# Whiny Break-up Songs & Empowering Break-up Songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 5, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179 "2013-06-05T03:04:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/41 "2013-06-07T14:39:16Z")
About my least favorite song ever is that one about the guy who finds the diary. I can’t remember who sang it, but if I researched it I might accidentally hear part of it, and … _Brrrrr…!_ It’s sung in an “Aren’t I sensitive? Please fuck me” voice that makes even an old-line non-violence advocate like me want to tie the crooner’s shoestrings together. But the story is about someone who finds his girlfriend’s diary and thinks the special man she’s writing about is him; then it turns out to be someone else. The unaddressed elephant-in-the-room main point to me, though, is: Reading someone else’s diary without permission shows a level of trustworthiness so execrably low that no one like that could possibly sustain a relationship under any circumstances. The powerful one that stuck out in my mind was “Without You” from _My Fair Lady_, which stands out particularly among the available offerings in the show-tune genre. Eliza is severing relations with Professor Higgins, and tells him: There’ll be spring every year Without you. England still will be here Without you. And there still will be rain On that plain Down in Spain– Even _that_ will remain Without you. and just generally goes on to tell him how little will really change without him. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/42 "2013-06-07T15:06:29Z")
\*Somebody That I Used to Know \*by Gotye is probably the most spineless break-up song ever: But you didn’t have to cut me off Make it like it never happened and that we were nothing I don’t even need your love, but you treat me like a stranger And that feels so rough ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/43 "2013-06-07T15:50:42Z")
Whiny: [I Know It’s Over](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sQPZ9dD9v8) - The Smiths. Dirgey cadence, super self-pitying, great lyrics of envy and impotence, inarticulate woe-is-me wailing - a masterpiece of the genre. Empowering: [I Break Horses](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDUxB96tH1g) - Smog. Lo-fi, quiet acoustic song featuring the stately baritone of Bill Callahan. Seems like it would be whiny, but the narrator is clearly beyond the girl/relationship, establishing himself as a sort of maverick man: “I break horses. It doesn’t take me long - just a few well-placed words, and their wandering hearts are gone.” ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/44 "2013-06-07T16:10:27Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > About my least favorite song ever is that one about the guy who finds the diary. I can’t remember who sang it, but if I researched it I might accidentally hear part of it, and … _Brrrrr…!_ It’s sung in an “Aren’t I sensitive? Please fuck me” voice that makes even an old-line non-violence advocate like me want to tie the crooner’s shoestrings together. But the story is about someone who finds his girlfriend’s diary and thinks the special man she’s writing about is him; then it turns out to be someone else. The unaddressed elephant-in-the-room main point to me, though, is: Reading someone else’s diary without permission shows a level of trustworthiness so execrably low that no one like that could possibly sustain a relationship under any circumstances. That’s _Diary_ by Bread. I will not link to it. You’re welcome. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/45 "2013-06-07T17:54:29Z")
> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#): > > Indeterminate: “Picture” duet by Sheryl Crow and Outkast I’m pretty sure you mean Kid Rock here, though I have no idea how Kid Rock can be confused with Outkast. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/46 "2013-06-07T19:17:39Z")
Not break-up songs, but kind of related… These are songs by two different singers about another woman trying to steal their man with very different attitudes towards the situation: Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” (whiny/weak) and Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City” (strong). ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/47 "2013-06-07T19:38:23Z")
I good recent one is “Wrong Song” from the _Nashville_ TV soundtrack, sung by Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere. ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/48 "2013-06-07T23:21:48Z")
Whiny - Just When I Need You Most by Randy Van Warmer. The Dolly Parton version is equally as good/bad. Empowering (at least not whiny)- The Thrill Is Gone by B.B. King and Gone Gone Gone by Bad Company. ---
**Author:** ![Jungian\_Camisole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@Jungian\_Camisole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jungian_Camisole)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2013, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/49 "2013-06-08T00:13:42Z")
Empowering: Mayer Hawthorne’s “The Walk” “From the moment that I met you I thought you were fine, so fine. But your shitty fuckin’ attitude has got me changing my mind.” Reminds me of the saying that no matter how good-looking a person is, someone, somewhere, is tired of their shit. 😛 Somewhat whiny might be Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”. However, she sings it so beautifully that I can get over the done-me-wrong stuff. And, she’s Patsy. So there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/50 "2013-06-08T00:35:31Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > “Song For The Dumped”-Ben Folds Five > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjkMh0tKCZo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjkMh0tKCZo) Post-divorce, I adopted that one as my theme song. I even had a black t-shirt I never got back. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/51 "2013-06-08T00:40:35Z")
As for whiney, I believe the quintessential example would be [“Everything I Own” by Bread](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THtMy57rtlE). I think I can figure out why his girlfriend dumped him, the clingy bastard. ---
**Author:** ![turtlescanfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@turtlescanfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turtlescanfly)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/52 "2013-06-09T02:34:33Z")
In the “both” category: Pray for You by Jaron and the Long Road to Love. The tune is whiny (as well as the lyrics in the first stanza) but hang in there for the chorus and later verses… very empowering, and the personal anthem of my divorce. ---
**Author:** ![Uther\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Uther\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uther_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/53 "2013-06-10T00:51:44Z")
Intentionally whiny (actually a masterpiece of whininess): _Ne me quitte pas_ by Jacques Brel ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/54 "2013-06-10T14:49:41Z")
The ultimate whiny and empowering break up song has to be [I Don’t Remember Christmas](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DDdOCSUI6U) ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/55 "2013-06-10T15:08:00Z")
“Boots of Spanish Leather” starts off whiney and ends sort of empowering. Sort of, “Hell, might as well get a pair of boots out of this.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/56 "2013-06-10T15:12:48Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The ultimate whiny and empowering break up song has to be [I Don’t Remember Christmas](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DDdOCSUI6U) Hard to beat Wilson Phillips whinily telling you to get up off your ass and empower yourself in _Hold On For One More Day_. (Or are you comfortable with the pain? You’ve got no one to blame for your unhappiness; you got yourself into your own mess; are you going to let them hold you down and make you cry?) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/57 "2013-06-10T15:20:43Z")
[Kiss This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cc1G-k2V7Q)-Aaron Tippen. > [@](#): > > Why don’t you kiss, kiss this > And I don’t mean on my rosy red lips > Hey me and you, we’re through > And there’s only one thing left for you to do > You just come on over here > One last time > Pucker up and close your eyes > And kiss this goodbye ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/58 "2013-06-13T19:16:30Z")
One of my favorites: [“Hats Off To Larry”](http://youtu.be/Xk_FR3341bA) by Del Shannon. Sample lyrics: > [@](#): > > Once I had a pretty girl > Her name it doesn’t matter > She went away with another guy > Now he won’t even look at her > > Hats Off To Larry > He broke your heart > Just like you broke mine > When you said we must part > He told you lies, now it’s your turn to cry cry cry > Now that Larry’s said goodbye to you ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/59 "2013-06-13T21:16:27Z")
Empowering: ICP’s [Another Love Song](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/icpinsaneclownposse/anotherlovesong.html) > [@Clothahump](#): > > The Byrds - [Feel A Whole Lot Better](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaYqfI_tCkM). The best, and the one I came in here to mention. I actually used that one once–good times. Bread’s _Diary_ isn’t empowering or whiny. It’s heartbraking, and completely devoid of pride. I’ve known (and hated) ‘well adjusted’ guys who would approach a breakup like that. And Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” should be retitled to “Before he files a restraining order”. It’s never mentioned in the song but with a psycho like that I’d be willing to bet HE broke up with HER months, maybe years ago and she’s just in crazytown denial. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179/60 "2013-06-13T21:26:31Z")
Janis Ian’s Society’s Child is whiny. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whiny-break-up-songs-empowering-break-up-songs/660179.md?page=4)