After love songs in honor of Valentine’s Day last week, this week we’re doing heart-break songs. 

Nick’s picks

1. Jeff Buckley – “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over”
2. Joy Division – “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
3. Colter Wall – “Kate McCannon” 

Jeff Buckley’s life could make a heartbreak playlist all on its own. Born to Tim Buckley, the experimental folk artist, Jeff Buckley only released one record before his mysterious death. His 1994 album “Grace” is a bit chaotic, but Buckley’s creative vision is so pure and wonderful. My favorite song from the record is “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over.” From the harmonium on its intro to the interesting time signature, the song has its standard Buckley creativity. For me though, the two hardest hitting parts of the song, the parts that make its almost seven-minute run time worth it, are its ranging final chorus and Buckley’s lyricism. Lyrics like “Too young to hold on / And too young to break free and run,” “All my blood for the sweetness of her laughter” and “My kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder” are absolutely poetic and make my heart swoon. I’ve been listening to this song a couple of times a day since I fell in love with it earlier this year.  

Remember what I said about Jeff Buckley’s life being a heartbreak playlist? Well, the same thing goes for lead singer of Joy Division Ian Curtis’ life. “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is a song about Curtis’ unfaithful marriage. Curtis, while struggling with depression that eventually led to his death, cheated on his wife. The song features his claims to his wife that this new “Love will tear us apart.” The heartbreak for me comes with seeing how this beautiful and horrific song makes Curtis’ distasteful actions seem like the correct decision. Curtis made a couple of really bad mistakes that led to this song, and it reminds me of the past few months of one of the musicians we lost far too soon. 

Unlike the previous artists, Colter Wall, thankfully, is still alive. Wall is a folk artist from Canada with a voice that is so full of grit, grime and grief that it’s hard to believe that he is only 27; he sounds like the oldest man I’ve ever heard. “Kate McCannon” starts off as the typical story song about meeting the love of your life. Wall tells the tale of meeting the titular Kate McCannon. As the song progresses though, things start going wrong. Though the narrator has started saving money to buy her a wedding ring and he is showing signs of maturity and a want to settle down, his love goes awry. As Wall sings, “one day I come home to find / My darlin’ angel’s not inside.” He decides to go to the creek where they met, but he “found her with some other lover.” The song ends on an even more sour note as Wall sings out, “And I put three rounds into Kate McCannon.” A real downer of a song, but its grit is so awe-inspiring that I have to love it. 

Sarah’s picks 

1. Ruelle – “The Other Side”
2. Florence + The Machine – “Make Up Your Mind”
3. Lana Del Rey – “Dark Paradise”

Ruelle can do sweet, heartache songs, and she can also do heartbreak songs. “The Other Side” is one of the latter, poetically describing a broken heart. The song tells the story of two people who broke up after previously being in love. Ruelle keeps asking if they could have seen this breakup coming, or if they were meant to not work out, as “the stars choose their lovers.” “We are buried in broken dreams / We are knee deep without a plea” is one of my favorite lyrics in songwriting history. This song tells how these two people are left with dreams unachieved and are lost in themselves after parting ways.  

“Make Up Your Mind” is a song about a stable, loving relationship about to break. Florence sings to her lover that they need to make up their mind about whether their relationship can still work. The whole chorus features a guillotine metaphor which represents her and her lover parting ways as the blade falls lower and lower. Florence’s mature vocals blend well with the fast paced rhythm of the song. Similar to her tone in the song, that she wants her lover to hurry up and make up his mind, a rapid beat creates that “sing your heart out” kind of jam. 

Switching lanes from the last two songs, Lana Del Rey sings about a dead lover in “Dark Paradise.” Whenever I hear this song, I like to imagine that she is singing this to her dead lover at their grave. The lyrics “And there’s no remedy for memory, your face is like a melody / It won’t leave my head” convey how much Rey misses this person, as she can’t get them out of her head, even when she’s asleep. “Dark Paradise” contains a gentle melody that carries Rey’s voice as if she’s an angel. 

Eli’s picks

1. Lloyd Cole – “Happy for You”
2. Tom Waits – “Ruby’s Arms”
3. Bonnie Raitt – “I Can’t Make You Love Me”

Lloyd Cole, known for his intellectual and literate singer-songwriter style, crafted the perfect bittersweet heartbreak song with “Happy for You.” The song vividly tells the story of the dissolution of a relationship and the fallout that results. “Happy for You” notably features the distinct lead guitar stylings of Robert Quine, my favorite guitarist of all time. His tasteful and subdued playing work to take the song’s melancholy atmosphere to the next level. Whenever Quine plays, whether it’s with Cole, Tom Waits, or Lou Reed, he somehow manages to express more raw emotion than could ever be expressed with words.

“Ruby’s Arms” is the grand finale to the drunken cabaret era of Tom Waits, which began with his 1973 debut album “Closing Time” and ended with 1980’s “Heartattack and Vine.” The latter album’s closing track “Ruby’s Arms” follows a man hesitantly leaving a woman behind. The contrast between the lush orchestral arrangements and Waits’ rough, gravelly voice somehow take the emotion in the song to another level.

Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” is about the pain of dealing with unrequited love. The lyrics focus on the narrator being excruciatingly in love with someone she knows will never feel the same way about her. The song deals with the ultimate acceptance of the situation and the difficulty of it. Almost everyone will deal with unrequited love at some point in their lives and Raitt captures it beautifully in this song.

Angelina’s picks 

1. Bon Iver – “Skinny Love”  
2. James Arthur – “Impossible” 
3. Brantley Gilbert – “Saving Amy” 

“Skinny Love” is written by Justin Vernon, lead singer of indie-folk band Bon Iver. The song is about one lover pleading to another, begging to make the relationship work even though they know it never will. Vernon’s beautiful voice brings to life the sorrow the song illustrates. Additionally, British singer-songwriter Birdy did a cover of “Skinny Love” which was met with great success and further proved the power of Vernon’s lyrics. 

“Impossible” was originally written and performed by Barbadian singer Shontelle. The lyrics express the pain one feels when someone you love leaves or betrays you. They do everything you thought would be impossible, and that’s what makes it hurt so much. “Tell them all I know now, shout it from the rooftops, write it on the skyline / All we had is gone now / Tell them what I hoped would be impossible,” echoes the chorus. James Arthur covered the song during the ninth season of “X Factor,” then officially released the song after he was declared the season’s winner. Personally, I like Arthur’s version better because his rougher voice is able to portray the hurt and pain that is illustrated in the lyrics.

A man proposes to the love of his life, Amy, and she says yes. Afterward, he drops her off at her house, but is killed before he ever makes it home himself. Now, he is forced to watch Amy grieve knowing there is nothing he can do to ease her pain. Instead, he pleads to God to help her. “I wish she knew I’d do anything to kiss the tears right off her face, tell her everythings OK…Oh, but God, I know I can’t. You can’t let her live this way. It’s too late for saving me, but there’s still hope for saving Amy,” sings country-rock artist Brantley Gilbert. “Saving Amy” portrays the agony of grief and the heartbreak of losing someone when you had just promised forever. 

Brynn’s picks

1. Mitski – “Why Didn’t You Stop Me”
2. Sufjan Stevens – “Visions of Gideon”
3. Fiona Apple – “Not About Love”

“Why Didn’t You Stop Me” follows someone who ended a relationship but now regrets it. Although Mitski was the one who broke things off, she wants her partner to chase after her. She misses the relationship that they had and even though things were not perfect she wants to mend them. The repeated line “paint it over” stands out to me. Things were wrong in the relationship and painting over them is a way of fixing things. However, a new coat of paint will not address any underlying issues. Mitski is acknowledging that even if her partner patches things up, the relationship will still be flawed beneath the surface. The song contains Mitski’s classic, emotional clear vocals, some electric guitar and a techno vibe synth beat. These pair with the energy of the song to describe a longing for a relationship that you know is never going to succeed.

“Visions of Gideon” is a heartbreaking song mourning a relationship. The song has a similar sound to most of Stevens’ work – slow piano and soft vocals – creating a very vulnerable atmosphere. The lyric “I have loved you for the last time” repeats throughout the song. This lyric really encapsulates why this song is so sad. A relationship has occurred, and was beautiful, but Stevens can never experience that relationship again. The song is coming to terms with the fact that the relationship is truly over. It’s not just a song about heartbreak, but about loss and grief.

While “Not About Love” is about heartbreak, it doesn’t have the same tone of sadness as most songs about this topic do. Instead, the emotion being portrayed is anger. Apple reflects on a past relationship where she was treated poorly. While Apple is heartbroken and still misses being in love, she does not miss the relationship. Now that the relationship has ended, her rose-colored lenses have been removed and she wonders why she even tolerated this behavior in the first place. The lyrics of this song are not the only thing that portrays Apple’s mood. Instrumentally there is a lot going on in this song. Quick repetitive piano and a steady, also quick, drum beat play throughout. An interesting feature of this song is that the instruments will dramatically stop and start up again. The instrumentals paired with Apple’s spoken word-esque vocals really demonstrate the passion in this song.