How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? Lyrics

[Verse 1]
I can think of younger days when living for my life
Was everything a man could want to do

[Pre-Chorus]
I could never see tomorrow
I was never told about the sorrow

[Chorus]
And how can you mend a broken heart?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
Tell me, how can you stop that old sun from shining?
What makes the world go 'round?
And how can you mend this broken man? Yeah
How can a loser ever win?
Somebody please help me mend my broken heart
And let me live again, la-la, la-la, la

[Verse 2]
I can still feel the breeze that rustles through the trees
And misty memories of days gone by

[Pre-Chorus]
But we could never see tomorrow
Would you believe that no one, no one ever told us about the sorrow?
[Chorus]
So how can you mend a broken heart? And mine is
How can you stop the rain from falling down? Baby
How can you stop that old sun from shining?
What makes the world go 'round? And sometime I have to say, yeah, say
La-la-la, la-la-la, uh-huh, yeah
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, tell me
Help me mend my, my broken heart
I just wanna, I just wanna, I just wanna, I just wanna, I just wanna live again, baby
How can you mend, oh yeah, this broken man? Yeah, somebody tell me
How can a loser ever win? (Baby) 'Cause, baby
Help me mend my, this old broken heart
I think I, I know I, I believe I, I feel I
I feel like I got to, I feel like I wanna live again
How can you mend this broken heart? Somebody please tell me
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
I know my clothes are all wet, tell me
How can you mend my, please help me mend my broken heart
I think I, I believe I, I've got a feeling that I want to live and live and live

[Outro]
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la
La, yeah

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About

Genius Annotation

Seventh track on Al Green’s 1972 album Let’s Stay Together. It is a cover of the Bee Gees song of the same name. It was also featured on the soundtracks of various movies, including 1997’s Good Will Hunting, 1999’s The Virgin Suicides, 1999’s Notting Hill and 2010’s The Book of Eli.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Al Green say about "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?"?
Genius Answer

Al Green told Apple Music:

I did a lot of covers all my life, so it wasn’t that bad. I thought it was a good song. And Willie wanted to sing it, so he cut it and by the time we got back from off the tour, he wanted me to come down the studio and sing it. It sounds pretty good.

Producer Willie Mitchell said:

When I talk to the band I say, we’re gonna make this tune cry, or we’re gonna make it holler, or we’re gonna make it come out of the woods. When we recorded ‘How Can You Mend a Broken Heart’ with Al, I told the band, play like you’re sitting by a river and there’s a big forest over there, with all this music coming out of the forest and floating across the river, kind of delayed. That’s making it come out of the woods.

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