"You're Breakin' My Heart" is a song by American singer-songwriter

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ove ...

, appearing on his 1972 album '' Son of Schmilsson''. It is notorious for the opening line, "You're breakin' my heart / You're tearin' it apart / So fuck you".

Recording

The song was written by Nilsson about the then-recent separation from his wife Diane; the lyrics contain self-blame for the break-up, as well as several unpleasant diatribes towards his former partner. Biographer Alyn Shipton speculated that at least one line was a coded reference to Nilsson's relationship with his close friend

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

. During recording, Nilsson had begun to drink heavily and started to record more experimental and controversial material; producer

Richard Perry Richard Van Perry (born June 18, 1942) is an American record producer. He began as a performer in his adolescence while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn. After graduating from college he rose through the late 1960s and early 1970 ...

urged him to reconsider and try to record something more in the vein of the earlier hit album ''

Nilsson Schmilsson ''Nilsson Schmilsson'' is the seventh studio album by American singer Harry Nilsson, released by RCA Records in November 1971. It was Nilsson's most commercially successful work, producing three of his best-known songs. Among these was the numbe ...

'', but was overruled. Nilsson wanted to release the track as a single, but this was clearly impractical, for the profanity in the lyrics would never be broadcast on mainstream radio.

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

was apprehensive about even putting the track on the album, but it did eventually make the final pressing. In Britain, the song was also issued as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of the album's first single, "Spaceman".

Personnel

The backing track features

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

and a horn section comprising

Bobby Keys Robert Henry Keys (December 18, 1943 – December 2, 2014) was an American saxophonist who performed with other musicians as a member of several horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by the Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Harry Ni ...

, Jim Price and

Klaus Voormann Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann (born 29 April 1938) is a German artist, musician, and record producer. Voormann was the bassist for Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, and performed as a session musician on a host of recordings, including "You're So V ...

. The other musicians on the recording are

Peter Frampton Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English musician and songwriter who was a member of the rock bands Humble Pie and the Herd. As a solo artist, he has released several albums, including his major breakthrough album, the live ...

(on electric guitar),

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably ...

(piano) and Barry Morgan (drums), while Voormann also played bass guitar.

Legacy

The song is listed in the book ''The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era'', where it is simply described as "terse and to the point". It was used in the 1983 teenage comedy ''

Private School Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

''. In 1995, former

J. Geils Band ''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...

frontman

Peter Wolf Peter Wolf (born March 7, 1946) is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist of the J. Geils Band from 1967 to 1983 and as a solo artist. Early life and education Peter Wolf was born Peter Walter Blankfield on March 7, 1946 in The ...

covered the song on the tribute album '' For the Love of Harry: Everybody Sings Nilsson''. In 2021,

The Melvins ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

covered the song for their album '' Working With God'', retitling it "1 Fuck You".Liner notes to ''Working With God'', Ipecac Records, 2021.

References

{{Harry Nilsson Harry Nilsson songs 1972 songs Songs written by Harry Nilsson Song recordings produced by Richard Perry