Def Leppard News - 20 Years Ago Def Leppard Release Breathe A Sigh In The UK

20 Years Ago Def Leppard Release Breathe A Sigh In The UK

Friday, 18th November 2016

Def Leppard released their classic Breathe A Sigh single 20 years ago on this day in 1996 in the UK.

The fourth and final UK single to be released from the Slang album.

The song reached Number 43 in the UK charts.

The follow up to All I Want Is Everything which had peaked at Number 38 in late September.

A song written by Phil Collen with an R 'n' B flavour to it.

No promo video was made for the single which may have been the reason for its low chart placing.

The single was released over two CDs on 18th November. They featured three new live tracks on each CD recorded during the recent US/Canadian tours in August/September 1996.

CD1 featured 'Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)' and 'Deliver Me' recorded in Mountain View, CA and 'Slang' from Montreal.

CD2 featured 'Another Hit And Run' recorded in Montreal plus 'All I Want Is Everything' and 'Work It Out' from the Mountain View, CA show.

The first and only official live tracks from the 'Slang' world tour to be released. They were recorded directly to DAT (Digital Audio Tape).

Read more about the song.

Breathe A Sigh - Song Description By Phil Collen 1996

"In sharp contrast to All I Want Is Everything, this song took ages and about seven different versions until we were happy with it. This ranged from a piano version to a reggae thing."

"My original demo tried to sound like Mariah Carey does gospel with a country twang, and I didn't think it would be right for us. But after all the different versions and being very close to bailing on this song, we tried it one more time. This time we based it around a pop, hip-hop drum feel and Sav's cool bass line."

"We then added sustained electric guitars and a classic Def Leppard multi-tracked backing vocal type of thing kind of inspired by Boys II Men. It was getting there but was made better by the help of Brad Buxer's percussion programming. Then we were ready for the lead vocal. The original inspiration for the vocal phrasing was Aretha Franklin so we went that rout. Stuck a jazz guitar in the intro and !Voila! The hardest song to record, but the biggest achievement!!!"

Breathe A Sigh 1996.
UK Advert

Inner Sleeve Band Message - CD1/CD2

"Tracks 2, 3 & 4 were recorded live direct to DAT during our 1996 tour to support "Slang". No remixing was done to the original tracks, but we liked the sound & vibe, and thought you'd like a little taste of what's to come on our upcoming European tour. See ya' on the road!."