B-side "Birds" Genre Folk rock Label Reprise | Recorded March 15, 1970 Length 3:05 | |
Released September 19, 1970
October 19, 1970
(U.S. 7" single) | ||
"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" is a song written by Neil Young. It has been covered by many bands, including a 1990 single by Saint Etienne.
Contents
Genesis and recording
The song is the third track on Neil Young's album After the Gold Rush. The song was supposedly written for Graham Nash after Nash's split from Joni Mitchell, though Young in interviews has been somewhat tentative in admitting or remembering this. Released as a single in October 1970, it became Young's first top 40 hit as a solo artist, peaking at number 33 in the U.S. The single was issued with a Crazy Horse version of "Birds" (rather than the solo piano version of the album) on the B-side, apparently accidentally. The song is praised as a "seemingly simple song which display[s] considerable attention to detail in the deployment of instruments."
Saint Etienne version
In 1990, English band Saint Etienne recorded a cover version of the song, included on their debut album Foxbase Alpha. The vocals are by Moira Lambert, as Sarah Cracknell had not yet joined the band as a permanent member. The band recorded the song in producer Ian Catt's bedroom studio in Pollards Hill. The recording, made in under two hours, got them a record deal, their first single, and their first hit. Andrew Weatherall later remixed the song, further emphasising its dub bassline: this remix, subtitled "A Mix of Two Halves" (duration 8:49), was featured on both releases of the single and on the compilation Casino Classics. The U.S. and European releases contained a different extended mix by Flowered Up (duration 6:19), issued in the UK only on a flexidisc, though it was mistakenly listed as the "Mix of Two Halves". Weatherall had no involvement with this mix.
The song was re-released in the UK as a double A-side with the track "Filthy", peaking at number 39 in the UK Singles Chart. The song remains Saint Etienne's only entry in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 97 in 1992. It did, however, top the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart. The U.S. b-side to the single was the Foxbase Alpha album track "Stoned to Say the Least." In 2003, Vibe listed Masters at Work's remix of the song as one of the "Top 25 remixes ever created."
Two videos were released for the single. The original version is mostly in black and white and depicts Lucy from early 90s pop trio Golden miming the vocals (Lambert refused to appear in the video). The second features Cracknell miming to Lambert's vocals and depicts the band entering a cinema in a small French town where they see themselves in a movie.