Supertramp – Breakfast In America

Breakfast In America is the sixth studio album by English rock band Supertramp, released by A&M Records on March 29, 1979. It was recorded in 1978 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. It produced four US Billboard singles: “The Logical Song” (No. 6), “Goodbye Stranger” (No. 15), “Take The Long Way Home” (No. 10) and “Breakfast In America”. (No. 62). In the UK, “The Logical Song” and the title track were both major top 10 hits, and the group’s only in their home country.

As with Even In The Quietest Moments, most of the songs on the album were written by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson separately, but around the single theme of the album. Their original idea was for an album of songs about their conflicting ideals, titled Hello Stranger.

This idea was eventually scrapped in favor of an album of “fun” songs, and although Davies initially wanted to keep the title Hello Stranger, Hodgson convinced him to change it to Breakfast In America. Hodgson later commented: “We chose the title because it had a sense of fun and was more in line with the character of the album”.

Due to the title and the clear satire of American culture in the cover and three of the album’s songs “Gone Hollywood”, “Breakfast In America” and “Child of Vision”, many people interpreted the album as a satire of the United States. However, all members of Supertramp insisted that the repeated references to American culture were purely coincidental and that no such satire was intended.

“Gone Hollywood” is the first track from Breakfast In America. The song was written by Rick Davies and is about a person who moves to Los Angeles in hopes of becoming a movie star, but finds it much more difficult than he ultimately imagined. He struggles and gets frustrated, until he finally gets his time and becomes “the talk of the boulevard.” The lyrics were originally darker, but under pressure from the other band members, Davies rewrote them to be both more upbeat and more commercially appealing.

“Child Of Vision”, which I select, is the last track of the LP. It’s very similar to “The Logical Song” with Wurlitzer electric piano dominant. After its lyrical part, the piece goes into a long solo played on the grand piano along with the Wurlitzer on the opening melody. Towards the end it starts to fade out with a short sax solo from John Helliwell. Roger Hodgson said the song was written to be the equivalent of “Gone Hollywood”, looking at the way Americans live, although he admitted he had limited familiarity with American culture at the time of writing it.
 
Tracklist

1. Gone Hollywood 5:15
2. The Logical Song 4:12
3. Goodbye Stranger 5:44
4. Breakfast In America 2:40
5. Oh Darling 4:10
6. Take The Long Way Home 5:09
7. Lord Is It Mine 4:03
8. Just Another Nervous Wreck 4:32
9. Casual Conversations 2:53
10. Child Of Vision 7:12