Released July 4, 1995 Length 4:16 | Recorded 1994 | |
Format CD single, music cassette Genre Alternative rock, jangle pop | ||
"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is a 1995 song recorded by American alternative rock band Deep Blue Something. Originally appearing on the album 11th Song, it was later re-recorded and released on their album Home. It was the band's only hit, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside the United States, the song topped the charts in the United Kingdom, and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Canada, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and Sweden.
Contents
Todd Pipes said in a Q magazine about the promotion of "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "As the song had 'breakfast' in the title, radio stations thought it would be genius to have us on at breakfast time. We'd be up till 3 am and they'd wonder why we were pissed off playing at 6 am." Follow-up singles failed to match the success of "Breakfast at Tiffany's", hence the reason for the band's classification as a one-hit wonder.
Inspiration and composition
"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is sung from the point of view of a man whose girlfriend is on the verge of breaking up with him because the two have nothing in common. Desperate to find something, the man brings up the Audrey Hepburn film Breakfast at Tiffany's, and his girlfriend recalls that they "both kinda liked it." He argues that this should serve as enough motivation for them to work out their problems based on the notion that love will always find a way to make things work.
The film Roman Holiday inspired the lyrics of the song, but songwriter Todd Pipes thought that one of Hepburn's other films would make a better song title.
Critical reception
Brian Wahlert called Breakfast at Tiffany's "a cute, catchy song that should fit in well on adult contemporary, Top-40 and alternative radio" with memorable melody that makes it "a perfect single, along with the mildly repetitive, conversational lyrics of the chorus and the bright, acoustic guitar". However, Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly was unimpressed. He called it "possibly the year's most innocuous single, 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' is distressingly prosaic pop from a wimpy-sounding Texas quartet"; he added that it lacked any "musical piquancy". The Houston Press listed the song as the second worst by an artist from Texas, after Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby".
VH1 and Blender ranked the song #6 on their list of the "50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever".
Music video
The music video features the band members arriving to a breakfast table and being served by butlers, beside the curb in front of Tiffany & Co. in Midtown Manhattan, NYC. At the end of the video an Audrey Hepburn lookalike walks past on the sidewalk, and takes off her sunglasses.
Track listing
- Breakfast at Tiffany's - 4:17
- A Water Prayer - 3:19
- Sun (Non LP Track) - 4:15
Side A
- Breakfast at Tiffany's - 4:11
- Breakfast at Tiffany's (Crunch Mix) - 4:11
Side B
- A Water Prayer - 3:20
- Breakfast at Tiffany's - 4:11