Tomorrow is Breaking My Heart -withJohn Doe
After the fall, the music begins
We dance to our luck. We are already sinners
We never think the sun will rise.
We just keep burning through the night
Tomorrow is breaking, tomorrow is breaking, tomorrow is breaking my heart
Lay by my side. The orchestra’s still playing
Before you go, just tell me one more lie
Everything is gonna be the same.
Nothing that we are will ever change
We’ll never change
Tomorrow is breaking, tomorrow is breaking, tomorrow is breaking my heart
We never think the sun will rise.
We just keep burning through the night
Tomorrow is breaking, tomorrow is breaking, tomorrow is breaking
Sobule/Eaton
A few years ago, I was asked to write songs for a new version of the1975 play, “Yentl” (adapted from the beautiful Isaac Bashevis Singer short story). “Tomorrow is Breaking” is a breakup song, but one where romance is still very much alive. It could be the mutual end of an illicit affair, the end of a passionate Summer fling, the soldier in the WW2 era movie that has to say goodbye to his lover on the train platform, or in the case of “Yentl”, the story could take place where our protagonists, living as they do in a small shtetl in1890s Poland, don’t quite have same the LGBTQ wokeness as we do.
In my case, I harken back to my Junior-year-abroad program in Spain. I fell in love with both a boy and a girl during that year. The girl was Ivanita Hooper - I just wanted to say Ivanita Hooper as it's such a great name. Anyway, shortly before our year ended all of us went to this fabulously strange gay bar where you had to use a secret knock and then someone would open up the little sliding panel in the front door before allowing you in. The forbiddance, the extreme butch and femme aesthetics, and the live flamenco made it completely exciting and sexy. I remember my last dance with Ivanita (which I just recalled was actually an odd Flamenco rendering of Donna Summer’s "Last Dance”!) We all knew that we would probably never see each other once we got back to the States, but it didn’t matter. We had awoken up something in each other which would never go away. Notice the very end of this seemingly sad love song where I leave off the “Heart” and just sing “Tomorrow is Breaking." Love will again find its way back to us, just as strong, if not stronger, and sooner than we think.
I also have a wonderful version on piano sung by Nicholas Langford who through Kickstarter got to sing it with me. I so so love this version too.