Breakdown (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song)#Grace Jones version

{{Short description|1976 single by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Breakdown

| cover = TP_-_Breakdown_single.png

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

| album = Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

| B-side = * "The Wild One, Forever" (US, 1976)

"Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)" (US, 1977)
"Luna" (Germany)
"Strangered in the Night" (Spain)

| released = {{Start date|1976|11}}

| recorded = 1976

| studio = Shelter Studios (Hollywood)

| venue =

| genre = {{hlist| Pop rock{{cite book|first=Ira A.|last=Robbins|title=The Trouser Press guide to new wave records|url=https://archive.org/details/trouserpressguid00robbi|url-access=registration|date=January 1983|publisher=C. Scribner's Sons|isbn=978-0-684-17943-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/trouserpressguid00robbi/page/227 227]}}|heartland rock|soul{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/breakdown-mt0010545046|title=Breakdown - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers {{!}} Song Info|last=Greenwald|first=Matthew|website=AllMusic}}|R&B{{Cite podcast|url=https://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/hit_parade/2017/10/how_tom_petty_and_prince_led_parallel_careers.html|title= Le Petty Prince Edition|website=Hit Parade {{!}} Music History and Music Trivia|publisher=Slate|last=Molanphy|first=Chris|date=October 30, 2017|access-date=July 9, 2023}}}}

| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=42}}

| label = Shelter

| writer = Tom Petty

| producer = Denny Cordell

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title = Anything That's Rock 'n' Roll

| next_year = 1977

}}

"Breakdown" is the first single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' self-titled debut album. It became a Top 40 hit in the United States and Canada.Joel Whitburn, Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles: 1955-2010, Record Research, 2011.

Played live, Petty sometimes incorporated "Breakdown" with Ray Charles's "Hit the Road Jack". A live recording of this variation appears on The Live Anthology.

Background

"Breakdown" was a song written and recorded for the band's debut album. Initially, the song had lead guitarist Mike Campbell with a distinct guitar lick being played only near the end of the song. While playing it back one night, Tom Petty and Dwight Twilley, a bandmate of Phil Seymour, were in the studio, and Twilley enjoyed it. He suggested that the lick should be used throughout the song, and Petty obliged. At 2 AM, he gathered the Heartbreakers to join him in re-recording the song. Their final take was seven to eight minutes long, but it was pared down to 2 minutes and 39 seconds on the album.{{cite web|url=https://www.songfacts.com/facts/tom-petty-the-heartbreakers/breakdown |title=Breakdown by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers |website=SongFacts}} Guests on the song's recording include guitarist Jeff Jourard, a common collaborator with the band in their early days, and Phil Seymour, who sings backing vocals.

Reception

Record World called it a "slow, sultry rocker, dominated by guitar, with Petty's distinctive vocal again standing out."{{cite magazine|magazine=Record World|date=October 22, 1977|accessdate=2023-02-16|title=Single Picks |page=18|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/77/RW-1977-10-22.pdf}}

Track listing

7" Single (US, 1976)

:A. "Breakdown" – 2:39

:B. "The Wild One, Forever" – 3:01

7" Single (US, 1977)

:A. "Breakdown" – 2:39

:B. "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)" – 3:54

7" Single (Germany, 1977)

:A. "Breakdown" – 2:42

:B. "Luna" – 3:59

7" Single (Spain, 1978)

:A. "Breakdown" – 2:42

:B. "Strangered in the Night" – 3:32

=Chart performance=

class="wikitable"
Chart (1977–78) ! Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100{{cite web \|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/tom-petty-the-heartbreakers-p198439/charts-awards/billboard-singles \|title=Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (Billboard Singles) \|publisher=AllMusic \|access-date=2012-01-17}} \| style="text-align:center;"\|40
US Cash Box Top 100[https://web.archive.org/web/20150214223331/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/19780211.html Cash Box Top 100 Singles, February 11, 1978] \| style="text-align:center;"\|33
Canada RPM Top Singles{{cite web \|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.5554b&type=1&interval=30&PHPSESSID=m89iq841abagb37ld9c0fdc1f3 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809135615/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.5554b&type=1&interval=30&PHPSESSID=m89iq841abagb37ld9c0fdc1f3 \|url-status=dead \|archive-date=August 9, 2014 \|title=Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada (Top Singles - Volume 28, No. 24, March 11, 1978) \|website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca \|access-date=2012-01-17 }} \| style="text-align:center;"\|40

class="wikitable"

Chart (1977–78)

! Peak
position

US Billboard Hot 100{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/tom-petty-the-heartbreakers-p198439/charts-awards/billboard-singles |title=Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (Billboard Singles) |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=2012-01-17}}

| style="text-align:center;"|40

US Cash Box Top 100[https://web.archive.org/web/20150214223331/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/19780211.html Cash Box Top 100 Singles, February 11, 1978]

| style="text-align:center;"|33

Canada RPM Top Singles{{cite web |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.5554b&type=1&interval=30&PHPSESSID=m89iq841abagb37ld9c0fdc1f3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809135615/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.5554b&type=1&interval=30&PHPSESSID=m89iq841abagb37ld9c0fdc1f3 |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 9, 2014 |title=Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada (Top Singles - Volume 28, No. 24, March 11, 1978) |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |access-date=2012-01-17 }}

| style="text-align:center;"|40

=Album appearances=

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1976)
FM (1978)
Pack Up the Plantation: Live! (1985)
''Greatest Hits (1993)
Playback (1995)
Anthology: Through the Years (2000)
Mojo Tour 2010 (2010)

Grace Jones version

{{Infobox song

| name = Breakdown

| cover =

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Grace Jones

| album = Warm Leatherette

| B-side = Warm Leatherette

| released = October 1980

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Reggae

| length = 5:30 (album/12" version)
3:00 (single version)

| label = Island

| writer = Tom Petty

| producer = {{hlist|Chris Blackwell|Alex Sadkin}}

| prev_title = The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game

| prev_year = 1980

| next_title = Demolition Man

| next_year = 1981

}}

Jamaican singer Grace Jones recorded a reggae-inflected version of the song on her 1980 album Warm Leatherette. Petty wrote a third verse of the song specifically for Jones to record; "It's OK if you must go / I'll understand if you don't / You say goodbye right now / I'll still survive somehow / Why should we let this drag on?"{{cite web |url=http://sadclownrep.com/7538/3349-breakdown-by-grace-jones/ |title=3349. "Breakdown" by Grace Jones |first=Joey |last=Michaels |work=sadclownrep.com |access-date=2012-05-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012015627/http://sadclownrep.com/7538/3349-breakdown-by-grace-jones/ |archive-date=2013-10-12 }} The song was edited from its full, 5:30 album version to a 3-minute-long track on single release. It was released as a US-only single in July 1980 but did not chart.