“Break My Stride” by Matthew Wilder
In “Break My Stride”, Matthew Wilder is addressing a romantic interest. There’s also a hidden meaning which we will get into later.
This lady whom he has fallen for has apparently decided to leave him. The reason being that she has come to the conclusion that her relationship with him is hindering her personal development. Or another way of phrasing it from her personal perspective is that she has decided “to keep on moving”, as she is not going to allow this relationship with him to ‘break her stride’, i.e. her progression. So that’s one way in which the title is applied.
The singer meanwhile perceives her as a “cocky” individual who is moving too fast in the pursuit of her vision. Or let’s say that he is logically insulted by her perceiving him as an unwanted part of her “past”. So by the time the bridge concludes, instead of applying the titular mental state to the addressee, he rather applies it to himself. In other words, now he’s not going to let ‘nothing break his stride’, and ‘nobody is going to slow him down’. That is to say he is not going to let this lady dumping him damage his self-esteem or alter his progression in any way.
Hidden Meaning of “Break My Stride”
Now going back to the song’s hidden meaning, at the time Matthew Wilder came up with it, he had something like a beef with Clive Davis. Clive Davis founded Arista Records and was presiding over it back then, with Wilder being one of his artists. This lasted for a while, during which time Matthew did not manage to come up with any songs worthy of Clive’s approval. And in a last-ditch effort to please his boss, he wrote and recorded “Break My Stride”. Now whereas Mr. Davis didn’t diss it as thoroughly as Matthew’s previous efforts, he did state that it was “not a hit”.
This infuriated Wilder to the point of quitting Arista Records. Or more specifically he asked to company to let him out of his contract, which was a request they granted. So considering that he has stated that this song ‘indirectly refers to the circumstances that were governing his life at that point’, that would seem to lead to the notion of the female addressee being a representation of Clive Davis. Basically just like she, he was conceited (in Matthew’s eyes) and has come to the conclusion that nothing Wilder does can please him.
But now looking back we do know that “Break My Stride” was indeed a hit and has become somewhat of a classic, being utilized by the likes of P. Diddy (1997). And that’s mainly because on the surface it features a universally-identifiable idea of an individual being optimistic to the point of not letting any distractions alter his forward movement.
Facts about “Break My Stride”
This is the lead single from Matthew Wilder’s debut album and proved to be the most-successful song he ever released. It came out via Private I Records on 22 November 1983. And the name of said album is “I Don’t Speak the Language”.
“Break My Stride” topped the Norwegian Singles Chart. It also fared well on the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart, respectively peaking at numbers 5 and 4. And generally speaking, it charted in 15 countries, in most cases breaking the top 10.
It has also been certified Silver in the United Kingdom.
The song was covered a couple of times, once by Unique II (1996) and the other Blue Lagoon (2004), to notable chart success.
“Break My Stride” was written by Wilder alongside Greg Prestopino.
And its producers are three in number. They are:
- Peter Bunetta
- Rick Chudacoff
- Bill Elliott
Thank you for the memories of the innocence of music from the ’80s. It was so sweet, and it made me pine for the days of past. Popular music today is pure evil.
How, like, have you listened to a good chunk, dare I said, a majority of it, and 80s music, which i like to listen to, can be just as bad, just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s bad
Rubbish. Most rap is evil or bordering evil. Wake up, words saying, nigger, bitch, whore, mother fu**er are poison particularly to learning about the world young
Wonder where it peaked on Cash Box. Billboard’s biggest competitor for decades. Until it disappeared completely and mysteriously one day. WTF happened to Cash Box? everyone wondered. No one knew. It changed to an online-only publication and has been there ever since, at cashboxmagazine.com, it turned out. When Billboard combined their Top 100, most sold in stores, and most played on radio and on jukeboxes singles charts into their new Hot 100 singles chart, they stopped publishing their Top 100 singles chart and lost the trademark of the term.. Then Cash Box began publishing their own Tip 100 chart. It’s the Cash Box Top 200 singles chart now.
STFU
Ugly song. Always hated it.
lolllll commented that on my birthday
I’ve always loved this song
Loved it, indeedly unique!
So impressive
Always loved it❣️
Always loved it❣️ First heard when I was going through my divorce in 1985!