About the artist: Joe Jackson (1954) is a British musician and singer-songwriter. He started as a New Wave artist, but gradually his style became more eclectic, and even classical. He released 21 studio albums, but Night and day was by far his most successful one. Joe Jackson currently has four songs in my list of about 200 best pop/rock songs of all time.
About the song: Breaking us in two is an awesome ballad from the 1982 album Night and day, which was his artistic and commercial breakthrough. What sets this song apart is the lyrics about a couple on the verge of breaking up. "Could we be much closer if we tried - we could stay at home and stare into each other's eyes - maybe we could last an hour, maybe then we'd see right through - always something breaking us in two....". One of the reactions that I had on my list many years ago is that this song is a rip-off of the Badfinger song Day after day. There are indeed considerable similarities in the melody lines of the songs. Not sufficient reason to change my mind about it though. Run time 4:52.
