"Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" is one of those titles that has made it's way into the subconscious lexicon of song titles, much like the opening line of Bobby Lewis's "Tossin' and Turnin'." Prior to this analysis, I was familiar with the name, but not with the tune, though my wife belted it out with surprising accuracy on a cold ask.
The early 60's were an interesting time in music where influences from the 40' and 50's were still relevant, but waning in the rock and roll assault that was underway. Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield's doo-wop number riffs on sounds of the past, pepped up with call and responses and longing pleas for reunited love. The poppy hit, released a few days before July 4th, 1962, gained quick traction and shot to no.1 about a month later. [1]
What's most impressive is this song's massive shelf life, thanks to a different version in 1975. The slower, jazzier reboot, with an alternate intro, reached no.8 on the Hot 100, a fairly unique accomplishment for any song. The charm of this 1962 version is undeniable though, and brings a few common threads of no.1 hits through the decades to light.
This is a great example of classic pop song form. If you exclude the intro and outro, we see AABABA, an extended version of a 32 bar form typical in jazz. The intro and outro bookend the form with a doo-wop treatment of the verse (A). Like many songs covered in this project, this form has a few twists, notably the extra measure at the end of the chorus (B) that leads back to the verses. The final verse goes the opposite way and cuts a measure off to lead into the outro. We get a full 8 bars of the outro before it quickly fades.
When labeling this tune, a few issues came to mind. I rehashed my inner struggle with "refrain," which is often used to describe a repeated section like the chorus, or a single line that reappears. The refrain here is certainly "breaking up is hard to do," as it pops up in each section. I also questioned the label of "chorus." Usually, the chorus is a repeated section that contains the hook of the song and ends with closed harmony, resolving to the tonic. The chorus here doesn't really feel like a chorus. It harmonically functions like a B section (with a key change), per the simple form. I ended up going with "chorus" only because it repeats the same lyrics and harmony each time.
I started to research the intricacies of form and came across this paper about song form that raised some interesting questions. Pages 3-6 offer explanations on basic terminologies with insights I haven't thought of. It's worth checking out the first few pages. [2]
Chord Progressions
Keeping in step with classic song form, we get a classic chord progression in the doo-wop style. Borrowed from jazz, this progression is found across multiple styles of music. The intro reveals this variation:
B G#min / E / -%2%- / -%2%- / B E / B I vi / IV / / / I IV / I
I expect to see the V chord leading back to I every time, but if you listen closely, it doesn't happen. The vocal melody undoubtedly moves there, but the rhythm section doesn't follow. I'm sure most people don't notice, but it is a cool auditory illusion, in a way.
The verse takes the above progression and varies it slightly:
B G#min / E / -%2%- / B F#/A# / G#min / C#7 F#7 / B
I vi / IV / / I V / vi /II (V/V) V / I
The above progression is even varied further in the first verse only, giving an entire measure to both C#7 and F#7 before getting back to B in verse two.
In a nutshell, I-vi-IV-V progressions are very common in popular music. "Breaking Up..." takes that and gives it a slight twist by not fully getting to the V chord and adding in the ii-V-I, going to V/V instead of ii for the strong pull to V and I.
The chorus section uses more familiar progressions, transposed across a few different keys. The 8 measure section plays out to be:
ii V / (of bVII) / I / (bVII of B) / ii V / (of bVI) / I (bVI of B) / V/B
He starts in Amaj with a series of ii-V's. Amaj changes to Amin to set up ii-V's in G. After getting to G, a half step resolution to F#7 brings us back home to B. This whole progression is pulled directly from countless jazz standards and works well as a contrast to the A section, venturing to new keys while maintaining a similar character.
During the chorus, an acoustic guitar provides some Jobim-esque arpeggios that give it a nostalgic feel and smooth character. The last two bars feature an ascending tremelo line from the string section. This is such a classic accompaniment I had to transcribe it:
Chorus - guitar and strings (last system)
Each time, the guitar arpeggios are slightly different, yet they maintain key intervals: minor 7 resolving to major 3rd. There is also the 16th note figure in measures 1 and 5, mixed way back but giving the slightest rhythmic bump. The tasteful string run at the end, moving stepwise through the changes, is the perfect punctuation to end the section.
Melody
The intro establishes the verse harmony without completely giving away the melody. What we get is a bouncy doo-wop figure in 3 part harmony. Neil provides the lower melody with female backup singers harmonizing above him.
Intro/outro
Looking at the lowest note, we see lots of roots and 3rds, as well as the hint to the F#7 chord in measures 2, 4 and 6. We also get a little taste of the refrain, "breaking up is hard to do," which also happens to be the hook. This refrain is actually presented several different ways throughout the tune. Here, Neil's melodic path goes: (5) ↑ 2 ↓ 2 ↑ 4 ↑ 2 ↓ 2 ↑ 2 ↓ 2. Keep this in mind as we encounter the same phrase in subsequent sections.
The first verse follows with a 3 beat pickup (shown below), which fits in the empty space in the last measure above. The harmony arrangement changes considerably with Neil providing two part harmony on the lead melody as well as his part from the intro, minus the ladies. His background vocal is the same up until measure 5, which is seen in the stem down notation:
Verse 1
The lower voice acts as the melody, blending seamlessly with the higher harmony. We see lots of chord tones that move up and down in steps, resolving down a minor 3rd, E to C# in the second and 4th bars, fueling the fire to the phantom F#7 chord. The descending line in measures 5 and 6 effectively shifts the melody from the lower line to the upper line. If you were to sing only one of the lines with a guitar or piano, you reach a point where the opposite line sounds like the proper melody.
In the first verse, the refrain moves (3) ↓ 2 ↓ 2 ↑ 3 ↓ 2, leaving off on C#, 5th of the F#7 chord (finally!). This is the only place in the tune we hear this arrangement as the chords move faster through the last two measures elsewhere.
The second verse is mostly the same as the first, changing rhythmically throughout the first 4 measures. This verse feels lighter, with more space between phrases:
Verse 2
At the end, the refrain is different yet again and reflects, in my opinion, the hookiest of the hooks, resolving on the root: (3) ↓ 2 ↓ 2 ↑ 2 ↓ 2. The lower harmony here is a little tricky, getting to the root an eighth note before the higher harmony. The last measure above contains a great drum fill to kick in the B section, or chorus.
When the chorus comes in the first time, we hear a single line, shifting the texture from the multilayered vocals of the verse.
Chorus 1
The section kicks in with a B minor scale up to the 5th before it moves in steps over the next three chords. Over the Amaj chord, we get a partial arpeggio (C# and E) before returning to the F# and E notes from before, now acting as 5th and 6th of the Amaj. In similar fashion, E and D move through the chords in the next two measures. Over the Gmaj7, we hear a B Phrygian scale (the third mode of Gmajor) that morphs to F mixolydian (B major) as the F#7 chord sounds. This modal interchange is very cool and works perfectly with the modulating theme of the section.
The second time the chorus happens, there is a call and response between the female singers and Neil. Melodically and harmonically it's mostly the same, varying some rhythm, like the first two verses did. I should also mention yet another variation on the refrain. From "breaking up is hard to do," in the key of A, we hear: (4) ↑ 2 ↑ 2 ↓ 2 ↑ 2 ↓ 2 ↑ 2 ↓ 2. This has a very similar intervallic structure to the proper hook, but feels considerably different thanks to the starting note and harmonic variation:
Chorus 2
Also of note is the added harmony in the penultimate measure, a repeated F#, root of the chord. It creates some close intervals, hearkening back to the opening of the verse.
Lyrics
It didn't occur to me, until I read this article, part of a great series by Tom Breihan at StereoGum (he's reviewing every no.1 song on the Hot 100 ever...he started in 2018 and is just now reaching the mid 80's! [3]), that this song about heartbreak and loss is pretty darn cheerful.
There are some emotional lines, that in a vacuum, seem like they would accompany some much darker music:
Don't take your love away from me Don't you leave my heart in misery
I beg of you don't say goodbye Can't we give our love another try?
All of this heavy emoting is somewhat negated by his worst-case scenario: feeling "blue." I suppose people had less to worry about in the 60's on a broad global scale? Feeling blue is the worst!
Every verse, and chorus, follows the rhyme scheme of AABB. Nothing tricky here, just straightforward rhyming in a cute little package.
Common Threads
What musical elements do no.1 songs across decades have in common? Over the course of these analyses, I have compiled a list of elements present in each, adding or subtracting elements as needed. Picking up from "Tossin' and Turnin' (1961)" let's see what musical elements have endured.
Repetitive Melody - The meat of the melody is very repetitive, built on repeated chord tones moving in steps.
Texture Changes - For sure. We see the intro texture of female singers with Neil. The verse has three versions of Neil. The chorus has one Neil and then Neil answering the background singers. Lots of texture changes afloat, and that's just with the vocals!
Strong motion of V- I - The elusive F#7 resolves to B, even when it doesn't get played!
Use of Vocal Harmony - Lots of stacked harmonies in this one with multiple groupings of singers.
- Stepwise Motion Common in Melody - This could be counted twice for the stepwise motion in the harmony part!
(hold overs: - new material at the end - this one repeats the intro at the end.)
Chord Count:12 - B, G#min7, F#/A#, E, F#7, C#7, Bmin7, E7, Amaj7, Amin7, D7, Gmaj7 - for such a poppy and "light" tune, there are a lot of chords! This is the most chords seen since I've been counting.
Final Takeaways
I really enjoyed this one. It has a fun vibe, despite the emotional subject matter. Doo-Wop is a style I'm not terribly familiar with or fond of. This one makes me curious about more doo-wop, which I bet I could enjoy in small doses.
I was particularly intrigued by the chorus section, both in function and form. The section would be called a B section if this were a jazz lead sheet. I have always been confused when non-jazzers try to pinpoint one part of jazz chart as "the chorus," mainly because the entire form, AABA, would be considered a chorus. In pop music though, these terms are common and this part is only the chorus because it repeats the same lyrics and harmony both times. And speaking of the harmony! A series of ii-V's moving down through foreign keys to come back to the home key is done tastefully. The guitar accompaniment is a highlight for me and is filled with little nuances that make it feel special.
I did briefly listen to Neil Sedaka's 1975 arrangement of this song. I was not hooked right away. It is also very jazzy and the hook brings with it some strong nostalgic value. Neil Sedaka is one of those names I have heard numerous times but probably couldn't name any of his songs.....I'm not sure I can name another one aside from "Breaking Up...." It was nice to put a sound to the name.
Up next time, continuing "on the 2's," we go back to 1972. July 29 - August 19, 1962...a 4 week run at no.1. "Alone Again (Naturally)" by Gilbert O'Sullivan. Whew....now we're venturing into completely uncharted territory, pardon the pun. The artist's name sounds somewhat familiar but I'm mostly clueless. You never know what you're gonna get in the 70's!
When I discovered I would be analyzing 1961's "Tossin' and Turnin'" by Bobby Lewis, I drew a blank. I searched up the YouTube video and listened to an unfamiliar rhythm and blues intro set the stage for what sounded like a classic 60's doowop concoction. Then an infamous line busts down the door of familiarity: "I couldn't sleep at all last night."
I had indeed heard this song before, and I'm willing to bet whomever reading this has as well. The catchy number appears in "Animal House (1978)" and "American Graffiti (1973)" and is the fourth longest running no.1 song from the entire 1960's. Bobby Lewis, unfortunately, died this past spring (April 2020) at the age of 95. [1]
As I dug into this one, I noticed the fine craftsmanship and noted it likely influence on many songs that followed. There is nothing harmonically groundbreaking, but you certainly find traces of core elements in other no.1 hit songs: predictable musical elements with a few twists and turns sprinkled with a personal touch of style. Finding similar musical attributes in songs decades apart is thought provoking and the main impetus for this project!
I love older songs because many have a form not too far removed from blues and jazz. We definitely find that here, but again, with a little twist. The intro is a free, rubato section that lasts 4 measures. Then, two additional measures act as pickups to the verse. Each verse is really just a 12 bar modified blues progression.
The first bridge is essentially an 8 bar section with, once again, an extra 2 bars that act as a pickup back into the verse. The second bridge is also an 8 bar section, but with different changes as the other vocal bridge. The outro section is a tag of the refrain, or repeated vocal line from each verse ("tossin and turnin', turnin' and tossin', a tossin' and turnin' all night").
The whole tune plays out in a predictable way, two similar sections (A), a different part (B), then a return to the first part (A). A bridge (C), in this case a horn soli, breaks up the return to the different part (B), followed by a repeat of the main part (A). The extra two measures that create space are those added wrinkles that elevate this one to a special place.
Chord Progressions
In sticking with a theme, "Tossin' and Turnin'" uses basic changes that contain a few wrinkles to make it stand out. The intro puts us in the key of C with a rubato like section. The last two measures of G set up the verse:
C / Amin / F / G / G / G I / vi / IV / V / V / V
The 12 bar verse is a blues variation:
C F7 / C / C F7 / C / G7 / G7 / C / F7 / C / F7 / C F7 / C I IV / I / I IV / I / V / V / I / IV / I / IV / I IV / I
While these chord qualities represent the basic gist, the guitar part adds some interesting color into the mix during the verse. Take a look at the verse changes between the guitar and bass:
Verse - guitar and bass
The guitar is adding a D# or Eb note, the #9 or minor 3rd, a common tension added to C7 in a blues setting. We get the same tension, briefly, on a G7 to create a G7b13 sound. Again, the chords are basically dominant 7 chords, and in many live versions, that's all you get. These little additions on the studio recording do stand out and give it a unique vibe.
The vocal bridge (B1) includes some unison hits from the band, creating a call and response between the vocals. The chords in this bridge play out to be:
F7 / F7 / C / C / F7 / F7 / D7 / G7 / G7 / G7
IV / IV / I / I / IV / IV / II / V / V / V
As in the intro, the last two bars of G bring us back to the verse. I do especially like the dominant II chord, or V/V to get to the G7 chord. The band plays a slick chromatic run to get there that adds just enough spice to keep this section from becoming too repetitious.
The second bridge contains a horn soli and another variation on the changes:
C / C / C / C / G7 / G7 / C F7 / C
I / I / I / I / V / V / I IV / C
The outro tags the second half of the verse changes to finish out the song with a fade. While these changes are simply and primarily built on 4 chords, they are mixed up in 4 different variations! We have seen many songs that use the same progression with no variation. This is a cool twist on basic changes.
Melody
Bobby Lewis is a great singer. This song presents a defined style that he showcases in the verses and bridges with nuanced variation, an observed quality in many songs that reach no.1. The intro starts freely, presenting us with some melodic patterns we will see later on - leaps of 3rds, repeated notes, phrases beginning on beat 2 and "simple" quarter-eighth note syncopation:
Intro
The verse plows in with a horn lick, followed by that familiar line. In a vacuum, the opening line here is somewhat deceptive, indicating C major over a G7 chord. When you're not expecting it, it somes off temporarily "wrong," until the rhythm section drops the C chord.
verse 1 - pickups and meas. 1-6
Bobby has a style where he slurs down or up to a chord tone in his delivery. It creates this smooth and slippery sound. The background singers add a whole other elements as they follow the chord tones and answer Mr. Lewis in contrasting timbre. Heading into the next 6 measures, we get the refrain, which repeats in each verse, as well as in the tagged outro.
Verse 1 - meas. 7-12
The interplay between Bobby Lewis and the background singers is rhythmically contrasting. The ladies keep their phrases straight, using mostly quarter and half notes. Bobby throws in some slight syncopation over the top to create a cool overlapping texture. Once again we hear slides up and down to chord tones.
Moving to verse 2, there are few variations to the melody. The background singers repeat verbatim, but Bobby changes a few things up to keep it interesting:
Verse 2
Once again, we hear a pickup that repeats a C note, this time sounding much more natural, now that we know where it's headed. In the fourth measure, above, he repeats a high C, a different choice from that same spot in the first verse (low C arpeggio). In the refrain, he switches around his melody, going higher to E on "turnin' and tossin'" as opposed to "tossin' and turnin'" in the first verse..... He will continue to add in little nuances in the third verses as well.
So far, the verse melody has been constructed with mostly repeated chord tones. The ends of phrases usually resolve stepwise to chord tones, but there are many leaps of thirds throughout this melody, a departure from all the 2nds we have seen so far in this round.
Instead of call and response with the background singers, the first bridge features a call and response between the band and Bobby Lewis. The rhythm section kicks things off with a new syncopation and a series of diatonic ascending lines through the changes.
Bridge 1 - pickup and meas. 1-6
Melodically, we get more repeated chord tones with lots of leaps from C-A and even the odd leap from A - D in measures 1 and 5 over the F chord (3rd - 6th). This continues in the last 4 measures of the 10 measure bridge. Again, we get more repeated chord tones on the shared D. The rhythm section takes the spotlight in the 9th measure, leading to the familiar pickup into verse 3, just like the intro:
Bridge 1 - meas.7-10 leading to verse 3
The second bridge features a horn soli, in octaves between saxophone and trumpet. They play with 16th note triplet ornaments approaching Bb, a definitive shift to a C7 sound during this section:
Bridge 2 - Horn Soli
This part combines a few elements we have see already in the tune. There are chord arpeggios, as heard in the verse pickup measures. We hear repetition of 3 notes, a developed variation on the repeated notes from the verse. We also hear ascending lines to the chords, influenced from the first bridge. This part does its job and breaks up the vocal sections of the tune, giving the listener a breather as we go into the final stretch.
Lyrics
The lyrical sensibility of the 60's is very different from today. Though the lyrics are simple and straightforward, they have a certain charm. Perhaps it's because they come from a genuine place and haven't been rehashed 100 times to make them feel cheesy or redundant.
He sets up the tune perfectly with the premise: "I couldn't sleep at all last night, just a-thinking of you." Moving on, he gets the most mileage out of the title, twisting it all around, lyrically tossing and turning with the words.
In verse 2, he paints the picture a little clearer, struggling with his pillow and blankets. In the bridge, he finally breaks and gets out of bed, a scenario we can all relate with. Here, he cycles through getting out of bed, turning on the light and going to the kitchen for a bite. He then goes back to bed and turns off the light, reminding us "it was the middle of the night." There is also a whole sequence with pulling down the shade...I'm not sure why you would pull down the shade in the middle of the night and then pull it up when you returned to bed in the middle of the night....
The third verse is a window into the past. Still unable to sleep, he hears the clock strike four (am) as well as the milkman at the door. How many people have a grandmother who still gets milk delivered? What a cool detail that hearkens back to olden times.
Common Threads
What musical elements do no.1 songs across decades have in common? So far in this round, "on the 1's," I have analyzed the no.1 song during the first week of August from 2011, 2001, 1991, 1981 and 1971. Over the course of these analyses, I have compiled a list of elements present in each, adding or subtracting elements as needed. Picking up from the Bee Gee's 1971 contribution "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart," let's see how "Tossin' and Turnin'" stacks up.
Repetitive Melody - absolutely. Repeated chord tones, vocal slurs to chord tones, similar syncopation and call and response between two groups dominate every vocal section of the tune.
Texture Changes - There are a few. The element of the background singers in the verse creates a unique texture. The rhythm section part in the bridge also create another feel. The horn soli in the second bridge sounds completely different than anything else in the tune.
Hook that Uses Title of the Song - Check. It is possible to consider "I couldn't sleep at all last night" as a sort of hook, as it is famously associated with the song. It only happens once though.....The proper refrain happens four times.
Strong motion of V- I - Every G7 resolves to C
Use of Vocal Harmony - background singers enjoy belting this one out!
- Stepwise Motion Common in Melody - as mentioned, this song uses a lot of 3rds, 4ths and 5ths. There are certainly 2nds present, but not as prevalent as thirds. Off the top of my head, this has to be one of the only songs that does not rely on stepwise motion to fill out the melody.....
(- new material at the end)
Chord Count - 5 - C, F7, G7, D7, Amin - I will count all the C variations as one chord, considering they all serve the same function and have basically the same feel. At 5 chords, this is only two more than 2011's "Party Rock Anthem," really only one more, considering the Amin only happens in the intro. I think the inclination is to think songs get more simple as you get more modern, but that is not really the case. This 1961 classic is pretty simple.
Final Takeaways
This one pleasantly surprised me. It has lots of elements I like hearing in a song: a hook that repeats often and is easy to sing along with, a fun vocal delivery, background vocals you can shout along with, an instrumental solo and a slightly quirky form. Way to be Bobby Lewis.
It's not hard to see why this song was so popular in the 60's. It's catchy and fun. The lyrics are clever and relatable. The instrumentation and general presentation are in line with pop music of the day, ideal for dancing. The melody is nothing groundbreaking but effectively gets the point across in an approachable way. This one is a classic in every sense of the word.
When I first heard the famous opening line, I immediately knew I knew the tune. This is one of those songs that has permeated the collective conscious of people within a certain age range. I'm sure I only knew it from "Animal House," but I would be willing to bet it has appeared in other movies and TV shows. There are several cover versions, another hallmark of a fine song. Songwriters Richie Adams and Malou Rene sure struck gold with this hit.
What do you think of "Tossin' and Turnin'?" Do you recognize it past the famous opening line, "I couldn't sleep at all last night?" How do you think it stacks up to more modern no.1 hits? Leave me a comment!
Up next time: I am foregoing a round 4 recap due to the small number of data points, only 6 songs. Instead, I will roll right into round 5, "on the 2's." Starting with 1962 we will work our way up through the decades to 2012. That will leave us with another classic....a title recognize, belonging to a song I couldn't hum a bar to....
August 11-18, 1962, a two week run at no.1: "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" by Neil Sedaka....stay tuned!
