5 Timeless Breakup Songs From the 1950s-1990s
Nothing makes you want to drown your sorrows quite like the next fresh wound in an ill-fated relationship — and nothing comforts like a good breakup song. History’s archive offers an array of colorful (and melancholy) melodies to match the full spectrum of post-breakup emotions: denial, sorrow, anger, resentment, gonna-show-that-cheater-a-lesson, and all the rest. Got an old-school broken heart? Here are some classic remedies:
“Your Cheatin’ Heart” (1953)
Hank Williams Sr.
It’s a classic done-wrong song in a genre that specializes in emotional wrongdoing. Williams, the country and western music legend also known as The Hillbilly Shakespeare, penned it after describing his first wife as a “cheatin’ heart.” The vocals, accompanied by fiddles and a steel guitar, address the conscience of a deceptive partner:
Your cheatin’ heart
Will pine some day
And crave the love
You threw away
The time will come
When you’ll be blue
Your cheatin’ heart
Will tell on you
“Crying” (1961)
Roy Orbison
Ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as No. 69 in its Greatest Songs of All Time, “Crying” is poignant, simple and just as uncomfortably truthful as the longing feeling brought on by the sight of a not-too-old ex. Inspired by a young Orbison’s own personal troubles, the lines
But darling, what can I do?
For you don’t love me
and I’ll always be crying over you
describe his sadness upon encountering an old flame. The ghostly tune concludes with a climatic rise that Orbison described simply as the “retelling of a thing with a girlfriend that I’d had.”
“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” (1963)
Bob Dylan
Greenwich Village’s freewheelin’ wordsmith put it bluntly: “This isn’t a love song.” The lyrics, however, drip with the kind of tender contempt that damaged love is known for producing. Dylan wrote “Don’t Think Twice” after hearing that his girlfriend Suze Rotolo, who was studying in Italy, planned to stay there indefinitely. His words cleverly toe that precious line between apathy and anguish:
I ain’t a-sayin’ you treated me unkind
You could have done better but I don’t mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don’t think twice, it’s all right
“Kiss and Say Goodbye” (1976)
The Manhattans
Originally recorded in 1975 as a demo for country singer Glen Campbell, “Kiss and Say Goodbye” gained success at the top of the pop and R&B charts. It was written by Manhattans member Winfred “Blue” Lovett, whose narrative is as dignified as a guilty rendezvous with one’s secret ladylove can possibly be:
When you turn and walk away, don’t look back
I wanna remember you just like this
Let’s just kiss and say goodbye
“Nothing Compares 2 U”
Prince (1985), Sinéad O’Connor (1990)
When this self-pitying masterpiece was first recorded in 1985 for Prince’s side project The Family, it received little recognition. Five years later, however, Irish songwriter Sinéad O’Connor turned it into an international hit. The 1990 music video, which features almost intrusively close shots of O’Connor’s emotional rendition, won an array of music video awards, including MTV’s Video of the Year. And what about those tears she (and thousands of viewers, undoubtedly) shed during the lines “All those flowers you planted … all died when you went away”? 100 percent genuine.
Pop Music Legends
August 2017
Dedicated to the sights, sounds and stories of the golden age of pop.
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