby Now That I've Found You" reached number one in the UK and Canada, and number ele ...

, then met with Baldry to write songs for him. Their initial attempts writing together failed to produce a satisfactory song until Macaulay remembered "Let the Heartaches Begin" that he had previously written. Macleod then joined them and he wrote the second verse of the song, as well as adding a chord or two. Macaulay was not certain that the song would be successful, and credited Macleod's input for turning the song into the hit that it would become. The song was recorded first with a live orchestra, with orchestral arrangement by Mcleod. Baldry then added the vocal, although as a bluesman he was not used to singing the notes exactly as written on the bar line. He drank brandy copiously while he was recording the vocal, which contributed to the seemingly emotional quality of the sound. Macaulay said of the recording session: "Long John Baldry sings it extraordinarily well, thanks to three-quarters of a bottle of

Courvoisier Courvoisier () is a brand of cognac, with production based in the town of Jarnac in the Charente region of France. It is the youngest and smallest of the "big four" cognac houses (the others are Hennessy, Rémy Martin, and Martell). Courvo ...

". The song was mixed five times in one day.

Chart performance

The song reached top 10 the second week it was released, and on November 22, 1967 it reached No. 1 after Baldry appeared on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'', replacing as No. 1 "Baby Now That I've Found You" that was also written by Macaulay and Mcleod. The song also charted in the United States, peaking at No. 88 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

the week of 20 January 1968,"Let the Heartaches Begin" by Long John Baldry – ''Billboard'' Hot 100.
Retrieved 7 January 2019 and in the Republic of Ireland, where the song reached No. 2 in the charts.

Charts

References

{{authority control UK Singles Chart number-one singles Songs written by Tony Macaulay Songs written by John Macleod (songwriter) Pye Records singles 1967 songs 1967 singles