THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016). |
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I've just started. The three on the list so far are: Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" Roy Orbison's "Crying" Patsy Cline's "Sweet Dreams of You" I can't think of any more right now (maybe because I have Radiohead's "Bulletproof...I Wish I Was" on repeat and I refuse to take it off). So, can you think of any? They have to be blatantly about unrequited love, and they have to be sung from the one in love's point of view. No songs about "nobody loves me," or "you love me but I don't love you," or "nobody loves anybody," or "I'm really sad now for non-love or unspecified reasons." And nothing creepy like the Police's "Every Breath You Take." Drinkin' 'n' cryin' music...you know what I'm saying? Give me your crying songs. |
"sucker love i always find someone to bruise and leave behind." "all alone in space and time, there's nothing here, but what's hers mine." bulletproof has been my song of choice as well. Momus, ice king, but it is about a guy who is being cold so a girl will like him, but he is really a tender guy. oh, this is harder than i thought...i will be thinking about this for a while. goody! |
"Nothing compares 2 U" sinead o'connor. real tear jerker. "It ain't over till it's over" lenny kravitz. "second hand news" fleetwood mac "up the junction" squeeze "I'm so tired" beatles. "cold shot" stevie ray vaughn "lovin' touchin squeezin'" journey |
Can I take you to the movies? I'll buy you pop-corn & candy They will make you fat and ugly CHORUS So no other boy will look your way and you'll be mine, all mine every single day My little Butterball wouldn't go anywhere without her man take her to the bar/beach she's ignored And if she weren't so goddamn pretty, she'd be mine Can I fuck you on the red eye? Travelling always with her best guy I'll make all the other boys cry CHORUS If I weren't quite so boring in bed Or if I made more money at my job If I played in a cooler band than this She'd be mine. The band is called flashlight (www.flashlightonline.com) and they are a lot of fun. How about Janine by David Bowie? Hello I Love You by the Doors... Mansion on the Hill by Hank Williams Sr. Cruel Cruel Heart by H W Sr. Why don't you love me like you used to do? Heck, just about any Hank Williams Sr. song... Prove My Love by the Violent Femmes Nightmare Hippie Girl by Beck (sort of) Not all of these are sad, though. Hope this helps! |
So scratch that Doors song right off the list. I'm serious about this! Unrequited love songs that make you cry. List them. |
"lush life" sarah vaughn version (coltrane version is good too) "almost blue" chet baker version |
Prove my love isn't sad, but it's a great song. It's not happy either, though. Are ambiguous songs ok? We've never met by Neko Case is pretty good. Unrequited love after a break-up. Jettison by Neko might also do (different twist on "unrequited"... more like "shouldn't be requited" I guess - very very heartbreaking). Haunted (when the minutes drag) by Love & Rockets. It's certainly evocative, if not tear-jerking - it's hard for me to say because it doesn't make *me* cry, but it likely makes others cry. Heart of glass by blondie? Pretty Persuasion by REM? This is fun, though I guess I'm not being as helpful as I could... most of these songs are not heartwrenching. Hey or Cactus by the Pixies... ? |
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"fire and rain" james taylor Is "pretty persuasion' that song that starts off ..."i don't know why your mean to me.....when i call on the telephoooooooonnnnneee...."? if so, yeah that one to. let me get home and check out some of my albums. I broke up with this girl one time and pretty much came across every tear-jerker-heart-breaking song written. they always made me feel like shit but I loved to torture myself by listening to them. |
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Losing my religion is supposed to actually be a phrase that means "unrequited love" but not being a southerner, I don't know for sure. I'll try to have more songs on point tomorrow... |
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Radiohead's "Creep" is too, but somehow I don't feel that that song would fit on said list. "Diana" by Nerf Herder. "I Don't Care" by Black Flag. Crap. I'm moving on Sunday. I hope everything goes well. If it doesn't I don't know what I'll do. |
Why did you leave me here, to find my own way home? Your words were very clear: "You'll never be alone." So now I run away, but I have no place to go. I thought I'd be with you. "We'll be in love forever more, forever more, forever more." I know...short song, but it says a lot about what I was feeling at the time. I think "Ms. Misery" by Elliot Smith might count, too. |
(Gilbert O'Sullivan) In a little while from now, If I'm not feeling any less sour. I promised myself, I'd treat myself, And visit a nearby tower .......... And climbing to the top, I'd throw myself off, In an effort to, make clear to whoever, What it's like when your shattered ....... Standing in a lurch, In a church with people saying ..... My God, that's tough, she stood him up, No point in us remaining ....... I may as well go home, I decided on my own, Alone again, naturally. It seems that only yesterday, I was cheerful, bright and gay. Looking forward to, and who wouldn’t do, The role I was about to play. And, as if to knock me down, Reality came around, And without so much as a mere touch, Put me into little pieces. Leaving me to doubt, all about God and His mercy, Oh, if He really does exist, Why did He desert me? And in my hour of need, I truely am, indeed, Alone again, naturally. It seems to me that there are more hearts, Broken in the world that can’t be mended, Left unattended, what do we do? What do we do? In looking back over the years, And whatever else has occurred. I remember I cried when my father died, Never wishing to hide the tears. At sixty-five years old, My mother, God rest her soul, Couldn’t understand why the only man, She had ever loved had been taken. Leaving her to start, with a heart so badly broken, Despite encouragement from me, No words were ever spoken. And when she passed away, I cried and cried all day, Alone again, naturally ..... Alone again ................................. naturally. |
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I LOVE YOU, YOU LOVE ME. WE'RE BEST FRIENDS LIKE FRIENDS SHOULD BE. WITH A GREAT BIG HUG AND A KISS FROM ME TO YOU, WONT YOU SAY YOU LOVE ME TOO. |
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But he started hanging out with this Abby chick...a day student who was one of those poor tortured artist souls I thought I wanted to be back then. I was heartbroken. Then, one day, I was sitting on the steps and here comes Eric walking up the hill. He sat next to me and told me he was waiting for Abby..they were going to watch a movie together. Abby never showed up...we sat there for hours until finally, that look...the shy akwardness you feel just before you kiss someone for the very first time. We kissed. He was mine. Eric and I lost our virginity to eachother. His parents were pastors at the church, so on Sundays I would sneak to his house and we'd try to make sense of this new thing called "sex" that we were teaching each other. After the very first time, we were walking back to school, we both started singing "Today" by Smashing Pumpkins at the very same time. We got up to campus and the video for Today was on MTV in the lobby. A week later, Eric was walking to school, and on the side of the road, discarded in a Pearl Jam case, was Siamese Dream. Oh. I guess I can't explain it. I miss Eric sometimes. I wonder what he's doing now......I wonder what would happen if we ever ran into eachother again. I loved him sooo soo much. |
"slaves and bulldozers" off badmotorfinger. loud and true. |
Kalli, that story was very bittersweet... At least you have *something*. "I get lonesome" by Beck suits my mood right now, though. though "Girl Dreams" by Beck is probably a good song for the theme of this thread... "She's just the girl of my dreams but it seems my dreams never come true." |
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Louisiana Lowdown by Cowboy Mouth New Orleans, by Cowboy Mouth (anybody guess what I'm listening to right now?) La La Love you, by the Pixies Somebody to Love, Jefferson Airplane Song for the Dumped, Ben Folds Five No One by Dada Broken Arms, by Pain (okay, not really.) Trailer Trash, by Modest Mouse track 14 off that same album. don't know what it's called... Bankrupt on Sellin'. Elliot Smith must have something that falls in this category, but I can't think... dammit. Sad song, but not unrequited lovesong: Homesick and Keep it Up by Soul Asylum; Trashman in Furs by the Geraldine Fibbers right. I'll have to go find these "Tom" threads now, assuming it's here. Or not. tired. |
I give a lot of weight to songs that actually make me cry and have to pull off the road the first time I hear them. And I don't even "like country music".... He said "I'll love you till I die", she told him "You'll forget in time" As the years went slowly by, she still preyed upon his mind He kept her picture on his wall, went half-crazy now and then He still loved her through it all, hoping she'd come back again Kept some letters by his bed dated nineteen sixty-two He had underlined in red every single "I love you" I went to see him just today, oh but I didn't see no tears All dressed up to go away, first time I'd seen him smile in years He stopped loving her today They placed a wreath upon his door And soon they'll carry him away He stopped loving her today SPOKEN You know, she came to see him one last time. Aww, 'n' we all wondered if she would. And it kept runnin' through my mind-"this time he's over her for good." He stopped loving her today They placed a wreath upon his door And soon they'll carry him away He stopped loving her today |
I was thinking about the theme of the thread again... I think that "Take it In" by Sloan might do too - the protagonist of the song is telling the object of unrequited love about his feelings, but seems to be suggesting that it's someone else who has the feelings. Again, not particularly tear-jerking, but not really happy. Bit of a twist at the end. Is she really going out with him? by Joe Jackson Elliott Smith... maybe Waltz 2? I'm not sure of the names of the songs. Ever since CDs, I don't pay as much attention to the names. CD covers aren't as compelling (mostly because of the size, I think) as 12" vinyl covers. Oh well. La La love you by the Pixies isn't sad... and not about unrequited love, I don't think. It's too loungy. They've got lots of others, though. But, as already stated... the easiest way to get heart-wrenching, unrequited love songs is to get a Hank Williams Sr. compilation and/or a Patsy Cline compilation. They are straightforward tear jerkers. Most of the rest, I've noticed, are open to personal interpretation... I hope this helps, spider. Is this just a list for personal edification or are you making a tape? Either way, I'd be interested in seeing what you've collected! The only way I feel anything these days is vicariously, so it would do me some good, I think. I'm going to keep thinking about this. |
"whores" by janes addiction. unrequited? what does that mean exactly. i'd never use a word like that. i'd have to say "a song about loving someone and them not loving you back." it's fortunate they have words that mean things or else i'd ramble on for hours trying to make my point. Although the place where i work is amuk with anagrams which sometimes drive me crazy. "I had to get a PID form for SERF over at the JUMF." college campuses are another horrible place for anagrams. i am thankful for the word anagram though. or else i'd be stuck saying "words that are made from the initials of other words that get to long and tiresome to say over and over." |
"No Distance Left to Run" by Blur. . . but maybe this is a tad too much on the getting-over-the-other-person theme um. . . geez. . . 128 CDs and two songs on this theme. . . mebbe nobody wants to admit anything resembling love nowadays |
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That saved a Wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I am found, was blind but now I see. |
I think my dilemma of not feeling is something that affects more people today - maybe it's awareness that there are other experiences to be had and the lack thereof makes one feel separate? I forget how this relates to there being few songs about unrequited love, but it's in there somewhere. I found that a lot of the songs about unrequited love that I thought of were amusing. The real sad ones were just about being depressed and lonely. |
that song by Don Henley. "heart of the matter" you know that shits unrequited as hell when the chorus is "even if you don't love me anymore" . there's also a few dinosaur jr. songs that are pretty heart felt although i can't remember the names. keeblin' maybe? |
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You don't really know me... I could be a crazy fat chick with bad skin. |
Slick Willy wants Willy Nilly |
As a side note, Blondie has a bunch of songs that are about stalking the object of one's affection. Has anyone else noticed that? My friend and I noticed that... Tide is High - "I'm not the kind of girl who gives up just like that" Hanging on the telephone - "I'm in the phone booth it's the one across the hall, if you don't pick up I'll just ring it all the more" One way or another - "I'll walk down the mall, stand over by the wall Where I can see it all, find out who ya call" "I know your license plate number" "And if the lights are all out I'll follow your ass downtown See who's hangin' out" {I always thought it was "follow your *BUS* downtown" but the blondie site has these lyrics.} I'm gonna love you too (I know this is a Buddy Holly cover, but why pick this particular song?) -"You're gonna say you'll hold me, You're gonna say you love me 'cause I'm gonna love you too" Now... isn't this a peculiar theme? Back to unrequited love (Jay, you could, instead of using "unrequited" you could use "one-sided," "unreciprocated" or even "unreturned")... Almost all of Daniel Johnston's songs are sad songs about unrequited love - can't think of any specific titles off hand, though... Julia Dream by Pink Floyd Bike by Pink Floyd too - but again, it's not sad Very tangentially - Frustrated by the Knack... though these are more unrequited sexual advances than anything else. Geez, coming up with songs is harder than it sounds! |
People are so perplexing... not doing anything enticing normally doesn't elicit any response. Strange how differently things are perceived online. |
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I find it interesting that people seem to respond to other people more readily online than in real life. I can assure you that you wouldn't even notice me if we were in a room together. I am remarkably asexual. Again, this is the curious thing - I'm not behaving any differently here than I would be in person... not really. |
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Plus, you think of ideas I never dream of. And you respond. And there is fun and joy of anticipating your response. |
:-) |
Also, if you're expecting anything, uh, dirty... I respond from a public terminal from where I work in a public library. This is as racy as I'm going to get! |
"Tragic" "Mmm Donut" "Someday" - Captain Tractor "Anything" - Bif Naked "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All" - the 5th Dimension |
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Kind of a Kurt Weil/Richard Wagner thing? maybe not... |
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Tori Amos - "Precious Things." This song is pretty specific about an experience she had when she was younger, but it's definitely about unrequited love and it's definitely not happy. The Beatles - "No Reply," "Yesterday," "I'm a Loser," and probably many more. "I'm a Loser" is in a major key, but that certainly doesn't make it a happy song. Keep this in mind. Black Sabbath - "A Bit of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning." Never let it be said, however, that Geezer Butler actually writes good lyrics. He doesn't. Jackson Browne - "Fountain of Sorrow," "Farther On," "The Late Show" Derek and the Dominos/Eric Clapton - "Layla." I cannot believe no one's mentioned this one yet - it's the textbook example of an "unrequited love" rock song. Elvis Costello - "Alison" - another classic example... The Cure - I'll resist the temptation to say "everything they ever did," but Robert Smith wasn't exactly happy, romantically... Ani DiFranco - "Adam and Eve," kind of; there's a bunch of other songs of hers that fit the bill more accurately, but it's up to you to do the hunting. Bob Dylan - "I Want You," virtually the entire Blood on the Tracks album, "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" (sort of) Grateful Dead - "Brokedown Palace." Metallica - "Nothing Else Matters." Yes, a metal band can do a love ballad. The lyrics are kind of cryptic, but the melody is very sad. Nine Inch Nails - "Something I Can Never Have." It's kind of about a breakup, but the unrequited love part runs pretty strong, too. NIN is high on depressive lyric count. Smashing Pumpkins - virtually every song in the catalog and then some. The Smiths - "How Soon Is Now" and presumably countless others, though none spring to mind. "I Know It's Over" kind of fits the bill, but he's talking about a relationship that's, well, over. U2 - a lot of the stuff from Achtung Baby; "Surrender/Red Light," though these songs (they are about the same person) also deal with the object of the speaker's affections committing suicide. I guess that's the ultimate unrequited love, since she'll never be alive to appreciate his presence. Violent Femmes - "Please Do Not Go." Despite the implications of the song title, lead singer Gordon Gano is actually referring to someone who he doesn't even have. The Wallflowers - a number of songs from the new album. Neil Young - "Speakin' Out," "Cowgirl in the Sand," "Expecting to Fly," "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," "Without Rings." There's also "Like a Hurricane," which isn't explicitly about unrequited love but has a lot of the same emotions -- "I want to love you but I'm gettin' blown away." Hmm... There's a bit more of a folkie bent in this list than I was expecting. Folk musicians have it tough, I suppose. I'm sure I can think of more, but this would come at the expense of sleep. |
Three by Husker Du: "Ice Cold Ice," "Standing in the Rain," "All This I've Done For You." Despite the largely major key of "Standing in the Rain," you get a sad song. How funny. Beck: "Lord Only Knows," which is a very pained song if you get past the almost unbearable sarcasm that overrides the whole song (love that scream at the beginning). The opening, though: "You only got one finger left, and it's pointin' out the door." Nine Inch Nails: "That's What I Get," "Piggy," "Sin," "Sanctified" (yes, "Sanctified" is actually a thinly-veiled reference to the drug addiction Trent was suffering from at the time he wrote the song, and not about an actual woman at all, but who cares as long as you can identify with its romantic situation?). Some of the songs on _The Fragile_ could be interpreted romantically -- "I'm Looking Forward to Joining You, Finally" has a dedication to Trent's deceased grandmother, but I found myself identifying with the words ("A fool's devotion / Swallowed up in empty space / The tears of regret / Frozen to the side of his face...") whilst immersing myself in unrequited love-driven sadness. "Underneath It All" could be about a lost love (again, it's a major key but that doesn't make it a happy song), and "Somewhat Damaged" could be decrying the failure of a loved one to come through, which is kind of unrequited love if you look at it in the right angle. The beautiful thing with song lyrics is that you can get your own meaning from them. Nick Drake: "Which Will," "Place to Be," "Poor Boy," & plenty of others, but you have to derive your own meaning from some of his lyrics. The Velvet Underground: "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" (well, it's _kind of_ about unrequited love, though it's really referring to unrequited everything -- "she ain't got nuthin' at all"). Someone above me expressed doubts that Radiohead's "Creep" belongs on this list. I feel that they were wrong to doubt; it seems to me just as valid a contender as anything else. "She's running out the door... Run, run, run, run... / Whatever makes you happy / Whatever you want / You're so f*cking special / I wish I was special / But I'm a creep / I'm a weirdo" -- this is love, and it's unrequited, and it's unbearably sad. The song, just like the "skin" of the woman the speaker sings of, makes me cry. Speaking of which, I usually don't listen to unrequited love songs when I'm depressed about unrequited love -- that just pisses me off even more, and usually makes me think too much about whichever beautiful girl I was trying to forget in the first place. But whatever works for you works for you, I guess, as long as it doesn't stop you from actually living your life. Anyway. _This_ time I'm really off to sleep. I have taken too much time here. Good night. |
"Way across town a phone rings off the wall If you know he's not home why do you keep calling..." |
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I know I'm dating myself, (no one else will date me,) but now, wiser and saner without her, I sometimes hear the Muzak version of "Lost Without Your Love" at the supermarket, shopping alone. I pause, and listen, with a tear in my eye. Lost Without Your Love Lost and all alone I always thought that I could make it on my own Since you left I hardly make it through the day My tears get in the way And I need you back to stay I wander through the night And search the world to find the words to make it right All I want is just the way it used to be With you here close to me I've got to make you see That I'm lost without your love Life without you isn't worth the trouble of I'm as helpless as a ship without a wheel A touch without a feel I can't believe it's real... And someday soon I'll wake And find my heart won't have to break Yes I'm lost without your love Life without you isn't worth the trouble of All I want is just the way it used to be I need you here with me Oh darlin' can't you see... If we had love before We can have it back once more |
didn't connect on an emotional level. So sad, because I think he was truly my soulmate. By the time I figured this out it was too late. |
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I'm currently playing to death a Mekons boot from last year in Chicago. No Wild and Blue, alas, but Ballad of Sally rocks, as does 1967, and well the whole thing rocks. It's making me very happy right now. |
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For contemporary Mekons, go with their latest, Journey to the End of Night. It's moody and dark, with some great songs, and backing vocals from Neko Case and Kelly Hogan. Or, for an overview, there's I Have Been To Heaven And Back, volume 1 of a two volume set; the second volume, Where Were You, is all live cuts. So...Get Rock and Roll, and go back and get the others. Or give me a couple of weeks, and I'll work out a Mekons mix, and burn it. |
thats brilliant. |
i mean, that's important information i'm imparting. tested many times over in the back of my mobile laboratory. |
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No, the lube had something in it that numbed his lips and tongue. Please try and stay with the rest of the class. |
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how's that for a maxim. |
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