Breakfast In America

If I asked you all the question, "Which album is the biggest selling English language album in France of all time?", how many of you would have answered "Breakfast In America"? Not too many of you I'd imagine, but if you said that then you would have been correct. Supertramp were already well known following the success of albums like: "Crime Of The Century", "Crisis? What Crisis?", and "Even In The Quietest Moments"...and singles such as: "Dreamer" "Give A Little Bit", and "Bloody Well Right". This, their sixth album, would be the one to scale much dizzier heights, topping album charts all over the world and selling in excess of 20 million copies worldwide. So what made this album stand out from the crowd.

One huge factor were the song writers. Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies wrote songs separately, but would both be credited on the tracks, much as Lennon and McCartney used to do. This time around they had produced a set of clean cut, keyboard centered, pop/rock songs. Many pundits of the time labelled this album a satirical swipe at the USA, as it contained songs titled "Gone Hollywood" and "Breakfast In America". This is far from accurate though. Hodgson himself has explained that they originally were aiming to create an album which showcased the conflicting ideals of the two songwriters and the albums's title was to have been "Hello Stranger". However it was finally decided that they would settle for an album of "fun songs" and as the band had just moved it's base of operations to the USA it isn't hard to understand why some of the songs would mention aspects of their daily lives. 

Side One

A1  Gone Hollywood  5:15

A2  The Logical Song  4:12

A3  Goodbye Stranger  5:44

A4  Breakfast In America  2:40

A5  Oh Darling  4:10

Side Two

B1  Take The Long Way Home  5:09

B2  Lord Is It Mine  4:03

B3  Just Another Nervous Wreck  4:32

B4  Casual Conversations  2:53

B5  Child Of Vision  7:12

"The Logical Song" was the biggest hit lifted from the album, giving them their highest placed single on either side of the Atlantic. The song was a wryly humourous poke at " an education system not focused on knowledge and sensitivity", according to Rolling Stone. The searing alto saxophone of John Helliwell is among the great saxophone solos of modern pop music. "Goodbye Stranger" was a hit in the US and could well describe the superstar lifestyle that may have existed around the band, at the time, lyrically depicting an endless procession of women and one night stands. "Breakfast In America" was written almost a decade before it finally appeared on this album. Hodgson wrote it from the point of view of a teenager who had never visited the USA before and fantasised about it. The final hit from the album, not released in the UK, was "Take The Long Way Home" which reached #10 in the US chart.

Hodgson left the group in 1982 to spend more time with his family and work on solo projects. This has made it difficult to find videos of the group playing these songs as Supertramp stopped playing tracks written by Hodgson soon after he left. Hodgson says he had a gentleman's agreement with Davies that they wouldn't play them...Davies has not commented on the situation. So below I've used some of the better solo and cover versions of the songs that are available.

The Logical Song - Roger Hodgson & Orchestra

Goldey & The Rocketmen - Goodbye Stranger

(Supertramp cover)

Breakfast In America - Roger Hodgson