Pop Music

By 1962, Neil Sedaka already had eight Top-10 hits, but this was his first time at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was successful internationally  and has been widely covered (e.g., Paul Anka, Dee Dee Sharp, The Carpenters, Gloria Estefan, Lenny Welch, and more).  “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” in 1962 went to #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, #12 on the Hot R&B Sides chart, and #7 in the U.K. Sedaka himself re-recorded it as a ballad in 1975, and it also charted well internationally.

Even though the song, co-written by Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, talks about breaking up, Sedaka married his longtime sweetheart Leba Strassberg  soon after the original release of the record. They are still married.

Sedaka is a singer, pianist, composer, and record producer. He has written or co-written more than 500 songs. Sedaka tours and performs around the world.

Here are the lyrics to “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” by Neil Sedaka:

“Doo doo doo down dooby doo down down
Come ah come ah down dooby doo down down
Come ah come ah down dooby doo down down
Breaking up is hard to do.

Don’t take your love away from me
Don’t you leave my heart in misery
If you go then I’ll be blue
‘Cause breaking up his hard to do

Remember when you held me tight
And you kissed me all through the night
Think of all that we’ve been through
And breaking up is hard to do

They say that breaking up is hard to do
Now I know, I know that it’s true
Don’t say that this is the end
Instead of breaking up I wish that we were making up again

I beg of you, don’t say goodbye
Can’t we give our love another try
Come on baby, let’s start a new
‘Cause breaking up is hard to do

They say that breaking up is hard to do
Now I know, I know that it’s true
Don’t say that this is the end
Instead of breaking up I wish that we were making up again

I beg of you, don’t say goodbye
Can’t we give our love another try
Come on baby, let’s start a new
‘Cause breaking up is hard to do”

For another song by Neil Sedaka: “Calendar Girl.”

For More Golden Oldies Music                                

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop music, rock and roll hits, R&B, or rockabilly songs that werewere hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

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