Pitney, a pop rock pioneer, had his greatest success overall in Britain, first travelling there after his first self penned hit in 1961. "I Wanna Love My Life Away" hit #26 on the UK singles chart & just broke into the top 40 in the US.
His early music recorded for the "musicor" label was romantic, lonely and dramatic, fitting in alongside contemporaries like Buddy Holly, Neil Sedaka, Roy Orbison & serves as an audio time capsule of a more innocent time.
Gene Pitney - Yesterday's Hero...
Gene was a Brill Building songwriter who even before his singing career took off, had written one of Ricky Nelson's biggest hits "Hello Mary Lou". He had been helped out initially in his career by Burt Bacharach & Hal David, and later recorded some of their songs which became big hits like "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and the classic "Only Love Can Break A Heart". At the time his "Only Love..." recording was a #2 chart hit, he had written the number 1 song that week; "He's A Rebel" (A Phil Spector production recorded by The Crystals). All in all Pitney himself recorded 16 top 40 songs in the US from 1961 to 1968.
Gene's biggest popularity was in England, where he used the Rolling Stones publicist Andrew Loog Oldham to get his fame established, which lasted there to the day of his death. In the UK, Gene had 40 top-40 charting hits through 1974. He finally hit #1 in the UK in 1990, performing a duet with Marc Almond of Soft Cell. Pitney died April 5 on tour in 2006. He was found by his tour manager fully clothed on his bed at a Hilton Hotel in Cardiff , shortly after performing a concert.
Born to Lose
Gene Pitney Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Every dream has only brought me pain
All my life I've always been so blue
Born to lose and now I`m losing you
Born to lose it seems so hard to bear
How I long to always have you near
You've grown tired and now you say we`re through
Born to lose my every hope is gone
It`s so hard to face an empty dawn
You were all the happiness I knew
Born to lose and now I`m losing you
The lyrics of Gene Pitney's song Born to Lose depict a melancholic plight of a person who feels that their life has been futile and marked by misery. The opening line, "Born to lose, I've lived my life in vain" expresses their pessimistic worldview wherein they feel that no matter what they do, they are bound to fail. This feeling is further emphasized in the next line "Every dream has only brought me pain" where the singer shares that even their aspirations have not brought any joy but only brought pain.
The chorus "Born to lose and now I'm losing you" is reflective of the singer's loss of their loved one, adding to their misery. The second verse highlights the pain of separation as the singer wishes to have the presence of the other person always with them. The line "You've grown tired and now you say we're through" suggest that the other person has given up on the relationship leading to the singer's loss.
The final verse reveals how the singer has lost all hope and the happiness the other person brought into their life. The last line, "Born to lose and now I'm losing you" becomes symbolic of the singer's belief that they were bound to lose everything and this loss of their loved one was only a manifestation of their inherent failure.
Line by Line Meaning
Born to lose I've lived my life in vein
I believe that I was destined to fail in life and everything that I have done has been pointless.
Every dream has only brought me pain
I have pursued my dreams but all they have done is cause me distress and suffering.
All my life I've always been so blue
I have spent my entire life feeling sad and unhappy.
Born to lose and now I`m losing you
Just as everything else in my life has failed, I am now losing you, the person who brought me happiness.
Born to lose it seems so hard to bear
The fact that I seem destined to lose everything in life is extremely difficult for me to come to terms with.
How I long to always have you near
I deeply desire to have you close to me at all times because you are the only thing that brings me comfort.
You've grown tired and now you say we're through
You have become exhausted and want to end our relationship, adding to my sense of loss and failure.
Born to lose and now I`m losing you
Losing you, the one source of happiness in my life, confirms my belief that I was destined to fail at everything.
Born to lose my every hope is gone
My belief that I was meant to fail has robbed me of any hope or optimism for the future.
It's so hard to face an empty dawn
Starting a new day without any hope or happiness is extremely challenging and depressing for me.
You were all the happiness I knew
Before I lost you, you were the only person who brought me any joy or happiness in my life.
Born to lose and now I`m losing you
Losing you confirms my deepest fears and beliefs that I was destined to fail at everything in life.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Ted Daffan
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@maxinegray1587
Such a superb voice and delivery of a song.
@danje10
What a powerful voice! And at about 2:00, he really gets into his strength and style! And he was only about 25 years old when he recorded this.
@norbie6
Gene Pitney had a fantastic voice. Left us too soon.
@mebanedeac47
Few vocalists could create such emotion in his listeners as could Gene Pitney
@janicegraham4808
listen to ral donner also
@MrAdriancooke
I think he must have been a strong influence on Meat Loaf
@suethrussell7178
Gene Pitney a legend love all his songs
@SpookMSgt
Spectacular voice, and unbelievable range. Look for his version of Cara Mia on Youtube (the slower version). Nobody else has ever hit all those notes without using falsetto, and now that Gene's gone, we'll probably never hear it again. I love the Jay Black version, but when Gene slams those high notes clear as a bell, you know that you've heard it all now. A greater range than the incredible Orbison, and that's saying a lot. If only he had covered some Orbison tunes for us .....
@janicegraham4808
you will hopefully always on u tube i hope they never change
@jeniferholmes2588
One talented guy love him ❤️❤️❤️👏👏👏