How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?" is a song released by the Bee Gees in 1971. The song had been written by Barry and Robin Gibb in August 1970, when the Gibb brothers had reconvened following a period of break-up and alienation. They said that they originally offered it to Andy Williams, but ultimately the Bee Gees recorded it themselves and included it on their 1971 album, Trafalgar.

The song was recorded on January 28, 1971, in London. The instrumental track is: Barry Gibb (guitar), Maurice Gibb (guitar, piano, bass guitar), possibly Alan Kendall (guitar), and Geoff Bridgeford (drums), with strings and woodwinds arranged and conducted by Bill Shepherd. The vocals are by Robin (solo in the opening verse), Barry (solo in choruses and second verse), and Maurice (joins Barry and Robin in harmony on choruses). It was released as a single in May 1971 ahead of the album. The B side was a non-album song "Country Woman", written by Maurice Gibb, recorded April 6 by Maurice (guitar, piano, bass guitar), Kendall (guitar), Bridgeford (drums), and Shepherd (string and horn arrangement).

Al Green covered the track on his 1972 album Let's Stay Together. The song was also covered by Michael Bublé in 2003, with Barry Gibb performing back-up vocals, on his self-titled album Michael Bublé. Bublé's version reached the Top 30 of the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart.

The song failed to chart in the UK Singles Chart, but it was the Bee Gees first U.S. Number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

[edit] Alternate versions

An alternate version appeared on the first UK pressing of the 2001 compilation Bee Gees: Their Greatest Hits - The Record. It has different vocal, piano, and bass guitar tracks. It is very noticeable that Barry, not Robin, sings the first verse, and that Barry's sigh does not appear before each chorus. This was a tape library mistake, both this and the correct reel being marked as best. The differences illustrate how the Bee Gees built up a recording track by track. These unsatisfactory vocal, piano, and bass tracks would be re-done to make the officially released version.^{[citation needed]}

Teddy Pendergrass recorded a version of this song on his "Truly Blessed" LP released in 1991.

[edit] External links

[edit] Sources

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Unpublished list of tape reels, Universal/Polygram, viewed in 2000 by Joseph Brennan.

Preceded by "You've Got a Friend" by James Taylor	Billboard Hot 100 number one single August 7, 1971	Succeeded by "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney