Frank Joseph "Frankie" Lymon (September 30, 1942 – February 27, 1968) was a… Read Full Bio ↴Frank Joseph "Frankie" Lymon (September 30, 1942 – February 27, 1968) was an African-American rock and roll/R&B singer, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of a New York City-based early rock and roll group called The Teenagers. The group included five boys, all in their early to mid teens. The original lineup of the Teenagers, an integrated group, included three African-American members, Frankie Lymon, Jimmy Merchant and Sherman Garnes, and two Puerto Rican members, Herman Santiago and Joe Negroni.

The Teenagers' first single, 1956's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", was also their biggest. After Lymon went solo in mid-1957, both his career and those of the Teenagers fell into decline. Lymon eventually fell into heroin addiction, and died in 1968 at the age of twenty-five.

My Broken Heart
Frankie Lymon Lyrics

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When they begin the beguine
It brings back the sound of music so tender,
It brings back a night of tropical splendor,
It brings back a memory ever green.
I'm with you once more under the stars,
And down by the shore an orchestra's playing
And even the palms seem to be swaying
When they begin the beguine.

To live it again is past all endeavor,
Except when that tune clutches my heart,
And there we are, swearing to love forever,
And promising never, never to part.
What moments divine, what rapture serene,
Till clouds came along to disperse the joys we had tasted,
And now when I hear people curse the chance that was wasted,
I know but too well what they mean;
So don't let them begin the beguine
Let the love that was once a fire remain an ember;
Let it sleep like the dead desire I only remember
When they begin the beguine.
Oh yes, let them begin the beguine, make them play
Till the stars that were there before return above you,
Till you whisper to me once more,
Darling, I love you!

And we suddenly know What heaven we're in,
When they begin the beguine

Overall Meaning

Frankie Lymon's song "My Broken Heart" is a tribute to the power of music to revive memories of lost love. The titular "beguine" is a dance that originated in the West Indies and became popular in the 1930s and 40s in the United States, often accompanied by live music. The opening lines of the song express the bittersweet rush of nostalgia that hearing a familiar tune can evoke. The singer reminisces about a past romantic encounter "under the stars" and by the "shore," transported back to a time of "tropical splendor" as he hears the beguine.

As the song goes on, the singer admits that such moments are "past all endeavor" to recreate in the present. He understands the feeling of regret and lost opportunity that others express when they lament "the chance that was wasted." Yet, he still longs to hear the beguine and hold onto the memory of his lost love, just for a little while longer. The final lines, as the music plays on, suggest that even in the depths of heartbreak, there is still hope for a glimpse of "heaven" through the power of music and romance.

My Broken HeartFrankie Lymon Lyrics

My Broken Heart
Frankie Lymon Lyrics