Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American … Read Full Bio ↴Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of all time, King is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the US, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100. King also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts between 1962 and 2005.

King's major success began in the 1960s when she and her first husband, Gerry Goffin, wrote more than two dozen chart hits, many of which have become standards, for numerous artists. She has continued writing for other artists since then. King's success as a performer in her own right did not come until the 1970s, when she sang her own songs, accompanying herself on the piano, in a series of albums and concerts. After experiencing commercial disappointment with her debut album Writer, King scored her breakthrough with the album Tapestry, which topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks in 1971 and remained on the charts for more than six years.

King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry, which held the record for most weeks at No. 1 by a female artist for more than 20 years. Her record sales were estimated at more than 75 million copies worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She has been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a performer and songwriter. She is the recipient of the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the first woman to be so honored. She is also a 2015 Kennedy Center Honoree.

Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carole_King

Studio albums
Writer (1970)
Tapestry (1971)
Music (1971)
Rhymes & Reasons (1972)
Fantasy (1973)
Wrap Around Joy (1974)
Thoroughbred (1976)
Simple Things (1977)
Welcome Home (1978)
Touch the Sky (1979)
Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King (1980)
One to One (1982)
Speeding Time (1983)
City Streets (1989)
Colour of Your Dreams (1993)
Love Makes the World (2001)
A Holiday Carole (2011)

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
Carole King Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

You tell me that you're leavin',
I can't believe it's true!
Girl, there's just no livin' without you.
Don't take your love away from me.
Don't you leave my heart in misery.
'Cause if you go, then I'll be blue,
Breakin' up is hard to do.

Remember when you held me tight,
And you kissed me all through the night.
Think of all that we been through,
And breakin' up is hard to do.

They say that breakin' up is hard to do,
Now I know, I know that it's true.
Don't say that this is the end.
Instead of breakin' up I wish that
We were makin' up again.

I beg of you don't say goodbye,
Can't we give our love just one more try?

Come on baby, let's start anew,
Breakin' up is hard to do.

Overall Meaning

Carole Kings’ Breaking Up Is Hard To Do is a classic song about heartbreak and lamenting its consequences. The song was released in 1975 and it has stood the test of time as a universal tune for anyone who has ever experienced a breakup. The main message of the song is that breaking up is not as easy as one may think it is. The song begins with the singer not believing that his relationship with his lover is really over. He expresses his innermost feelings, claiming that he cannot live without her. He pleads with her not to take her love away and leave him in misery. The chorus then sets in, and he talks about how blue he will become if his lover leaves. As he remembers all the memories they shared together, he clearly sees how hard it is to move on from this relationship.

As the song continues, he talks about how hard it is to break up with someone you love, and when he says, "they say breaking up is hard to do, now I know that it's true" he is trying to come to grips with the reality of his situation. The singer then pivots to explain that he wishes that they could start anew and build a new foundation for their love because he believes that breaking up is hard to do. He then ends the song by pleading with his lover to give him one more chance, and try to make it work.

In summary, this song is about the difficulty of ending a relationship and highlights the duality of emotions that come with letting go of someone you love.

Line by Line Meaning

You tell me that you're leavin',
You inform me that you are departing

I can't believe it's true!
I am unable to accept its legitimacy

Girl, there's just no livin' without you.
My existence is incomplete without your presence

Don't take your love away from me.
Please do not withdraw your affection from me.

Don't you leave my heart in misery.
Please do not abandon me in a state of despair.

'Cause if you go, then I'll be blue,
If you leave, then I will be melancholic,

Breakin' up is hard to do.
It is arduous to separate from a loved one.

Remember when you held me tight,
Can you recall when you embraced me closely

And you kissed me all through the night.
And kissed me unceasingly throughout the night.

Think of all that we been through,
Contemplate all the challenges that we have surmounted.

And breakin' up is hard to do.
And acknowledge that it is intricate to break apart.