What Becomes of the Brokenhearted Lyrics — Ain't Too Proud

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

• Work: Aint Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations - jukebox musical biography.
• Songwriters: William Weatherspoon; Paul Riser; James Dean.
• Where it appears: Act II, near the finish line, as the story leans into absence and aftermath.
• What this stage cut changes: A classic Motown lament becomes a late-show mirror (3:32 on the cast album), placed right before the finale.
• Key takeaway: A heartbreak standard used not for romance but for reckoning - what is left when the spotlight moves on?

Aint Too Proud (2019) - stage musical number - non-diegetic, staged as a hush that lands after the noise. By Act II, the musical has spent hours teaching us how success can fracture a group. This number arrives like the bill coming due, sung with a calm that feels practiced because, in this world, grief often has to fit a schedule.

The song is built on an unnerving contradiction: the arrangement keeps moving, the lyric does not. Strings glide, rhythm stays steady, and the vocal stays trapped in a single question that refuses to resolve. That is why it plays so well late in a biography score. You are not watching a breakup. You are watching the long corridor after the breakup, when applause has faded and the mind starts replaying.

In theatre terms, this is an expert reset. After the big set pieces, the show chooses a record that audiences recognize from outside the Temptations orbit (Jimmy Ruffin made it famous), then uses that recognition as dramatic shorthand. According to the Recording Academy site, the tune has been central to pop culture memory through major film moments, and Broadway knows how to cash in memory without turning it into wallpaper.

Creation History

Written by William Weatherspoon, Paul Riser, and James Dean and recorded by Jimmy Ruffin in 1966, the original became a major Motown hit. The cast recording folds it into Act II as Track 28, then releases it on the 2019 album as a 3:32 track that sets up the closing stretch. The lyric has also traveled through cinema and TV - from soundtrack staples to later prestige-series placements - proof that a good question can outlive its first singer.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

Late in Act II, the story has moved beyond the early thrill of hits and matching moves. The number functions as an emotional inventory. Not every wound in this show is romantic; many are professional, communal, and self-inflicted. The song lets the stage hold that complexity without needing extra dialogue.

Song Meaning

The narrator wanders through a world that keeps functioning while he does not. The question in the title is both literal and accusatory: when love leaves, what happens to the person who stays behind? In the musical, that question expands. Replace "love" with "brotherhood," "trust," or "the version of yourself you were before fame." The track can carry all of them at once.

Annotations

As I walk this land with broken dreams.

The opening is cinematic: a person in motion, a mind stuck. Onstage, that is a gift - a walk that can be literal, a distance that can be staged with light and spacing.

What becomes of the brokenhearted?

It is a title as thesis. The hook is not a flourish; it is the whole argument, repeated until it starts sounding like a verdict the singer cannot accept.

Lost and lookin' for a brand new start.

The line is quietly brutal because it admits effort. The narrator wants to move on. The music keeps him moving. The lyric keeps him lost.

Style fusion and rhythm

This is classic Motown craft: steady backbeat, elegant strings, and a vocal line that rides the groove like spoken confession. Sources describing the original session highlight the Funk Brothers on instrumentation and the Originals and the Andantes on backing vocals, a reminder that the sound is communal even when the story is solitary. For Broadway, that communal sound reads as history pressing in from the wings.

Emotional arc

The arc is a spiral. The singer circles the same pain, tries on the idea of moving forward, then returns to the same question. If you want a single image: it is a person walking in place. That is why the number can land so hard right before the finale - it makes the applause after it feel complicated.

Technical Information (Quick Facts)

• Song: What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
• Artist: Original Broadway Cast of Aint Too Proud
• Featured: Principal cast and ensemble (cast recording format)
• Composer: William Weatherspoon; Paul Riser; James Dean
• Producer: Cast recording production credited on the album release
• Release Date: March 22, 2019
• Genre: Stage; soul; Motown ballad
• Instruments: Lead and group vocals; theatre rhythm section; string and horn colors (arrangement dependent)
• Label: Universal Music Enterprises
• Mood: Searching; resigned; tender
• Length: 3:32
• Track #: 28
• Language: English
• Album: Aint Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Music style: Late-show lament arranged to hold the room still without stopping the beat
• Poetic meter: Conversational stress with refrain-led hooks

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this song originally by the Temptations?

No. The classic hit was recorded by Jimmy Ruffin in 1966, though it is closely tied to Motown and to the Ruffin family story.

Where does it appear in the musical?

It is used late in Act II, placed as Track 28 on the cast album, right before the finale track.

Who wrote it?

William Weatherspoon, Paul Riser, and James Dean.

How did the original single perform on the charts?

It reached the US Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also charted strongly on R and B and in the UK.

Why does it work so well near the end of a biography show?

It captures aftermath. The question is bigger than romance, so the show can let it stand for losses of trust, time, and identity.

Is this the song Kevin Costner wanted for The Bodyguard?

Yes. Multiple accounts describe it as an early candidate for the film before the plan shifted to a different closing song choice.

Where has the song been used in film and television?

It has appeared in multiple film and TV placements, including Fried Green Tomatoes (via a Paul Young cover) and later prestige-series soundtrack uses.

Are there notable cover versions?

Paul Young recorded a prominent cover tied to Fried Green Tomatoes, which also charted in North America in the early 1990s.

What is the central lyric device?

A repeated question that keeps returning, like someone unable to stop asking because the answer is unbearable.

Awards and Chart Positions

Jimmy Ruffin's original 1966 single peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 6 on the Billboard R and B chart, with a UK peak of number 8 and a later UK reissue that climbed higher. In the 1990s, Paul Young's cover tied to Fried Green Tomatoes charted in the US and reached number 1 on the US Adult Contemporary chart. The Recording Academy also notes the song's long cultural life through major soundtrack context, which is exactly the kind of reputation a Broadway score borrows when it wants a late-act gut check.

How to Sing What Becomes of the Brokenhearted

Practice metrics vary by edition and reference. One learning resource lists the key as B-flat and the tempo around 97 BPM. Sheet music listings also circulate in B-flat major for simplified arrangements. Onstage, the key is often transposed to suit the actor, but the feel should stay steady: a walking pace that lets the lyric ache without dragging.

1. Tempo: Start at 97 BPM and keep the pulse unhurried. If you slow too much, the song turns heavy; if you rush, the question sounds impatient.
2. Diction: Make the title question clear on every return. Vowels should be warm, consonants clean, no swallowed endings.
3. Breathing: Plan breaths before longer lines. Aim for low, quiet inhalations so the phrasing stays conversational.
4. Flow and rhythm: Sit back in the beat. Let the groove carry you, then place key words slightly forward for emphasis (broken, hearted, lost).
5. Accents: Build intensity by color, not volume. Darken tone on the question; brighten slightly on lines about searching for a start.
6. Ensemble blend: If sung with backing parts, align vowel shapes on sustained chords so the harmony reads as one surface.
7. Mic: Stay close for intimacy, then step back a touch on the biggest climactic syllables to avoid forcing.
8. Pitfalls: Do not oversell sadness. The strongest choice is steady, worn honesty, like someone too tired to dramatize.

Additional Info

This song's backstage life is almost as famous as its chorus. The Bodyguard soundtrack history describes it as an early candidate before the filmmakers pivoted, partly because another high-profile use was already in circulation. That anecdote matters for a stage biography: it reminds you how Motown classics become shared property, traded between films, radio, and memory until the original pain turns into a public artifact.

On the screen side, the song has a long list of licensed uses in television and streaming-era drama, and it also sits inside legacy soundtrack culture (The Big Chill is a frequent reference point). According to GRAMMY.com, the title even shows up as a key "what if" in the backstory of The Bodyguard soundtrack decision making. That is the strange power here: a lament that keeps getting invited to parties, then quietly changes the room.

Key Contributors

Sources

Sources: uDiscoverMusic tracklisting article, Discogs cast album listing, YouTube (Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group), Jimmy Ruffin song reference summary, GRAMMY.com feature on The Bodyguard soundtrack, The Bodyguard soundtrack reference summary, HDpiano lesson listing, Musicnotes sheet music listing, Paul Young discography reference summary