"I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" is a song written by
Nick Lowe
Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in Pub rock (United Kingdom), pub rock, power pop and New wave music, new wave,Andrew Bodnar, and Steve Goulding and performed by Lowe. It reached number 7 on the UK Singles in 1978. The song was featured on his 1978 album, ''
Jesus of Cool
''Jesus of Cool'' is the solo debut album by British singer-songwriter Nick Lowe. Produced by Lowe, it was released in March 1978 by Radar Records in the UK.
In the United States, the album was reconfigured by Columbia Records and retitled '' ...
''.
The song was produced by Lowe. It shared a title with the
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
song " Breaking Glass"; Lowe commented, "This sounds so unlike me, but I wasn't aware he had a song called 'Breaking Glass.' ... But Bowie was the guy who had that title first of all. I think the music on my 'Breaking Glass' has something to do with him. I think I pinched something off of him in the music."
Lowe reflected on the song in an interview with '' The A.V. Club '' in 2011, admitting that it was "a song which was sort of made up in the studio. I had the vague idea of the tune, and that’s why in the writing credits, I cut the bass player and the drummer in on the song, because they made it, really. The drums and bass are really great on that song. Steve Goulding and Andy Bodnar used to play with
Graham Parker
Graham Thomas Parker (born 18 November 1950) is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the British band Graham Parker & the Rumour.
Life and career Early career (1960s–1976)
Parker was born in Hackney, East L ...
And
The Rumour
The Rumour were an English prog rock new wave rock band active in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known as the backup band for Graham Parker, whose early records (from 1976 to 1980) were credited to Graham Parker & the Rumour. ...
, whose records I produced, and they played bass and drums on 'I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass.' Their contribution was so great, I gave them a third each. In fact, I should have actually given Bob Andrews, who played piano on it, a taste of the record. The piano is so great. But that was much later. We’d sort of divided up the songwriting. But there we are."
Lowe told '' GQ'' in another interview in 2011 that he did not perform the song live as it could not be effectively performed solo. Even though it was "a fairly big hit in Europe and people ask me for that...I just don't do it. It's a really good record, but there's not actually any song there. It was a half-baked idea I had when I went to the studio, and the bass player and drummer sort of put a little sauce in it. But if I played it with just an acoustic guitar, the audience would probably give me a little clap in recognition, but by verse two, they'd be looking at their fingernails, waiting for the next one. There really isn't anything to it."
When Lowe filmed a performance of "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" for ''
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...
'' in 1978, he brought his future wife
Carlene Carter
Carlene Carter (born Rebecca Carlene Smith; September 26, 1955) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is the daughter of June Carter Cash and her first husband, Carl Smith (country musician), Carl Smith.
Since 1978, Carter has ...
to the set as part of their first date. Carter recalled, "I went to see him at ''Top of the Pops''. He was doing 'I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass' in his
Riddler
The Riddler (Edward Nigma, later Edward Nygma or Edward Nashton) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang, and debuted in ''Detective Comics'' #140 in O ...
suit, covered with question marks. We had chemistry."
Personnel
*
Nick Lowe
Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in Pub rock (United Kingdom), pub rock, power pop and New wave music, new wave,Bob Andrews - piano
* Andrew Bodnar – bass
* Steve Goulding – drums
* Roger Béchirian – tambourine and backing vocals
Cover versions
*
Luke Haines
Luke Michael Haines (born 7 October 1967) is an English musician, songwriter and author. He has recorded music under various names and with various bands, including The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder.
Career
''New Wave''
Ha ...