What songs come to mind when you think of a whiny singer crooning about a broken heart or lost love? I’ll give my own examples of what I mean. Songs like “This Old Heart Of Mine” (any version), “The Cheater” by Bob Kuban, and Connie Francis singing “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” reflect a narrator that is pining for somebody that mistreated them and yet they STILL want this person BACK in their love lives–PATHETIC! These are examples of whiny breakup songs.
In contrast, “These Boots Are Made For Walking” by Nancy Sinatra, “Evil Woman” by ELO, or “Red Rubber Ball” by The Cyrkle actually has the narrators telling the offending parties that they are finished with them and their nonsense, and how much better the narrators feel by ridding themselves of these negative people.
So what can the SDMB members come up with? I’m sure that there are plenty of examples out there.
“You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you.” She sings it like it’s an self-empowering put-down of her ex – but since you can’t help but figure there’s nothing vain about just being accurate, she kinda sounds less ‘I am so totally over you’ and more ‘I remain obsessed with the Most Interesting Man In The World, à la Dos Equis, and will keep going on and on about him. He once said we made such a pretty pair! Did I ever tell you that? We didn’t need dialogue! We had faces!’
I don’t have an example at hand but I hate songs where the singer, always female, says some variant of “You’re going to miss me so much but I’ve already forgotten you”.
Honey, he broke up with you and he’s off watching TV, eating pizza and planning how to get into your best friend’s pants while you’re at home writing songs about him. You already lost that fight.
If, if you swear that you no longer care
Well then I’ll sail this ship alone
I’ll sail this ship alone
Between the pain and the pleasure
I’ll sail this ship alone
Amongst the sharks and the treasure
If you would rather go your way then go your way
I’ll sail this ship alone
Well they said if I burnt myself alive
That you’d come running back
Bob Mould’s “Out of Your Life”: Definitely empowering, and a song I couldn’t listen to when it came out because it hit a little too close to home at the time.
