Best Breakup Songs Ever.

[mrsbunnie2you]

List your favorite breakup songs. My personal favorite at this particular moment happens to be Alanis Morrisette's "You Oughta Now".

Thanks!.

[Willow_fire]

God I love that song too...I play it really loud when ever I am P.O.ed at my hubby. He figures out REAL quick he is in dutch!

But my favorite (has been since i was a kid) break up song has got to be

Sad eyes by Robert Johns

[racer72]

I like an old classic by Harry Nilsson, "Your Breaking My Heart".



Your breaking my heart;
Your tearing it apart;
So f*** you.

[Max Torque]

Weird though it may seem, I tend to play Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A'Changing" and "It Ain't Me" over and over during them rough spots.

[David Simmons]

Just One Of Those Things - Cole Porter

[Dirty Earthworm]

Song for the Dumped by the Ben Folds Five.

So you wanted to take a break
Slow it down some, and have some space....
F**K YOU TOO!
I want my money back, give me my money back you b*tch! ...
And don't forget to gimme back my black t-shirt!

Pretty much sums it up, from a guy's perspective anyway.

-Dirty

[Sinyster1]

I hate everything about you by Ugly Kid Joe

[Church Key Kid]

"I Wanna Be Around", by Tony Bennet:

I wanna be around to pick up the pieces,
When somebody breaks your heart,
Some somebody twice as smart as I!
A somebody who,
Will swear to be true,
Like you used to do with me,
Who will leave you to learn,
That misery loves company,
Wait and see!

I wanna be around to see how he does it,
When he breaks your heart to bits,
Let’s see if the puzzle fits so fine!
And that’s when I’ll discover,
That revenge is sweet,
As I sit there applaudin’
From a front row seat,
When somebody breaks your heart,
Like you broke mine!

[cmkeller]

"Must have been Love", by Roxette.

This is going to Cafe Society soon, I think...

[Sue Duhnym]

"If You Leave" by OMD

If you leave I won't cry
I won't waste one single day
But if you leave don't look back
I'll be running the other way

[caffeine_overdose]

How about "50 Ways to Leave your Lover"

[Joey P]

"Positively Fourth Street" by Bob Dylan. One of the best songs in the world to play about someone that you absolutly hope get's run over by a truck in the next thirty seconds. Every single line in that song is brilliant.

[ejrn]

Yup, Bob Dylan wrote some great break-up songs. Don't forget "Don't Think Twice."

[Cisco]

"Devil Woman" by the Phunk Junkeez [b]perfectly[/b[ described one of my breakups.

[bibliophage]

GQ is for questions with factual answers. Polls and surveys normally go in IMHO, but since this is about music I'll send it over to Cafe Society, our arts forum.

[Squish]

"Don't Come Around Here No More" by Tom Petty and "Ain't That Lonely Yet" by Dwight Yoakum

[Weird_AL_Einstein]

"Since You've Been Gone" by Weird Al Yankovic.

[Sapphire Bullet]

"Please Do Not Go" by the Violent Femmes

[Darth Nader]

Ween, "Baby Bitch"

It's been a while since I've seen you smile
But now you've come back again
Came into the room and you saw my girl

And you asked her how long it's been
"A year" she said and you shook your head
Said "I'm surprised it's gone on that long"

Just perfect.

[Sapphire Bullet]

Also, "Lovefool" by the Cardigans.

[Equipoise]

"If So" by Happy Rhodes

I ask you, now tell the truth
I ask you, was it worth the price you paid?
If so...

I know you loved me darling
But I need to know, did you mean to hurt me so?
If so...

Go away way very far away, take your leave
I'll never hate you, I'll never think of you
And I'll never grieve

Did you want it all... free love
Did it satisfy, was it your intention to deceive?
If so...

You made me happy, you made me cry
You gave me hope, was my happiness a lie?
If so...

Go away way very far away, take your leave
I'll never hate you, I'll never think of you
And I'll never grieve

I ask you, now tell the truth
I ask you, was it worth the price you paid
If so...

[Darth Nader]

I just thought of a better one... Shellac's "Prayer to God"

Let's see if I can clean this one up enough to post here.


To the one true God above:
here is my prayer -
not the first you've heard, but the first I wrote.
(not the first, but the others were a long time ago).
There are two people here, and I want you to kill them.
Her - she can go quietly, by disease or a blow
to the base of her neck,
where her necklaces close,
where her garments come together,
where I used to lay my face...
That's where you oughta kill her,
in that particular place.
Him - just f***ing kill him, I don't care if it hurts.
Yes I do, I want it to,
f***ing kill him but first
make him cry like a woman,
(no particular woman),
let him hold out, hold back
(someone or other might come and f***ing kill him).
F***ing kill him.
Kill him already, kill him.
F***ing kill him, f***ing kill him,
Kill him already, kill him,
Just f***ing kill him!
{repeats "death mantra"}

Really, I'm not bitter. It's a good song. ;)

[madcat]

Obscure & dusty,but the best EVER "I'm dumpin' my winter honey
cause it's warm enough now to go out & chase other girls" song:Summertime's Callin' Me by the Catalinas.

[Skip]

Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division

When routine bites hard, and ambitions are low
And resentment rides high, but emotions won't grow
And we're changing our ways, taking different roads
Then love, love will tear us apart again --

Why is the bedroom so cold? You've turned away on your side
Is my timing that flawed - our respect run so dry?
Yet there's still this appeal that we've kept through our lives
Love, love will tear us apart again --

You cry out in your sleep - all my failings expose
There's a taste in my mouth, as desperation takes hold
Just that something so good just can't function no more
When love, love will tear us apart again --

[Iyamity]

"Smoke Rings in the Dark" by Gary Allen. For those times when you've both tried your best to make it work, but it still ain't working.

[John Carter of Mars]

Originally posted by Joey P
"Positively Fourth Street" by Bob Dylan. One of the best songs in the world to play about someone that you absolutly hope get's run over by a truck in the next thirty seconds. Every single line in that song is brilliant.

That's the one!

"I wish that for just one moment you could stand here in my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is to see you"

(IIRC)

[MrVisible]

I'm gonna go with Jets to Brazil - Anemone.

Sung from the perspective of a guy lying drunk and almost passed out on the bathroom floor. Beautiful, in a very odd way. Lyrics here (http://gratuitous.com/~antoine/perso/jets_to_brazil/anemone.html).

Also, Kate Bush's You're the one.

And of course, Weird Al's One More Minute

[Squish]

My boyfriend suggested Type O Negatives, "Unsuccessfully Coping with the Knowledge of Infidelity (I Know You're F**king Someone Else)."

[Mr. Moto]

"Hello Walls" by Faron Young.

[Bad Hat]

Stunningly.. I've yet to see a vote for Lover You Should Have Come Over" By Jeff Buckley.

"Lonely is the room, the bed is made
the open window lets the rain in
and lying in the corner is the only boy
who dreams he had you with him"
//
"Maybe I'm just too young, to keep good love
from going wrong
to deaf, dumb, and blind to see the damage I've done
oh but lover you should've come over

but its not too late"

Or really, if i remember correctly, just about every song on that album. Its a homage to the dumped man. You gotta wonder what kinda woman leaves a guy who looked and sung like him to begin with.

RIP

CJ

[Spoke]

"Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" -Elvis Costello; similar themes to "You Oughta Know".

"It's All Over Now" - Rolling Stones
"Out of Time" - " "
"I'm Free" - " "

"It Won't Hurt" - Dwight Yoakam

"Goodbye" - Steve Earle (But I recall...all of them nights down in Mexico...)

[SuziQ]

"How can you mend a broken heart?"

By the Bee Gees


How can you stop the rain from falling
and let me live again?

[Spoke]

Oh, and speaking of The Rolling Stones, how could I forget [b]"No Expectations":

Your heart is like a diamond
You throw your pearls at swine
And as I watch you leaving me
You pack my peace of mind

So take me to the station
And put me on a train
I've got no expectations
To pass through here again

[Grelby]

There's a whole plethora on the Bob Dylan album Blood on the Tracks: Simple Twist of Fate, You're a Big Girl Now, You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, If You See Her Say Hello, Buckets of Rain.

Cheryl Wheeler - Arrow

Any number of Fleetwood Mac songs particularly off of Rumours or Tusk. Especially Go Your Own Way

Leonard Cohen - Marianne, Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye

That's all I can come up with for now. Bear in mind, most of these are of the sad but gentle, moving-on type, not the "f*ck 'em, kill 'em, f*ck 'em, kill 'em!" sort.

[Alessan]

I'm not even sure this is a breakup song:

[i]How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies
Perhaps we don't fulfill each other's fantasies.
And so we'll stand upon the ledges of our lives,
With our respective similarities
It's either sadness or euphoria.[/]i

- Summer, Highland Falls by Billy Joel

[Stoid]

Excellent gut-ripper: "I Can't Make You Love Me" as sung by Bonnie Raitt.

Turn down the lights, turn down the bed
Turn down these voices inside my head
Lay down with me, tell me no lies
Just hold me close, don't patronize - don't patronize me
CHORUS: Cause I can't make you love me if you don't
You can't make your heart feel something it won't
Here in the dark, in these lonely hours
I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power
But you won't, no you won't
'Cause I can't make you love me, if you don't
I'll close my eyes, then I won't see
The love you don't feel when you're holding me
Morning will come and I'll do what's right
Just give me till then to give up this fight
And I will give up this fight
CHORUS: Cause I can't make you love me if you don't
You can't make your heart feel something it won't
Here in the dark, in these lonely hours
I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power
But you won't, no you won't
'Cause I can't make you love me, if you don't

[Jeremy's Evil Twin]

34 replies and no one's mentioned "The Breakup Song" by the Greg Kihn Band?

[Algernon]

The song It's Too Late as sung by Carol King started playing on the radio as my girlfriend of seven years and I were discussing how our relationship was failing. As a consequence, this breakup song is forever imprinted on my brain.But we just can't stay together,
don't you feel it too
Still I'm glad for what we had,
and how I once loved you
But it's too late, baby,
now it's too late
Though we really did try to make it
Something inside has died
and I can't hide
And I just can't fake it Oh no no

[WIGGUM]

One Last Cry - Brian McKnight

Against All Odds - Phil Collins

End of the Road - Boyz II Men

Listening to these can still bring back some old heartaches.

[Spoke]

"Black Coffee in Bed" - Squeeze

"You Got Lucky" - Tom Petty

"Everyday I Write the Book" and "You're Not the Only Flame in Town" - Elvis Costello

"Heartbreak Hotel" - Elvis Presley

and my all-time favorite...

"The King Is Gone (and So Are You)" - George Jones

Last night I broke the seal
On a Jim Beam decanter that looked like Elvis
I soaked the label off a Flintstone jelly bean jar
I cleared us off a place
On the warm little table that you left us
And pulled me up a big old piece of floor
I pulled the head off Elvis
Filled Fred up to his pelvis
Yabba dabba do
The King is gone
And so are you

(Gotta love any breakup song that references both Elvis and The Flintstones.)

[Labdad]

Every Time You Go Outside I Hope It Rains by the Burch Sisters:

"I'm not gonna wish you all the best.
I hope you'll be lonesome, stay worried and depressed
I think I've summed it up in this refrain,
Every time you go outside, I hope it rains."

[Thing 1]

Some good songs by Dylan have already been mentioned. And of course The Breakup Song by Greg Kihn. But I like Watching You by Melisse Etheridge

If I can't love you I don't want to love you
If I can't hold you I don't want to be thinking of you
and if you don't want me I don't want to want you
and if you won't see me I don't know what to do
but I'll keep watching you

'cause I gotta do something


John

[crazy4chaucer]

There was some country song, Lesson in Leaving, I think it was called:

Somebody's gonna give you a lesson in leavin'
Somebody's gonna give you back what you've been givin'
and I hope that I'm around
To watch 'em knock you down.

I found it very satisfying.

Of course, entering my ex-boyfriend in an Ugly Dog contest also helped! :D

[John Corrado]

Two Rolling Stones songs mentioned, and no one's talked about Dead Flowers yet?


"And you can send me dead flowers every morning
Send me dead flowers by the mail
Send me dead flowers at my wedding
And I won't forget to put roses on your grave."

[World Eater]

SlipKnot's "Everything Ends"

<Macho man savage>Ooooh yeahhhhh!</macho man savage>

[The Mermaid]

Kina--Girl from the gutter

Sing along now and feel the empowerment.

For all the times you said you had my back,
for all the times you stabbed me there, for all the times you tried to hurt my pride and hold me down with bitterness and dispair.

Thngs are looking up for me now, it seems that Karma's making its way around. It's your turn now I won't be held down no. Karma's gonna visit you too. You're gonna pay for all the things you put me through--I hope you do.

I hope your hell is filled with magazines. And on every page you see a big picture of me, and under every picture the caption will read--not bad for a girl from the gutter like me.

[The Mermaid]

Originally posted by Bad Hat
Stunningly.. I've yet to see a vote for Lover You Should Have Come Over" By Jeff Buckley.
"You gotta wonder what kinda woman leaves a guy who looked and sung like him to begin with.

RIP


I didn't see this before. How about Last Goodbye?

Kiss me, please kiss me. Kiss me out of desire baby not consolation. You know it makes me so angry when I know inside. I'll only make you cry. This is our last goodbye.

[kaylasdad99]

Weird Al Yankovich again. One More Minute

Well I heard that you're leavin'
Gonna leave me far behind.
Since you found your brand new lover
you've decided that I'm not your kind.

So I pulled your name out of my Rolodex
And I tore all your pictures in two
And I burned down the malt shoppe where we used to go
just because it reminds me of you.

[easy e]

I have an "I Hate Men" playlist for such occasions (I also have an "I Like Men"). For the former, it has many songs mentioned. Also, "Thorn in my Side" by the Eurythmics.
Also, "Screw You" by Pat McCurdy (a Milwaukee-area singer)

You wanna know what I've been doing
Since you left me with a broken heart
I get the feeling that you're hoping
That I'm still miserable, still torn apart
You wanna know what I've been up to
Since you walked out and turned me upside down
Well, I won't lie to you

Chorus
I've been going out, having fun, making friends
Screw you
Going places, running wild, meeting people
It's true

Doing things I couldn't do
All those years I spent with you
Never thought forgetting you
Would be so easy

You only come back when you want to make sure
That you're still in control
Now and then you have to let me know
That you own my heart and soul
And you don't care what I've been doing
Since you've left me, I'll tell you anyway
And I won't lie to you

Chorus

One thing you can do for me:
Get out of my memory
I never thought that being free
Would feel so joyful

You say this is how our relationship ends
We can still be friends
I don't believe I've ever heard
Such utter bullshit

Well, I've been going out, having fun, making friends
Screw you
Going places, running wild, meeting people
Screw you
Going out, getting drunk, having sex
Screw you
Going out, writing checks, using your bank card
Screw you
Going out, having fun, making friends
Screw you

[DKW]

The One I Love, REM. Something about the minimalism, the directness, the...the utter coldness, it just grabs me. No elaborate proclamations or ranting; the singer sounds like he barely even cares.

I Ain't Missing You, John Waite. So much raw anger and bitterness. Way cool.

[Dragon Phoenix]

And one of mine:

Cup of coffee (Garbage), a sample:

You left behind some clothes
My belly summersaults
When I pick them off the floor
My friends all say they're worried
I'm looking far too skinny
I stop returning all their calls
And no, of course, we can't be friends
Not while I'm still so obsessed
I want to ask where I went wrong
But don't say anything at all

[Spoke]

"Bye Bye Love" - Everly Brothers
"Bed's Too Big Without You" - The Police
"Tear Stained Eye" - Son Volt
"This Old Cowboy" - Marshall Tucker Band

[Spoke]

"Valentine's Day Is Over" - Billy Bragg

[andygirl]

"In the hush before the heartbreak"- the Nields
"Arrow"- Cheryl Wheeler
"February"- Dar Williams

[DaddyTimesTwo]

"Alone", from Blues Traveler's first album, the title of which escapes me. It's absolutely perfect for making you feel even worse...

[Mockingbird]

Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar
Treat Me Right - Pat Benatar
Invincible - Pat Benatar
No More I Love Yous - Annie Lennox
Don't Ask Me Why - Eurythmics
You Hurt Me, And I Hate You - Eurythmics
What Have I Done To Deserve This - Pet Shop Boys
Love Don't Live Here Anymore - Madonna
You'll See - Madonna
Twist In My Sobriety - Tanita Tikaram
Fear - Sarah McLachlan
Adia - Sarah McLachlan
Black - Sarah McLachlan
Go To Hell - Nina Simone
To Hell With Love - Annie Ross
Wuthering Heights - Kate Bush
Doctor, Doctor - Thompson Twins
Nothing In Common - Thompson Twins
Why? - Bronski Beat
Don't Leave Me This Way - Communards
I Will Survive - Cake
The Winner Takes It All - Abba
Love To Hate You - Erasure
Deeper Love - Aretha Franklin
Respect - Aretha Franklin
You Keep Me Hangin' On - Kim Wilde

[chief]

here are a couple of great ones that come to mind, i dont know if ive mentioned them before:

Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley
It's Harder Now that It's Over - Ryan Adams
Walk Away - Ben Harper

[cichlidiot]

The Breakup Song - Greg Kihn Band (this was already mentioned, but it was the first thing I thought of.)


These Boots Are Made For Walking - Nancy Sinatra
F.O.D. - Green Day
Now That You Are Gone - Mr. T Experience

Those 3 just crack me up, but if I wanted to do it a bit of wallowing first, I'd choose:

The World Has Turned And Left Me Here - Weezer

[scott evil]

Two by Kate Bush, from The Red Shoes (1993):

"Moments of Pleasure"

I think about us lying, lying on a beach somewhere. I think about us diving, diving off a rock into another moment.

"You're the One"

It's alright, I'll come by when you're not in, and I'll pick up all my things. Everything I have a bought with you, but that's alright too. It's just everything we do, we did together. And there's a little piece of you in whatever. I've got everything I need. I have petrol in the car. I've got some money with me. There's just one problem: You're the only one I want.

They get me every time. The album came out a few days after I broke up with someone, and these songs brilliantly put it all into words and music. I believe she broke up with her longtime bass player and producer, Del Palmer, the year before.

- s.e.

[scott evil]

I've also written my own share of breakup songs, many of which found their way into my second and third musicals. Quoting their lyrics would be kind of pointless given none of you can hear the music.

[RaCha'ar]

I know they've already been said, but I have to heartily second You Oughtta Know (which made me scream along and cry when I heard it on the radio right after a really bad breakup) and Song for the Dumped (which I love three times as much since I got to rock out to it live with five hundred adoring Ben Folds fans). Hard-rocking ones are the best for working out pent-up rage, and I much prefer them to sad ones.

No one's mentioned Best I Ever Had by Vertical Horizon, speaking of sad ones. That also made me cry after my bad breakup. Still makes me cry today, actually. There's something so yearning and sad about it...