Way Back Wednesday serves a splendiful earful from Sarah Vaughan
Get a splendiful earful of a serving of “Way Back Wednesday.”
Starring the mighty supreme, Sarah Vaughan, and her immaculate bluesy-pop number “Broken-Hearted Melody.” Vaughan could make a melody feel impossibly rich without crowding it, and this one is a perfect little example of how much character she could tuck inside a deceptively simple song.
Written by lyricist Hal David and composer Sherman Edwards, “Broken-Hearted Melody” was released by Vaughan on Mercury Records in 1959. The record became one of her biggest crossover successes, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also climbing to No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart.
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Sarah Vaughan — “Broken-Hearted Melody”
A polished 1959 heartbreak tune carried by one of the most unmistakable voices in American music.
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A Pop Hit With Sarah Vaughan’s Immaculate Vocal Stamp
Vaughan was already revered for a voice that could move effortlessly through jazz standards, ballads and pop material, and “Broken-Hearted Melody” gave that sound an especially direct setting. The tune is catchy and cleanly constructed, but Vaughan’s phrasing keeps it from becoming lightweight. She stretches and shades the lines just enough to make the heartbreak feel elegant rather than syrupy.
The song was paired with “Misty” on the original Mercury single, and “Broken-Hearted Melody” quickly became the side audiences embraced most strongly. Its success gave Vaughan one of the defining pop records of her career while still sounding unmistakably like her.
More than six decades later, the record still lands because Vaughan never sounds like she is chasing the song. The song sounds like it is trying to keep up with her.
Listen to Sarah Vaughan’s “Broken-Hearted Melody”
INYIM’s Way Back Wednesday revisits Sarah Vaughan’s 1959 Mercury hit “Broken-Hearted Melody.”
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Sources: Official Charts; MusicBrainz; Sarah Vaughan discography.
