Breakfast at Tiffany's (song)

"Breakfast at Tiffany's"
Single by Deep Blue Something
from the album Home
Released	July 4, 1995
Format	CD single, music cassette
Recorded	1994
Genre	Alternative rock, jangle pop
Length	4:16
Label	Interscope
Writer(s)	Todd Pipes
Producer(s)	David Castell
Deep Blue Something singles chronology
"Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1995) "Halo" (1996)

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is a 1995 song recorded by American alternative rock band Deep Blue Something. Originally appearing on the album 11th Song, it was later re-recorded and released on their album Home. It was the band's biggest and only hit,^[1] peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100.^[2] Internationally, the single topped the charts in the United Kingdom, as well as peaking at number three in both Australia and Ireland and number four in Canada.

Todd Pipes said in a Q magazine about the promotion of "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "As the song had 'breakfast' in the title, radio stations thought it would be genius to have us on at breakfast time. We'd be up till 3am and they'd wonder why we were pissed off playing at 6am."^[3] Follow-up singles failed to match the success of "Breakfast at Tiffany's", hence the reason for the band's classification as a one-hit wonder.

Inspiration and composition

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is sung from the point of view of a man who is on the verge of breaking up with his girlfriend on the basis that the two have nothing in common. Desperate to find something, the man brings up the Audrey Hepburn film Breakfast at Tiffany's, and his girlfriend recalls that they "both kinda liked it." He argues that this should serve as enough motivation for them to work out their problems based on the notion that love will always find a way to make things work.

The film Roman Holiday inspired the lyrics of the song, but songwriter Todd Pipes thought that one of Hepburn's other films would make a better song title.^[4]

Critical reception

Brian Wahlert called Breakfast at Tiffany's "a cute, catchy song that should fit in well on adult contemporary, Top-40 and alternative radio" with memorable melody that makes it "a perfect single, along with the mildly repetitive, conversational lyrics of the chorus and the bright, acoustic guitar".^[2] However, Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly was unimpressed. He called it "possibly the year's most innocuous single, 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' is distressingly prosaic pop from a wimpy-sounding Texas quartet"; he added that it lacked any "musical piquancy".^[5] The Houston Press listed the song as the second worst by an artist from Texas, after Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby".^[6]

VH1 and Blender ranked the song #6 on their list of the "50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever".^[7]

Music video

The music video features the band members arriving to a breakfast table and being served by butlers, beside the curb in front of Tiffany & Co. in Midtown Manhattan, NYC. At the end of the video an Audrey Hepburn lookalike walks past on the sidewalk, and takes off her sunglasses.

Track listing

• UK CD single

1. Breakfast at Tiffany's - 4:17
2. A Water Prayer - 3:19
3. Sun (Non LP Track) - 4:15

• US Cassette single

Side A

1. Breakfast at Tiffany's - 4:11
2. Breakfast at Tiffany's (Crunch Mix) - 4:11

Side B

1. A Water Prayer - 3:20
2. Breakfast at Tiffany's - 4:11

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts Chart (1995–96) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[8] 3 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[9] 12 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[10] 7 Canada Top Singles (RPM) 4 Germany (Official German Charts)[11] 6 Ireland (IRMA)[12] 3 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[13] 17 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[14] 21 Scotland (Official Charts Company)[15] 1 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[16] 9 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] 19 UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[18] 1 US Billboard Hot 100[19] 5 US Billboard Alternative Songs 30 US Billboard Adult Pop Songs 3 US Billboard Adult Contemporary 8 US Billboard Mainstream Top 40 3

Year-end charts Chart (1996) Position US Billboard Hot 100[20] 39 Certifications Region Certification Sales/shipments United Kingdom (BPI)[21] Platinum 600,000 ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Other uses

• On Top Gear, episode 8 of series 5, the song can be heard attempting to drown out a rattling from the dashboard of Jeremy Clarkson's Ferrari 612 Scaglietti.
• In 2010, the song appeared in a Saturday Night Live skit, with four friends (played by Will Forte, Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader and Ryan Phillippe) talking during the verses and singing the choruses.^[1]
• In August 2011, it was voted into fifth place by fans on Quietdrive's upcoming cover album, "Your Record, Our Spin".^[22]
• In May 2012, Episode 24 of New Girl highlighted the cast members dancing to this song. The group which usually has a penchant for 90's songs, were listening to this song from Nick's mixtape where he was trying to convince himself to stay together with a likewise dissimilar girlfriend.^[23]
• The song appeared in the fifth episode of the VH1 series Hindsight.
• The song also appeared in the season 2 finale of Orange is the new Black, eliciting a comment from a prison guard.

References

1. Pete Freedman, "Saturday Night Live Remembers Deep Blue Something," Dallas Observer, April 22, 2010. Found at Dallas Observer website. Accessed July 21, 2010.
2. Brian Wahlert, "Deep Blue Something disappoints with off-key harmonies, vocals," The Thresher (Rice University (1996). Found at The Thresher online archives at Rice University website. Accessed July 21, 2010.
3. "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 2010-07-09.
4. British Hit Singles & Albums (Edition 18), Guinness World Records Limited
5. Sinclair, Tom (20 October 1995). "Music review - Breakfast at Tiffany's". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
6. Lomax, John Lomax (29 April 2004). "The worst songs of all time from Texas". Houston Press. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
7. "VH1 & Blender Magazine Present: 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs ... Ever". Archived at PR Newswire. VH1, Blender. May 2004.
8. "Australian-charts.com – Deep Blue Something – Breakfast at Tiffany's". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
9. "Austriancharts.at – Deep Blue Something – Breakfast at Tiffany's" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
10. "Ultratop.be – Deep Blue Something – Breakfast at Tiffany's" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
11. "Musicline.de – Deep Blue Something Single-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
12. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Breakfast at Tiffany's". Irish Singles Chart.
13. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Deep Blue Something search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
14. "Charts.org.nz – Deep Blue Something – Breakfast at Tiffany's". Top 40 Singles.
15. "Archive Chart: 1996-09-15". Scottish Singles Top 40.
16. "Swedishcharts.com – Deep Blue Something – Breakfast at Tiffany's". Singles Top 100.
17. "Swisscharts.com – Deep Blue Something – Breakfast at Tiffany's". Swiss Singles Chart.
18. "Archive Chart: 1996-09-29" UK Singles Chart.
19. "Deep Blue Something – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Deep Blue Something.
20. "Billboard Top 100 - 1996". Retrieved 2010-08-27.
21. "British single certifications – Deep Blue Something – Breakfast at Tiffany's". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Breakfast at Tiffany's in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
22. Archived August 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
23. "New Girl Review: "See Ya" (Episode 1.24)". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 2015-02-05.

External links

• VH1
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics