1968
BREAKING UP * ALTON ELLIS * TREASURE ISLE * JA
Alton Ellis may have taken his queue from the Pop song Breaking Up Is Hard To Do written and recorded by Neil Sedaka in 1962 - a song which Sedaka says was inspired by The Showman's It Will Stand ! In truth Sedaka's Breaking Up Is Hard To Do bears no real resemblance to Alton Ellis's song save in the title and its implications. Not only are the words altogether different with Ellis's- more akin to Tyrone Davies's Can I Change My Mind - but where Sedaka's rendition of his song seems to have (and therefore communicate) as much emotional interference in parting from his loved one, as being parted from a bag of crisps Alton Ellis manages to make art by communicating the sentiments expressed in the song, in sounds and words, in such a way as to affect listener in the same way that the song refers to. This act of transition, where the listener becomes the subject of the song, is also found in the Blues, in Doo Wop and in Soul.
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