Top 10 Songs of Love Lost or Unrequited

I'm taking a break from my series on "How to Write a Dissertation," because I feel that I should balance Monday's list of favorite love songs with a list of favorite "sad" love songs. The truth is, despite my own happy relationship, I think I prefer the sad songs; they tend to be more moving and interesting. Included in this category are break-up songs, songs of love lost, or songs of unrequited love. These are in no particular order:

1. "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" -- Colin Hay. 

Ever since I heard this song on the Garden State Soundtrack I have returned to it again and again as a favorite. More melancholy than downright sad, its opening lines get me every time: "I drink good coffee every morning/ Comes from a place that's far away/ And when I'm done, I feel like talking/ Without you here, there is less to say..."



2. "Babe, I'm gonna leave you." -- Led Zepplin

A classic folk song redone in Zepplin's signature blues rock. There may be nothing so moving as Robert Plant screaming out "Baby, Baby" over and over at the song's climax. When I saw Plant this summer in Dallas, he opened with this song and it was magical.

3. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." -- Bob Dylan

The quintessential break-up song, with classic Dylan lines: "I ain't sayin' you treated me unkind/ You could've done better, but I don't mind/ You just sorta wasted my precious time/ But don't think twice, it's all right." His version from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is my favorite, though it has been covered many times by other artists (including me, on my EP, Girl on a String). This is also my favorite Dylan song.

4. "You Don't Know Me" -- written by Cindy Walker; popularized by Ray Charles

I can't get enough of Ray Charles's perfectly crackly, soulful voice on this song of unrequited love. I think I was first exposed to the song on the movie, My Best Friend's Wedding, with Jann Arden singing.




5. "Someone Like You." -- Adele

This song was a huge hit for Adele, which a kind of miracle, given that it is a simple piano-vocal ballad in a sea of over-produced pop numbers. What makes it special, though, is the way Adele's raw emotion bleeds through every note.

6. "Early Morning Rain" -- Gordon Lightfoot, as performed by Peter, Paul and Mary

Just listen; it's gorgeous:




7. "Monday, Monday" -- The Mamas and the Papas

This song is great for the general Monday blues as well as the post-breakup ones.

8. "Poison and Wine" -- The Civil Wars 

I can't think of another song quite like this one that so thoroughly mixes the feelings of faithful long-term love with the persistent sense of discontent that can sneak into an established relationship over time. The paradoxical refrain, "I don't love you, but I always will" sums it up nicely, but the beautiful singing is what really puts the song over the edge for me.


9. "Give Me One Reason" -- Tracy Chapman

This blues number is the classic ultimatum for a partner who is doing you wrong: "Baby just give me one reason, give me just one reason why I should stay/ Said I told you that I love you, and there ain't no more to say..."

10. 50 ways to leave your lover -- Paul Simon

This one's depressing to me for the easy way the female (mistress?) in the song tells the male protagonist to leave his lover, like it's no big deal. But then that series of couplets is so darn catchy: "Just jump out the back, Jack/ Make a new plan, Stan/ No need to be coy, Roy..." and so on. I could sing it all day. In fact, now that I've written about it, I probably will.

So, now that you're nice and depressed, Happy Valentine's Day!