Don't Break My Balls

Album: Pandora's PlayHouse (2021)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This playful piano romp is one of 28 tracks on Sananda Maitreya's eight album (his 12th if you include his work as Terence Trent D'Arby), Pandora's PlayHouse. Most of the songs get rather philosophical, and this one does too, in a sense. Maitreya explained in a Songfacts track by track:

    "Every songwriter worth their salt wants to write the universal song, the one with the 'universal sentiment' that can be readily comprehended anywhere in the world at any time. A song that one hopes that everyone can relate to and bring to attention the connective tissue that we all share as members of the human race, the only race there is.

    With 'Don't Break My Balls,' I just may have come up with a universal sentiment with which all men and good persons can agree. As a nationalized Italian citizen, I can promise you one thing, 'Don't Break My Balls' is as gender-neutral a phrase, (as well as multigenerational) that you will find anywhere in the world. And, an unofficial motto of Italian life and culture.

    Apparently it is often cited as the very first phrase italian babies say after 'mama.'"
  • This song opens with Maitreya saying "Non Rompere Le Palle, Ma Dai!" which is Italian for "Don't Break My Balls, Come On!" He married an Italian woman - Francesca Francone - in 2003.
  • Two versions of this song appear on the album. "We reprised it to give it a final 'Say Goodbye' before it headed off to other pastures in more far away lands, far from convention and above the 'Madding Crowd,'" Maitreya explained. "Heading back up the mountains from which it came. I wrote this song while on a break from work in the coarse, but surreal and serendipitous alpine mountains of Italy."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Songs Discussed in Movies

Songs Discussed in MoviesSong Writing

Bridesmaids, Reservoir Dogs, Willy Wonka - just a few of the flicks where characters discuss specific songs, sometimes as a prelude to murder.

Roger McGuinn of The Byrds

Roger McGuinn of The ByrdsSongwriter Interviews

Roger reveals the songwriting formula Clive Davis told him, and if "Eight Miles High" is really about drugs.

Sugarland

SugarlandSongwriter Interviews

Meet the "sassy basket" with the biggest voice in country music.

Jesus Christ Superstar: Ted Neeley Tells the Inside Story

Jesus Christ Superstar: Ted Neeley Tells the Inside StorySong Writing

The in-depth discussion about the making of Jesus Christ Superstar with Ted Neeley, who played Jesus in the 1973 film.

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New York

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New YorkSong Writing

Our chat with Barney Hoskyns, who covers the wild years of Woodstock - the town, not the festival - in his book Small Town Talk.

Edwin McCain

Edwin McCainSongwriter Interviews

"I'll Be" was what Edwin called his "Hail Mary" song. He says it proves "intention of the songwriter is 180 degrees from potential interpretation by an audience."