Al Green: "How can you mend a broken heart" (NSJ festival 2005)

"How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" is an adult contemporary ballad released by the Bee Gees in 1971. The song had been written by Barry and Robin Gibb in August 1970, when the Gibb brothers had reconvened following a period of break-up and alienation. They said that they originally offered it to Andy Williams, but ultimately the Bee Gees recorded it themselves and included it on their 1971 album, Trafalgar. Maurice Gibb possibly had a hand in the writing of "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" although the song is officially credited to Barry and Robin Gibb. The 2009 release "Ultimate Bee Gees" officially credited Maurice for the first time as cowriter of the song, for both the "Ultimate" CD and DVD.

The song was recorded on 28 January 1971 in London. The instrumental track is: Barry Gibb (guitar), Maurice Gibb (guitar, piano, bass guitar), possibly Alan Kendall (guitar), and Geoff Bridgeford (drums), with strings and woodwinds arranged and conducted by Bill Shepherd. The vocals are by Robin (solo in the opening verse), Barry (solo in choruses and second verse), and Maurice (joins Barry and Robin in harmony on choruses). It was released as a single in May 1971 ahead of the album. The B side was a non-album song "Country Woman", written by Maurice Gibb, recorded on 6 April by Maurice (guitar, piano, bass guitar), Kendall (guitar), Bridgeford (drums), and Shepherd (string and horn arrangement).

Although failing to chart on the UK Singles Chart, the song became the Bee Gees' first U.S. number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and also reached number four on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. In 1999 the version recorded by Al Green was featured in Notting Hill (film) and in 2010 in The Book of Eli.

Al Green covered the track on his 1972 album Let's Stay Together, which also made the soundtrack to 1997's Good Will Hunting, 1999's The Virgin Suicides, 1999's Notting Hill, and 2010's The Book of Eli. In 2008, Green's version was remade into a duet with Joss Stone for the soundtrack to the film adaptation of Sex and the City, with her vocals overdubbed onto the track.

- Lyrics:

I can think of younger days when living for my life
Was everything a man could want to do
I could never see tomorrow, but I was never told about the sorrow

And how can you mend a broken heart?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How can you stop the sun from shining?
What makes the world go round?
How can you mend a this broken man?
How can a loser ever win?
Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again

I can still feel the breeze that rustles through the trees
And misty memories of days gone by
We could never see tomorrow, no one said a word about the sorrow

And how can you mend a broken heart?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How can you stop the sun from shining?
What makes the world go round?
How can you mend this broken man?
How can a loser ever win?
Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again