Broken

Album: Jake Bugg (2012)
Charted: 44
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Songfacts®:

  • Jake Bugg told Q magazine that this was "the hardest song to write, emotionally" on his self-titled debut album. He added: "I was just sat by the fire one day. With a guitar. Its just about my emotions, at the time. About a sequence of occurrences."
  • Bugg penned the guitar-led track with Crispin Hunt, who is best known for being the vocalist of The Longpigs. The British alternative rock band had some success with songs such as "She Said", "On and On", both of which peaked at #16 on the UK singles chart in 1996. Richard Hawley, who later found fame as a solo artist, was their guitarist.

    Debate over who contributed what ended in a publishing dispute, with Hunt contesting the proposed 70/30 split. "He wanted a bigger share. I didn't feel that was right," Bugg told Mojo magazine.
  • Bugg later teamed up with Rick Rubin for a new version of the song in the legendary producer's Malibu studio. The updated recording also includes drummer Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and string arrangements from Beck's father David Campbell (Michael Jackson, Metallica, My Chemical Romance) . "When I first met Rick I wasn't aware of all he had done and how well renowned he was but I think that helped and so I just cracked on and recorded my tunes," admitted Bugg. "The whole experience was inspiring. I learnt a lot from Rick. I also got the opportunity to work with some of the best players in the world which has made me become much better as well."
  • Working with a professional vocal quartet on the Rick Rubin version of the song was a challenging experience for Bugg, who isn't musically trained. He told Q magazine: "It was a real learning experience to see how they worked. The quartet would say mad things, like, I think you should remove those minor ninths from the seventh bar... I didn't have a fu--ing clue what they were talking about, I just put four chords together, know what I mean?"
  • Bugg initially wrote this song in front of the fireplace at a girl's house in Clifton. He recalled to Q magazine that he played "these mad chords" as he sung random words. "the word 'broken' kept coming out, so I thought me brain's trying to tell me summ't there."

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