Nicklist #3: Five Songs That Helped Me Get Through A Break-Up

About four months ago, a few weeks before I turned 20, I went through a fairly painful break-up (my first one) and it really affected me for a while.  And although I’m not going to go into any personal details or anything like that here (and I’ve been doing well lately), what I will do for the weekly Nicklist is post five songs that I feel really helped me through what happened, or at least made the pain a little easier to bear for a while.

These songs have a lot of emotional significance to me, but aside from that I hope you guys enjoy some of these tunes (if you haven’t heard them already).  Maybe someone reading this went through something similar and it’ll help them a little.

1.) “Call Me On Your Way Back Home” – Ryan Adams (from Heartbreaker)

This album is reportedly about a break-up Adams had with one of his former girlfriends, and you can definitely hear it in the music.  Although there are a few more upbeat tracks, much of the album is in a similar vein to this one – very sparse with beautiful vocal melodies.  One of my favorite lines is “Oh baby why did I treat you like I did/Honey I was just a kid/bubblegum on my shoe.”  I feel like there’s a kind of immaturity in relationships, especially those that happen towards a younger age, and I love the imagery and feeling this song invokes through the lyrics and chord progression.

2.) “Wake Up” – Arcade Fire (from Funeral)

I’m not sure this song is about a break-up specifically, but for me it’s more about the emotions running through it.  It’s kind of hard to describe exactly what kind of emotion its attempting to portray, but it feels the entire song is just some huge emotional release.  My favorite line comes before the second chorus.  “We’re just a million little gods causin’ rain storms, turning every good thing to rust/I guess we’ll just have to adjust.”  Its one of the best lyrical ways of describing how sometimes, no matter how much we love something or enjoy it, we can find some way to fuck it up (in general, not even focusing solely on relationships).  I think the most important thing is that we learn from it, though.  I know this song is Arcade Fire’s most popular, but I would have felt weird not having on this list.

3.) “Guess I’m Doing Fine” – Beck (from Sea Change)

Sea Change was a huge departure for Beck at the time of its release.  It was full of a somber acoustic music – Beck’s signature quirky lyrics were absent.  This is another “break-up” album, meaning it was written after a break-up.  This is kind of off-topic (at least from this particular piece of music) but it’s kind of cool to think about the fact that even though people go through really tough shit, some of the greatest things can come from it (whether that be a song, painting, emotional rebirth, etc).  The chorus of this song is classic to me now.  “It’s only lies that I’m living/It’s only tears that I’m crying/It’s only you that I’m losing/Guess I’m doing fine.”  It’s a great look into the feeling a lot of people have after they’ve gone through a painful break-up.

4.) “Gonna Get Along With You Now” – She and Him (from Volume Two)

This is a song that has been recorded by many in the years since it was written in the early 1950s.  However, the message is obviously a good one for someone trying to get over someone, because eventually it needs to happen.  I think it’s an important reminder that you were happy before you got broken up with, and you will be able to be happy afterward.  It’s good to think about and remember that.  The reason I chose this particular version over others was due to the fact that I played She & Him’s two records almost religiously in the first month or so after I got broken up with.  And of course there’s the fact that everyone enjoys listening to (and looking at) Zooey Deschanel.

5.) “I Never Want To See You Again” – Quasi (from Featuring Birds)

In certain situations, it’s better to just forget about someone and not have to be around them anymore.  “Out of sight, out of mind.”  This is probably the most bitter song on this list “You’re not my friend/I never want to see you again” – and although it might not be about a break-up, it echoes the feeling I had, and I’m sure many other people have had as well.  My favorite lyric in the song is “We purchase pleasure/and pay for it with hurt/but we never get our money’s worth.”  It’s kind of true in certain relationships – we go through a lot of fights and anger just to be happy, and it’s important to realize the pain that came with the happiness during a relationship.