Comments | hannahchan: I feel a song(book essay) coming on.

hannahchan

I feel a song(book essay) coming on.

Sep 01, 2007 21:18

So after spending the better part of a week with that frickin' breakup song from last weekend's TAL stuck in my head, I couldn't help but think about the entire concept of the breakup song, and which song I considered to be the absolute best. Starlee Kine is right: It's a vast field, since just about every third song ever written seems to qualify, ( Read more... )

Comments 12

kazoogrrl September 2 2007, 04:40:26 UTC

I don't know if it's this is the best break up song, but it's been one of my break up songs, in a weird way. I first heard this album while lounging about in the bed of a young man I'd recently met; he'd put it on the turntable and told me it was one of his favorite albums ever, and when this song came on he said he loved it even though it was terribly sad. It was a short and messy non-relationship.

Radiohead Fake Plastic Trees is probably my most significant break up song, no matter what it's actually about.

hannahchan September 2 2007, 16:30:04 UTC

Ouch. "Fake plastic love."

The Best Breakup Song of All Time is.... fightscrime September 2 2007, 05:25:49 UTC

"Sorry You Asked" by Dwight Yoakam ( ... )

Re: The Best Breakup Song of All Time is.... hannahchan September 2 2007, 16:21:06 UTC

Okay, I never thought anything could convince me to not only listen to Dwight Yoakam, but actively seek him out--but this just did.

Re: The Best Breakup Song of All Time is.... kazoogrrl September 2 2007, 17:35:33 UTC

One of the most humbling things I've gone through is admitting that I kinda like Dwight Yoakam. As a teenager I used to MOCK my mom for loving him. Now, when I borrow her truck, I make sure her Dwight CDs are inside so I can blast them while driving around in a huge SUV. /end guilty secret

greyplanet September 2 2007, 15:14:52 UTC

i can't just pick one:

-pretty much anything anything off of "69 love songs" by the magnetic fields. favorite: "papa was a rodeo".
-johnny cash, "i still miss someone"
-when i'm ready to start feeling better about things, the ramones. even when the ramones tried to write serious love songs, they were still funny.
-antony and the johnsons, "hope there's someone" but that's when i'm emo as shit.

there are others but i can't think of them at this time.

hannahchan September 2 2007, 16:22:46 UTC

Good choices, all. "69 Love Songs" definitely had a few candidates that I considered, and Cash's voice was made for breakups.

daybook September 2 2007, 15:56:46 UTC

Wait...I thought that Carole King song was a one night stand song.

hannahchan September 2 2007, 16:26:28 UTC

Well, that's the sad thing: It is. But it's told from the perspective of the woman, who is asking the guy to please NOT make this a one-night stand: "I'd like to know that your love/Is love I can be sure of." The hell of it is, you know that whatever he tells her, she's going to sleep with him anyway, and also that whatever he tells her, he WON'T love her in the morning. But she wants to believe he will.

wasabi_poptart September 4 2007, 14:06:22 UTC

My favorite breakup song? Don Henley's "Heart of the Matter."

wasabi_poptart September 4 2007, 18:19:00 UTC

Other breakup songs I really like:

Cat Stephens, "Wild World"
Tom Waits, "Looks Like I'm Up Shit Creek Again"
Don McLean, "Empty Chairs"
Ani DiFranco, "Done Wrong"
Smiths, "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish"

wasabi_poptart September 4 2007, 18:19:45 UTC

and Tom Petty, "Change of Heart"