Black Black Heart

"Black Black Heart"
Single by David Usher
from the album Morning Orbit
Released	2001
Length	3:26
Label	EMI Music Canada
Songwriter(s)	David Usher Jeff Pearce
Producer(s)	David Usher Jeff Pearce Mark Makoway Jeff Martin
David Usher singles chronology
"Alone in the Universe" (2001) "Black Black Heart" (2001) "A Day in the Life" (2001)

"Black Black Heart" is a song written by David Usher and Jeff Pearce and released as the second single off Usher's 2001 album, Morning Orbit.^[1] It became a minor hit in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, and rose to number three in Greece, spending over 25 weeks on the country's singles chart. The music video won two MuchMusic Video Awards.

Overview

There are three versions of the song. The album and radio remix versions feature Julie Galios from the band My Brilliant Beast. The harder rock version, which was found as a hidden track on the album and is also referred to as "Black Black Heart 2.0", features vocals by Kim Bingham. The chorus samples The Flower Duet (Sous le dôme épais), a famous duet for sopranos from Léo Delibes' opera Lakmé, as a hook.

Music video

The music video for Black Black Heart features Usher singing the song in an apartment in a big house at night, with the scenes of him singing being intercut with various scenes showing other inhabitants of the house doing more or less usual things. It won two MuchMusic Video Awards for Best Post-Production (for Kurt Ritchie and Jeff Campbell) and Best Pop Video (for Usher) in 2002.^[2]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Black Black Heart (CHR Mix)"	3:29
2.	"Black Black Heart (2.0)"	3:26
3.	"Too Close to the Sun"	3:54

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for "Black Black Heart" Chart (2002) Peak position Canada CHR (Nielsen BDS)[3] 7 Germany (GfK)[4] 82 Greece (IFPI)[5] 3 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[6] 87 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[7] 45

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for "Black Black Heart" Chart (2001) Position Canada Radio (Nielsen BDS)[8] 93 Chart (2002) Position Canada Radio (Nielsen BDS)[9] 33

Cover versions

Rene Liu and Stanley Huang recorded a Chinese version called Travel Separately (分开旅行 / Fēnkāi lǚxíng), but only with the lyrics changed and became a huge success. Usher and Pearce were credited for the song.^[10] Usher also made a version of the tune in French, with popular Québec singer Marie-Mai singing on the track, as a special guest.

References

1. "David Usher, Black Black Heart". allmusic.com. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
2. "Winners of the 2002 MuchMusic Video Awards handed out last night in Toronto", The Toronto Star, June 17, 2002
3. "Canadian Top 20 in 2002" (PDF). Cross Canada Countdown. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2005. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
4. "David Usher – Black Black Heart" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
5. "Top 50 Singles" (in Greek). IFPI. Archived from the original on October 6, 2002. Retrieved June 28, 2020. See Best column.
6. "David Usher – Black Black Heart" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
7. "David Usher – Black Black Heart". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
8. "BDS CHART : Top 100 of 2001". Jam!. Archived from the original on July 26, 2002. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
9. "Top 100 top played radio tracks in Canada in 2002". Jam!. Archived from the original on August 12, 2004. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
10. "Black Black Heart – 分开旅行 (Travelling Separately)". ryan-mclaughlin.com. July 20, 2007. Retrieved August 12, 2015.