Glass heart song blondie. The story of one song

The release of the album Parallel Lines became a turning point in American history. The previous two records of the young band could hardly be called successful. They did not do well on the charts, and almost no one knew the New York punks outside their hometown.

They recorded the third album under the leadership of new producer Mike Chapman, whose invitation was insisted on by the bosses of the Chrysalis label. Under his leadership, the group released an amazing record, which was strikingly different from Blondie's previous work and brought it international fame. The main hit was the disco song Heart of Glass, which won the hearts of the public on both sides of the Atlantic.

History of the song Heart of Glass

The composition became one of the first collaborations between Chris Stein and Debbie Harry. An early version of it appeared in early 1974, but the final version was ready only a few years later.

The history of the creation of Heart of Glass can be easily traced through excerpts from interviews that the authors of the track, producer Mike Chapman and other participants in the recording of the track gave to various publications.

Let's listen to Chris:

When Debbie and I lived in our top-floor apartment at 48 W. 17th St., I often carried around a borrowed multi-track tape recorder. With it, I could record a rhythm guitar track and then layer melody and harmonic lines on top of it. This is how I recorded and processed my songs. In the summer of 1974, I wrote a song referencing the catchy tune of Hues Corporation's Rock the Boat, which was a big hit at the time. Debbie and I nicknamed it The Disco Song...

In 1975 we made a demo of the song in a very simplified version, calling it Once I Had a Love. Then we forgot about her.

Wall Street Journal

The meaning of the song Heart of Glass

Excerpts from an interview with Debbie Harry will help us understand the main idea of ​​the text. True, she was not always consistent in her explanations, but it was not at all difficult to grasp the main idea.

I had a notebook where I wrote down poems and thoughts that came to me. For this one, Chris kept experimenting with the song and the lyrics literally popped into my head. The words I came up with expressed something typical of school: how you first love someone, then fall out of love and suffer from it. But instead of long thoughts about the pain, it was about not paying attention to the gap, like: “Well, okay, then that’s how it should be.”

Both Chris and I are no strangers to art and were familiar with existentialism, surrealism, abstract art and so on. The message I wanted to convey could be expressed as: “Live and let live”... When we started performing the song at CBGB, I added the link “oo-oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-o-o” " It was a feature typical of girl groups in the sixties. Chris and I loved R&B... Soon the audiences who came to our shows began to order The Disco Song...

...the lyrics weren't about anyone in particular. It's just a mournful moan about lost love.

I'm tired of girls who write and sing about suffering because of love. So I said, “Look, there are a lot of girls who just turn around and leave.”

Lyrically, it's about a fan who was stalking me and Chris saved me from him.

Chris talked about how the song's title came about:

Debbie's second line in the song was originally "Soon turned out, he was a pain in the ass." Mike didn't think it would sound very good on the radio, so I came out with the phrase “heart of glass,” which everyone liked. Debbie introduced it as “Soon turned out, had a heart of glass.” We used it as the title of the song.

Recording and release of Heart of Glass

It is unlikely that the song would have become a worldwide hit if the members of the Blondie group had not started working with Mike Chapman. A word from the famous producer:

I first met Chris and Debbie at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York. They played me cassettes with new songs for the album. The music was great, but I needed a song that could really pop. I asked if they had anything else. They said, “Well, we have this song that we call The Disco Song.” When they delivered it, I thought it was really good, but not 100% done yet.

The song was recorded in June 1978 at the Record Plant studio in New York. Mike recalled how it all happened:

All six band members showed up for our first audition for the album. To ease the tension, I asked them to start with the song they were most comfortable with – Once I Had a Love. She needed a different name.

Chapman also talked about how the idea to release the record in an unusual style for the group came about:

I asked Debbie who her favorite singer in the music business is. She replied, “Donna Summer,” specifically “I Feel Love.” I didn't expect this at all. I said to her and Chris, “Why don’t we do a song in the spirit of Giorgio Moroder?” Giorgio produced Donna's great albums.

The group members liked this idea, which they saw as a step forward, but its implementation resulted in a lot of unforeseen problems. They spent a long time selecting the rhythm, struggled with vocal parts, struggled with numerous difficulties when mixing tracks, and so on.

In January 1979, "Heart of Glass" was released as the third single from the album, "Parallel Lines". She topped the charts in the US, UK, Germany, Canada and many other countries.

Rolling Stone included the track in its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. It is also included in the ranking of the best dance songs according to Slant magazine.

Public reaction

Fans of the group, who are well familiar with its previous work, were surprised by the song recorded in such an unusual style for Blondie. Some fans even accused the musicians of betraying the ideals of the “new wave” and being corrupt. Here's what the team members think about it.

Debbie Harry:

When we recorded Heart of Glass, it wasn't considered particularly cool in our circle to play . But we recorded it because we didn't want to be cool.

People were nervous and angry that we were introducing new trends into rock music. Although we played covers of Lady Marmalade and I Feel Love live, a lot of people were pissed off that we took on disco with Heart of Glass... Our drummer Clem Burke initially refused to even play the song. When it became a hit, he said, “I guess I have to do it now.”

Jimmy Destry, Blondie keyboardist:

Chris always wanted to play disco. We used to do Heart of Glass to upset people.

Chris Stein:

As far as I'm concerned, disco was a part of R&B that I always liked.

We didn't expect the original to do so well at all. We recorded it as something new to add variety to the album.

Heart of Glass - Blondie Video

The music video was directed by Stanley Dorfman. The famous club Studio 54 appears in the video, which is why a myth arose that the filming took place within the walls of this establishment. In fact, it was filmed in a little-known club that has long since ceased to exist.

Cover versions

The most popular cover of Heart of Glass was recorded by Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen and French DJ Bob Sinclar. Their version of the song rose quite high in various charts. Let's watch the video clip.

• The authors of the song claim that they did not know about the existence of the German film Heart of Glass (1976) when they gave the name of the composition.
• I once sent Ringo Starr a postcard with a wish to write more songs in the style of Heart of Glass.
• The re-release of the album Parallel Lines (2001) features an early version of the song called Once I Had a Love (aka The Disco Song).

Lyrics of Heart of Glass - Blondie

Chorus x2
Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass
Seemed like the real thing, only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

In between
What I find is pleasing and I’m feeling fine
Love is so confusing there's no peace of mind
If I fear I’m losing you it’s just no good
You tempting like you do

Chorus

Lost inside
Adorable illusion and I cannot hide
I'm the one you're using,
please don't push me aside
We could've made it cruising, yeah

Yeah, riding high on love's true bluish light

Chorus

Lyrics for Heart of Glass - Blondie

Chorus x2:
Once upon a time I was in love and stepped on the gas,
It soon became clear that my heart is made of glass
Everything seemed real, but in the end
All that's left is mistrust, and love is gone

Meanwhile
I like everything and I'm fine
Love is confusing and deprives you of peace of mind
If I'm afraid of losing you, what good is it?
You habitually tease me

Chorus

I'm lost
In attractive illusions and unable to hide it
I'm the one you use
Please don't push me away
We could work it out, yeah

Yes, soaring up in the bluish rays of true love

Chorus

Quote about the song

I think a lot of people associate this song with feelings of loss or sadness.

Translation of the song

The sound of glass - ___ we are in love.
Cut ___ to the depths
Suddenly my dreams are sad.

Heaven, Light and Earth were cast from glass ___.
___ love flowed out of them like a pretend potion.
The night extracted ___ heart fragments from the bottom:
Part ___ of my ___ soul. Only part one.

___ attracted us to each other.
Like glass ___ are sometimes sharp

Crystal beats into dust ___ hearts.

Outside the window ___ poured out the Sky - Darkness and Air.
___ was distracted by a new ray of illusions of love.
And now there’s glass in my eyes
A tear shines.

La= =la=la= =La=la= =la=la= =la=la= =la=la=la= (x6)

It's a pity, not a pity -
But the crystal will melt.

___ attracted us to each other.
Like glass ___ sharp for an hour
The edges of feelings ___ calling to dAAAL.
Crystal beats into dust ___ hearts.

Ooh= =ooh= =ooh= =whoa= (x4)

Add translation of this song

If I ask you to name the alternative rock band that recorded one of the biggest tunes of the disco era, you'll no doubt get the answer right. If only because there are not many such groups - to be absolutely precise, there is only one. This group is called Blondie, in honor of its aggressively sexual soloist Deborah Harry, and the composition, the story of which I will tell you today, is Heart of Glass, which translated from English means “Glass Heart” (or “Heart of Glass”).

The Blondie team came together a year before I was born - in 1974. It was in New York, where at that time a new wave was forming and strengthening. For the first four years, the team waved the banner of the underground and achieved cult status (not to be confused with popular!). Tangible commercial success came to them overseas - in the UK, after the release of their third album “Parallel Lines” (1978), for which the music received a Grammy Award in the category “Best Female Rock Vocal”. However, the real bomb was the third single from the album, “Heart of Glass,” recorded in the style of radical disco. He topped the charts around the world and became one of the symbols of this dance era.

Looking at Deborah Harry reminds me of the innocent porn of the 70s...

The composition changed its name three times: at first, in 1975 - and it was this year that Deborah and her boyfriend Chris Stein recorded the song for the first time - it was called "The Disco Song" (you can listen to it on the re-release of the Parallel Lines album for 2001). Then "Once I Had a Love." But only the third version of the name became widely known. By the way, it arose thanks to radio stations, namely the BBC, but more on that a little later.

The early demo versions of "Heart Of Glass" were radically different in both motif and rhythmic content from what Blondie fans can hear now. And in general, it was a joke song. The band, considered the recognized leader of the new wave that spun off from the punk movement, performed it at the legendary New York club CBGB just as a joke: to annoy the large numbers of fellow punk rockers who came there. But the band's producer, Mike Chapman, began promoting the single, thinking that it would bring considerable commercial benefit. And I was right.

One of the walls in the CBGB club

The song was released in February 1979 and immediately reached the top of the charts in Great Britain, Sweden and Austria. In England alone, sales exceeded 1 million copies. In April of the same year in the United States, "Glass Heart" reached fifth place on the list of best-selling singles.

Radio rotation for the single was not so rosy. The original lyrics of the song included the expression "pain in the ass", which is inherently obscene. The composition was stopped broadcast on the BBC, so in the radio version the phrase had to be replaced with "Heart Of Glass". But in Australia, the famous song was never broadcast on the grounds that its lyrics were too daring. But on the air of the fictional radio station "Wave 103" in the computer game "GTA: Vice City Stories" it sounds without cuts. As well as in the film “Cocaine”, where the main role - a drug dealer - is played by Johnny Depp himself.

In 1998, the band members reconvened to record a new album, No Exit. They celebrated the twentieth anniversary of their first smash hit, "Heart of Glass", by climbing to the top of the UK charts with the fresh track "Maria", and became the only American act to reach number one in the UK in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.