Pop Standards

The song was written by Hal David and Sherman Edwards and first published in 1958. Sarah Vaughan, known for her inspired work as a jazz vocalist, had a hit with it in 1959, as it went to #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the R&B Chart. It also rose to #3 in Canada and #7 in the U.K. The story is that Vaughan thought the song was kind of corny, but, nonetheless, it sold more than one million copies and earned an RIAA gold record (her first). It was also in her concert repertoire over the years.

Sarah Lois Vaughan, also known as “Sassy” and “The Divine One,” was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1924. Her career spanned nearly 50 years, from 1942 to 1990. She was praised for bringing an “operatic splendor” to pop and jazz standards with a large vocal range from soprano to a female baritone. She died in 1990 at the age of 66.

Here are the lyrics to “Broken-Hearted Melody” by Sarah Vaughan:

Broken-hearted melody
Once you were our song of love
Now you just keep taunting me
With the memory of (ba da da)
His tender love, oh
Broken-hearted melody
Must you keep reminding me
Of the lips I long to kiss
And the love I miss since he went away
Night and day they play
That broken-hearted melody
That he used to sing to me
When our love was young and bright
As he held me tight
Suddenly I found
I was out of bound

Broken-hearted melody
Once you were a song of love
Now you just keep taunting me
With the memory of (ba da da)
His tender love, oh
Broken-hearted melody
Won’t you bring him back to me
Sing to him until he hears
For when he returns no more will he be
A broken-hearted melody
Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, oo-oo, ooh
Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh

For More Golden Oldies Music                

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop, rock and roll, R&B, or rockabilly songs that were 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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