“Heartbreaker”
Song by Ray Charles
In September 1953 Ray Charles released his fourth single for Atlantic records; the B-side to “Feelin’ Sad” was the rhythmic blues song “Heartbreaker”, written like Ray’s recent hit “Mess Around” by his label’s boss Ahmet Ertegun (under the name “A. Nugetre”).
“Heartbreaker” is a very simple and rollicking tune, pulled along with a pulsing, insistent pop-pop, clop rhythm and Ray’s merrily dancing piano. A bass provides the low notes, and over the top of it all Ray holds forth about a “bobbysoxer and a mean mistreater too” whose charms confound and exhaust him.
Ertegun’s lyrics for “Heartbreaker”, like those of “Mess Around”, consist largely of a mishmash of blues cliches. Except for the reference to bobbysoxers (really a 1940s phenomenon) there is little lyrical dexterity here. But it doesn’t really matter: the point is the groove of the music; the lively bang and sway of the hot band.
It’s also, of course, Ray’s wondrous singing voice that really makes “Heartbreaker” shine. The fact that the words don’t amount to too much is immaterial; what matters is that they’re easy enough for him to identify with that he can wail and scream them with real abandon. He had been developing quickly into his own weighty, gritty wail voice since his latter days with Jack Lauderdale’s Swing Time label on which he’d developed from a crooner to a screamer. “Heartbreaker” shows how comfortable he was with his own voice.
Single releases
An ad from the September 12, 1953 edition of Billboard.
“Feelin’ Sad”
b/w
“Heartbreaker”
“Just For A Thrill”
b/w
“Heartbreaker”
Listen to “Heartbreaker”
Get your own “Heartbreaker” on 45, LP, CD or MP3 from Amazon. Or get the complete Atlantic recordings 7xCD box set.
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