Note: Original post was part of the TBD Blog Tour for Songs of Our Breakup, and can be found in author Ana Tejano‘s blog here. You may find some songs already in my book soundtrack. But that only means I heart those tracks very much.
I don’t know why I felt like reblogging this. Maybe because I’m revising Songs to Get Over You and the feelings are getting to me. Or maybe because Monday bit me and is still dragging me down. In any case, I needed to listen to something, and I remembered this. A ready, foolproof, karaoke-hits playlist.
When I was tasked to choose a guest post topic for the blog tour, I jumped on this one figuring it would be easy. I mean people carry heartbreak songs around with them all the time. My karaoke roster for one is usually 80% heartbreak songs, and those are the best ones to sing!
But when I tried to compose the list of my top 5 songs of sadness, I sat there and watched the cursor blink a few dozen hundred times, my head a blank space. I remembered that I haven’t really been keeping up with new releases, relying solely on the millennial magic of Spotify. But I guess that shouldn’t matter much. Breakup songs usually endure.
So here it is: the list of my favorite songs of heartbreak, no recent hit in sight, in no particular order. Hit play, click shuffle, maybe feel a few things, and repeat. Breakup not required.
The Script., Breakeven
- Why it hurts. Because it’s a truth universally acknowledged that love is not given in equal measure, and thus when it is broken, the divide is unequal too.
- The lines that got me. ‘Cause I’ve got time while she’s got freedom /Because when a heart breaks it don’t break even.
Sandwich, Masilungan
- Why it hurts. I like my Sandwich served raw—simple words and a lazy tune that builds into a violent barrage of feelings as Raimund Marasigan screams the gigantic question of why into my ears. Even the video by Quark Henares is awesome in its simplicity too. Shots of faces, profiles, and movement, proving that you don’t always need tears to evoke sadness.
- The lines that got me. Wala natayo/Wala natayo/Bakit wala na tayo?
Ed Sheeran, Photograph
- Why it hurts. You can argue this isn’t technically a sad song, but to me the words are asking someone to hold on to a promise, a blind hope. It makes me think that hope, while a positive thing, can be even sadder than a clean break because it leaves you hanging.
- The lines that got me. We keep this love in a photograph/
We made these memories for ourselves/ Where our eyes are never closing/
Hearts are never broken/And time’s forever frozen still.
Arctic Monkeys. The Bakery.
- Why it hurts. Alex Turner is a fricking lyrics genius. I’d like one hour to see a normal, everyday scene through his eyes. Here he makes the bakery seem like the most romantic setting for a boy pining over a girl. The line that killed my heart is actually the last one, but I’ll let you discover that for yourself. The following were heartbreakers too.
- The lines that got me.The more you keep on looking/The more it’s hard to take/Love, we’re in stalemate/To never meet is surely where we’re bound.
The Smiths, Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
- Why it hurts. I can’t make a list of the best saddest songs without including the Smiths. Morrissey’s MO seemed to be to wrench sadness from the depths of broken hearts and make the display seem like the most beautiful thing. This song is short and simple in the wretchedness it brings, because hasn’t everyone had this dream?
- The lines that got me. Last night I dreamt/ That somebody loved me/ No hope, but no harm/ Just another false alarm.
Video credits to owners. Songs of Our Breakup is available on Amazon. Print edition available here.
