If you happen to be one those unfortunate Karaoke Kooks who does not have this classic Blondie song on your playlist then it's about time you did.
You simply have to listen to the Heart of Glass Lyrics & disco beat to get you up singing & dancing. Heart of Glass is undeniably an absolute killer of a song.
Released in January 1979 this song was featured on the third studio album 'Parallel Lines'. This was the albums' third single release and reached No.1 on the charts in the USA, United Kingdom as well as several other countries.
Rolling Stone ranked the song No.255 on its' list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The song also ranked No.42 in Slant Magazines' list of greatest dance songs of all time.
In 2018 Heart of Glass came in at No.66 in the UK's official list of the biggest selling singles of all time after sales of 1.32 million.
Needless to say it was a huge hit throughout the decades.
The Heart of Glass lyrics basically relate to being hopelessly in love & everything is amazing, then the relationship breaks down and you realize that your heart is shattered into pieces.
It's Broken Like Glass.
The Heart of Glass lyrics were written by band members Debbie Harry & Chris Stein in early 1974 soon after they first got together as a couple.
The song was originally called 'Once I Had A Love' (aka) 'The Disco Song' with a much slower beat, but when they recorded the song in 1978 Chris Stein came up with the title Heart of Glass.
This upbeat disco song was played constantly on the radio and in nightclubs everywhere.
According to the band the Heart of Glass lyrics were a 'pain in the ass' because finding words to rhyme with glass that would fit into the song weren't that easy.
However, in the last chorus following,
'Once I had a love and it was a gas'
Debbie sings:
'Soon turned out to be a pain in the ass'.
Many American radio stations were then sent an edited version of Heart of Glass Lyrics to ensure air play, with the offending line now replaced by,
'Soon turned out I had a Heart of Glass'.
The song lyrics really turned the conventional sentiment of heartbreak on its' head as Debbie Harry remarked in Q Magazine:
I was tired of hearing girl singers write or sing about being beaten by love. So I said, Well listen, there are also a lot of girls who just walk away.
Debbie Harry // Vocalist
Heart of Glass Lyrics
Blondie, is an American rock band co-founded by the beautiful & talented Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein who were in a relationship at the time.
The band were trailblazers in the American 'new wave' scene in mid 70's New York.
In the USA Blondie were viewed as an underground band until the release of their album 'Parallel Lines' in 1978.
With more than 40 million record sales worldwide & the release of their 11th studio album in 2017, Blondie are the single most popular & successful group to emerge from the New York City, New Wave / Punk 1970's music scene.
Their electric mix of different styles included elements of pop, disco, reggae & rap and produced some smash hits which included:
The band eventually disbanded after their sixth studio album release 'The Hunter' in 1982.
Debbie Harry pursued a solo career for a time with some success.
Eventually in 1997 Blondie reformed and again achieved renewed success with a No.1 single 'Maria' in the UK in 1999.
This was exactly 20 years after their first UK No.1 single 'Heart of Glass'.
The group continued to tour & perform all over the world and in 2006 were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Blondie are still performing and the success of Heart of Glass launched the album 'Parallel Lines' and the group into mainstream success.
This in turn caused a lot of friction within the bands' original fan base as they considered Blondie had sold out.
In 1979 a journalist for the Los Angeles Times Richard Cromelin observed:
Death To Disco' T-Shirts weren't an uncommon sight among the new wave audience that formed Blondies' first base of support. But, as it turns out, it's disco that's given life to Blondie.
Richard Cromelin // Journalist
Guitarist Chris Stein responded by saying:
We probably have alienated some of that original audience, but I really don't have sympathy for anybody that says we sold out.
Chris Stein // Guitarist
Keyboardist Jimmi Destri added:
These new wave kids think that they know everything about Rock & Roll, but they won't accept anything else. They should listen to the album and realize that we haven't changed our direction radically, we haven't become the Bee Gees.
Chris Stein // Guitarist
More recently in 2020 Miley Cyrus performed a cover version of Heart of Glass at the iHeart Radio Music Festival.
Her version impressed her friends & fans so much that an audio recording of her live performance was released to all streaming services several days later.
It entered the UK charts peaking at No.36.
Blondie even Tweeted:
We think Miley nailed it, check it out
Blondies' Heart of Glass lyrics were written with a disco beat & a slower beat. It was then arranged & re-recorded as a pop-oriented tune to sound as it does now.
As far as we here at Karaoke Kooks are concerned no one will ever 'nail' this song like Blondie.
They are a band that will go down in music history.
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