♫ Aubrey ♫

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Frustratingly, I cannot find much in the way of a backstory or trivia about this song.  David Gates of Bread wrote this song after watching the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, starring Audrey Hepburn. The song itself had nothing to do with the movie, but the moodiness of the film had set him up to write it.

“I hardly ever write any ‘name’ songs, but I loved that name and the way it flowed in that particular melody. That may be the best melody I’ve ever written.”

It appeared on Bread’s 1972 album Guitar Man. The single lasted 11 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #15. In Canada the song reached only #41 on the pop singles chart, but reached #6 on the adult contemporary chart. In New Zealand, “Aubrey” reached #8.  The Brits apparently didn’t like it.

Aubrey
Bread

And Aubrey was her name,
A not so very ordinary girl or name
But who’s to blame?
For a love that wouldn’t bloom
For the hearts that never played in tune
Like a lovely melody that everyone can sing,
Take away the words that rhyme it doesn’t mean a thing

And Aubrey was her name
We tripped the light and danced together to the moon,
But where was June
No it never came around
If it did it never made a sound,
Maybe I was absent or was listening to fast,
Catching all the words, but then the meaning going past,

But God I miss the girl,
And I’d go a thousand times around the world just to be
Closer to her than to me

And Aubrey was her name,
I never knew her, but I loved her just the same,
I loved her name
Wish that I had found the way
And the reasons that would make her stay
I have learned to lead a life apart from all the rest
If I can’t have the one I want, I’ll do without the best

But how I miss the girl
And I’d go a million times around the world just to say
She had been mine for a day

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: David Gates
Aubrey lyrics © David Gates D/B/A Kipahulu Music

13 thoughts on “♫ Aubrey ♫”

  3. Jill, when in the mood for soft rock music, there are few better than David Gates and Bread. On Bread’s first greatest hits album, there several stellar songs – Diary, If, Baby I’m a want you, etc. I used to sing “If” to my kids when rocking them in the glider. Diary is a classic.

    Aubrey is vintage Bread, with Gates’ haunting voice. He broke out on his own and did the lead song for Goodbye Girl, the Neil Simon movie, as well.

    Thanks for the memory. Keith

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    • You’re so right. It’s funny that I don’t think of Bread very often when in search of a tune for the blog, but they have many I love. My favourite, I think, is “If”. I did not know that he did the lead song for “Goodbye Girl”!!!

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