(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Bee Gees - "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart"
Hit Number 1: August 7, 1971
Stay at Number 1: 4 Weeks
When you think of the Bee Gees, you likely think of the gods of disco. You probably think of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. And, you likely think of John Travolta attempting to act like the coolest man on Earth. (And greatly succeeding I might add) But there was a time where the Bee Gees weren't making disco songs. In fact, their first singles were the polar opposite of disco. They made a lot of soft rock ballads, with Robin Gibb being the primary lead singer rather than Barry Gibb. Somewhere along the way, they got infused with the growing genre that was disco, and they turned out to be the best to ever do it. That's what makes the cases of songs like "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" even more strange. It's hard to listen to something like this and imagine a few years down the line that these same guys would be howling to the heavens about "staying alive" or telling us "we should be dancing." Nope, their first #1 was a sappy love song about mending a broken heart. This song doesn't belong anywhere near a dance floor.
What's even harder to imagine is a world where the Bee Gees' disco songs didn't exist, but that was almost the case. Barry, Robin and their brother Maurice originally broke off the Bee Gees in the late '60s, but Robin visited Barry at his house and the two started writing songs together. One of those songs was "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart", which is accredited as being the main song in bringing the band back together, and "Lonely Days", the first real Bee Gees hit song in the '70s. (It peaked at #3. It's a 4) That material wasn't anything different from what the Bee Gees did in the late '60s. All of these songs were very similar; gloopy soft rock ballads that never really had any reason to exist. If there's one thing "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" has going for it, it's that it is the best one of those gloopy soft rock ballads.
Part of why I say that is how well the song is written. There's some cool lyrics like "I can still feel the breeze that rustles through the trees, and misty memories of days gone by." Lyrics like that give the song its own unique personality. In other words, it does well for what it is: a well-written soft rock ballad. The narrator reflects on life, and longs for days when he was happy. He recalls that in those days no one ever told him "about the sorrow," or that one day he could suffer a broken heart. It's kind of a generic topic of song, but the Gibb brothers found a way to deliver it in an interesting way.
While there isn't anything wrong about "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart", my own personal issues get in the way. At this point, it should come as no surprise that I don't care for soft ballads like this. The brothers' harmonies blend well together, the mood is appropriate and it truly is a well-crafted song all together. I just don't care for it that much. Apparently during the late summer of 1971, people all over America were battling the deadly "Broken Heart Syndrome," and they turned to this. (Interestingly, the song failed to even chart in England, the Bee Gees' native land)
Another thing that hurts "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" is the fact that the brothers capitalized on the disco craze and released some of the best songs in the later '70s. Try as I might, I can't look at "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" without thinking about the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" doesn't even hold a candle to those songs. In my opinion, the Bee Gees' disco songs are far more superior than their earlier hits. We'll hear a lot more of the Bee Gees as we continue to move along in this series.
GRADE: 5/10
JUST MISSED:
Jean Knight's funk classic (but another song that doesn't resonate with me too much) "Mr. Big Stuff" peaked at #2 behind "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart". It's a 5.
10 ALERT!!!:
John Denver's amazing ode to West Virginia, and cult-classic arena sing-along "Take Me Home, Country Roads" peaked at #2 behind "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart". It's almost heaven, and it's a 10.
(John Denver will eventually appear in this blog)
ANOTHER 10 ALERT!!!:
Five Man Electrical Band's rowdy and mean "Signs" peaked at #3 behind "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart". Now hey you mister can't you read? The sign says it's a 10.
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