Top 10 songs to break up byAug 13 '00 (Updated Aug 22 '00) Write an essay on this topic.Breaking up is probably the most visceral experience many of us will have (aside from the death of a loved one) in our hyper-safe post-industrial world. The process is different for each person, but here are some of my favorites. Try listening to these songs as you shred Kleenex, alienate your friends with incessant moping, and engage in dangerous yet satisfying rebound flirting. If you're going to play the same song over and over for four hours every night, it's got to be a good song, right? Please note: these are mostly songs by female singers, and they will probably work best for females... that's just me, I guess. Crazy by Patsy Cline The first stage of grieving is shock. As reality starts to sink in, soothe yourself with this velvety-voiced lament from the late, great Miss Cline. No breakup would be complete without this masterpiece. She's been there, honey, and she lived to tell. Keep this in mind as you go through the next few days, weeks, months. Whether you've got a tear in your ear from crying in your beer or you are drowning your sorrows in something more refined, this song will smooth those rough edges with its classy piano-bar tinkling and Patsy's exquisite wailing. Bad Liver and a Broken Heart (in Lowell) by Tom Waits (from Small Change) Tom Waits is my favorite singer-songwriter of all time. Only the brilliant Mr. Waits could write maudlin lyrics like "She was my better half and I was just the dog of her" or "He's a lawyer / He ain't the one for ya" and sing them without sounding ridiculous. The fabulously tricky rhymes in this song will take your mind, at least temporarily, off your grief. As a matter of fact this entire album is good for breakups. OK, most of Tom Waits' material is good for breakups. If you like this, try Blind Love, a countrified drinking song off of Rain Dogs. Je Suis Venu Te Dire Que Je M'en Vais by Serge Gainsbourg The title means "I came to tell you I'm leaving." Here we're getting into perverse territory with Serge Gainsbourg's casually cruel lyrics recorded over the sobbing of freshly-dumped wife Jane Birkin. But sometimes the only thing for hurt is to pile on more hurt, to wallow and weep and tear your hair out. When you've worked yourself into a proper funk, go on to #4. Dead by They Might Be Giants (from Flood) A friend of mine once told me about his favorite cure for the mopes. It goes something like this: when you feel like you can't possibly get any lower, use your best, most pitiful whine to wail, "Woe is me! Oh, woe is me! What will I ever do? Oh, woe! Woe is me!" You will sound so absurd that it will be impossible to take whatever it is seriously. This song by They Might Be Giants with its over-the-top mopey lyrics has the same effect. The chorus goes: "Now it's over I'm dead and I haven't done anything that I want / Or I'm still alive and there's nothing I want to do." Sing along and it won't be long at all before you feel better. Joy by Lucinda Williams (from Car Wheels on a Gravel Road) So you've been stewing for a while, and now you're starting to get p!ssed. Who does s/he think s/he is, anyway? And what were you ever thinking? Play this angry swamp rocker ("I don't want you anymore cause you took my joy, you took my joy and I want it back") in preparation for... Violet by Hole (from Live Through This) In my opinion this is Hole's best song, and a great one for breakups. A nice cynical punk-flavored rant fueled by the screaming of Courtney Love and plenty of guitar power. Play while defacing pictures and burning letters, gifts, artwork, or anything else that might remind you of The Ex. The Last Day of our Acquaintance by Sinead O'Connor (from I do not want what I haven't got) This is one for the day you wake up in the morning and you decide you've had enough. There's still some lingering regret, but dammit, you're just sick of thinking about it. Play this song with its insistent refrain: This is the last day of our acquaintance I'll meet you later in somebody's office I'll talk but you won't listen to me I know your answer already Then go off to the gym or a club, or bang on some drums or something. Let the bad dogs out. Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien by Edith Piaf Another song to dry your tears by, from France's "Little Sparrow". "No, I don't regret a thing," and "To hell with the past," she sings, and the strings in the background provide discreet uplift. A classic. I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor Now I know this song has been played over and over and some of you are sick of it. But when you've gone through the throes of breaking up and you're driving around on the first sunny day in weeks and this song comes on the radio, it will speak to you just as surely as sappy love songs speak to the hippest of sixteen-year-old girls in May. Mark my words. Go West by Liz Phair (from Whipsmart) It's over and you're moving on: lyrics like "Take off the parking brake, go coasting into a different state" and the girl-power chorus "I've closed my eyes and my bank account / and gone west young man" will lay your failed relationship to rest once and for all. *Honorable Mention* Anything from Portishead's Dummy, especially Sour Times and Glory Box One covered by Aimee Mann (from the soundtrack to Magnolia) Just about anything by Billie Holiday Accidentally Like a Martyr by Warren Zevon You Oughta Know by Alanis Morrissette (from Jagged Little Pill) If Love is a Red Dress by Maria McKee (from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack) Under My Thumb covered by Social Distortion (from White Light, White Heat, White Trash); or if you want, the original by the Stones Special note: I'm making this an interactive epinion. Post your favorite breakup songs in the comments and I'll tack some of them on to the end here. ***********UPDATE August 21, 2000*********** The response has been pretty good. Here are a few additions to the list (I wish I'd thought of some of these!): Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out by Derek and the Dominos It's Raining Men by The Weathergirls I Will Always Love You by Dolly Parton (Pantagruel wisely chose this over the Whitney version) Only the Lonely by Roy Orbison All in Love is Fair by Stevie Wonder Yesterday by The Beatles Ballad in Plain D by Bob Dylan Stolen Car by Bruce Springsteen Don't Be Lonely by Cameo You Left Me Standing in the Rain by Husker Du Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O'Connor (another classic!) There's more -- check out the comment section and add your own!  |
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