BRENDA LEE - BREAKE IT TO ME GENTLY

BREAK IT TO ME GENTLY

BRENDA LEE

SONGWRITERS: DIANE LAMPERT & JOE SENECA

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: ...”LET ME SING”.

LABEL: DECCA RECORDS

GENRE: ROCKABILLY

YEAR: 1963

 

       Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed only by Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Ray Charles. She is known for her 1960 hit "I'm Sorry", and 1958's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", which has become a Christmas standard.

            At 4 ft 9 inches tall (approximately 145cm), she received the nickname "Little Miss Dynamite" in 1957, after recording the song "Dynamite" when she was 12, and was one of the earliest pop stars to have a major contemporary international following.

        In 1969, Lee returned to the charts with her recording "Johnny One Time" penned by A.L. "Doodle" Owens and Dallas Frazier. The song reached #3 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart and #41 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also earned Lee her second Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female Vocal. Later success came with a return to her roots as a country singer, with a string of hits through the 1970s and 1980s. She is a member of the Rock and Roll, Country Music and Rockabilly Halls of Fame. She is also a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. Lee is the only woman to be inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Country Music Halls of Fame. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

          "Break It to Me Gently" is a pop song written by blues musician Joe Seneca with lyrics by Diane Lampert. Both Brenda Lee and Juice Newton met with considerable success with their versions of the song.

           Brenda Lee recorded "Break It to Me Gently" on August 31, 1961 with Owen Bradley producing the session at his Bradley Film and Recording Studio in Nashville: after another track from the same session, "Fool #1", had become a Top Ten hit. "Break It To Me Gently" was released as a single at the end of 1961 and reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 in January 1962. In 2008, the Brenda Lee version of the song was featured at the closing of season 2, episode 7 of the AMC series Mad Men. Lee's "Break It to Me Gently" is on the track list of the CD Pan Am: Music From and Inspired By the Original Series set for release January 17, 2012.

Break it to me gently, let me down that easy way

Make me feel you still love me if it's just, just for one more day

Break it to me gently so my tears, my tears won't fall too fast

If you must go, then go slowly, let me love you 'till then

 

The love we've shared oh so long, it's a tender part of me

If you must take your love away, take it gradually

And break it to me gently, give me time, oh give me a little time to ease the pain

If you must go, then go slowly, 'cause I'll never love again

 

If you must take your love away, take it gradually

And break it to me gently

Give me time, oh give me a little time to ease the pain

Love me just a little longer, 'cause I'll never, never love again

'Cause I'll never, no never love again.