Taking poll nominations: best breakup songs

Taking nominations here for Hornfans' Choice for "best breakup song". I'll compile them all and make a single-elimination tournament of it until we get a winner. Depending on how this one goes I may do this for other categories later. And no, not a sign of anything bad at home, just something that came up in a discussion last week or whether falling in or out of love has been a richer source of material for great songs.

How it works: make a post and nominate up to 5 songs for inclusion in the polls that haven't been nominated yet. You should include the artist to distinguish covers, unrelated songs with similar names, etc. You don't need to specify one individual performance of that song.

You can also "second" any number of previously-nominated songs. This will just help me seed the songs for matchups in the elimination polls. So "seconding" won't directly help determine a winner, but it might help your favorites to not get pitted against each other in early rounds. Naturally the people who post first won't have much to second, so you can always come back later and second some stuff other people mentioned, but it's not necessary.

If you don't want to read the whole thread and just want to post 5 songs and let me figure out which ones are new nominations, that's fine too. As long as nobody adds more than 5 new ones to the mix, it's good. Final arbitrator of whether a song counts a "breakup song" or not is me, but my own nominations and votes won't count any more than anybody else's. Nominations will be closed after a week or whenever I feel like the thread has run its course.

The 5 I'll start us out with:

Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye & Kimbra
I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
Lover, You Should've Come Over - Jeff Buckley
It Makes No Difference - The Band
Chelsea Hotel #2 - Leonard Cohen

 

Great topic Statalyzer! Breakup songs are some of the best because of the raw emotion and mood swings involved. I was on a country kick when I went through my worst breakup in the early 90s and that will color my choices.

Good natured defiance:
Working on my Next Broken Heart, Brooks and Dunn
Friends in Low Places, Garth Brooks

Middle Finger Defiance:
Understand Your Man, Johnny Cash

Sweet parting
Blue Eyes Cryin in the Rain, Willie Nelson
Somewhere in my Broken Heart, Billy Dean

Honorable mention because it's kinda of related, but more cutting off at the pass than breakup: Different Drum, / Stone Ponys/Linda Rondstat

 

I nominate: "Hit the Road Jack"

Hit the road Jack and don't you come back
No more, no more, no more, no more
Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more
What you say?
Hit the road Jack and don't you come back
No more, no more, no more, no more
Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more

 

"This Ol' Cowboy" by Marshall Tucker Band.

 

Roy Orbison



This time



The Pride of Baytown

 

50 ways to leave your lover, Paul Simon

 

Hoping we can get a few more entries here.....

 

How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away?

Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks

 

Crockett - what do you think of me swapping Different Drum in for Friends in Low Places? That one feels like much more of a breakup song to me, the latter is more of "Glad to not be one of the snooty elites" song?

 

Harry Nilsson's, "You're Breaking My Heart"

You're breakin' my heart
You're tearing it apart so f**k you

All I want to do is have a good time now I'm blue
You won't boogaloo
Run down to Tramps, have a dance or two, ooohhh
You're breakin' my heart
You're tearing it apart but f**k you

You're breakin' my heart
You're tearing it apart, boo-hoo

You stepped on my ***
You're breakin' my glasses too
You won't drive my car, might be a star
I've had enough of you
I'm goin' insane
There's no one to blame so f**k you

You can't have your way
There's nothing left to say
There's nothing left to do, ooooowww
You're breakin' my heart
You're tearing it apart but I love you

 

Fine

 

Best Breakup Songs - 1st round polls (1 of 3)

Best Breakup Songs - 1st round polls (2 of 3)

Best Breakup Songs - 1st round polls (3 of 3)

1st round polls are up.

 

There is no smoother breakup song.

 

Man, I need to pay closer attention and spend more time here. What with the virus and the lack of sports, I just got out of the habit.

I would've nominated Ray Price's rendition of "For the Good Times." (Lyrics by Kris Kristofferson)

 

I ran across the Clint Black song: "Im leaving here a better man." that would have been good. Also, based on title alone, maybe Roy Clark's "Thank God and Greyhound she's gone" should have gotten a look.