2 posts tagged “elvis costello”
What are your top five break-up songs?
Submitted by gt.
Normally, the term "break-up song" brings to mind mainstream pop with average lyrics. Instead, I'm going to list five (English-language) songs which brilliantly express love lost or unreciprocated. I've also underlined the lines that are my personal favourites. Enjoy.
James Blunt - Goodbye My Lover
No question - this song is completely synonymous with a break-up. This is my favourite James Blunt song - in fact, one of my favourite songs ever. The lyrics really hit home, and delivered in Blunt's unique voice, sound completely gut-wrenching. It's hard to listen to this song without feeling sad, but that's exactly why it's so good.
Did I disappoint you or let you down?
Should I be feeling guilty or let the judges frown?
'Cause I saw the end before we'd begun,
Yes I saw you were blinded and I knew I had won.
So I took what's mine by eternal right.
Took your soul out into the night.
It may be over but it won't stop there,
I am here for you if you'd only care.
You touched my heart you touched my soul.
You changed my life and all my goals.
And love is blind and that I knew when,
My heart was blinded by you.
I've kissed your lips and held your head.
Shared your dreams and shared your bed.
I know you well, I know your smell.
I've been addicted to you.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
I am a dreamer but when I wake,
You can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take.
And as you move on, remember me,
Remember us and all we used to be
I've seen you cry, I've seen you smile.
I've watched you sleeping for a while.
I'd be the father of your child.
I'd spend a lifetime with you.
I know your fears and you know mine.
We've had our doubts but now we're fine,
And I love you, I swear that's true.
I cannot live without you.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
And I still hold your hand in mine.
In mine when I'm asleep.
And I will bear my soul in time,
When I'm kneeling at your feet.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
I'm so hollow, baby, I'm so hollow.
I'm so, I'm so, I'm so hollow.
Elvis Costello - I Want You (as covered by Fiona Apple)
This is also about pining for lost love - with an edge. No other song I've heard describes such raw longing, love, rage and jealousy, especially when sung in Fiona's anguished voice. It's a musical out-of-body experience.
The lyrics speak for themselves.
Oh my baby baby
I love you more than I can tell
I dont think I can live without you
And I know that I never will
Oh my baby baby
I love you so it scares me to death
I cant say anymore than I love you
Everything else is a waste of breath
I want you
Youve had your fun you dont get well no more
I want you
Your fingernails go dragging down the wall
Be careful darling you might fall
I want you
I woke up and one of us was crying
I want you
You said "Young girl I do believe you're dying"
I want you
If you need a second opinion as you seem to do these days
I want you
You can look in my eyes and you can count the ways
I want you
Did you mean to tell me but seem to forget
I want you
Since when were you so generous and inarticulate
I want you
Its the stupid details that my heart is breaking for
Its the way your shoulders shake and what they're shaking for
I want you
Its knowing that she knows you now after only guessing
I want you
Its the thought of her undressing you or you undressing
I want you
She tossed some tattered compliment your way
I want you
And you were fool enough to love it when he said
I want you
I want you
The truth cant hurt you its just like the dark
It scares you witless
But in time you see things clear and stark
I want you
Go on and hurt me then well let it drop
I want you
I'm afraid I wont know where to stop
I want you
I'm not ashamed to say I cried for you
I want you
I want to know the things you did that we do too
I want you
I want to hear he pleases you more than I do
I want you
I might as well be useless for all it means to you
I want you
Did you call his name out as she held you down
I want you
Oh no my darling not with that clown
I want you
Youve had your fun you dont get well no more
I want you
No-one who wants you could want you more
I want you
Every night when I go off to bed and when I wake up
I want you
I want you
I'm going to say it once again til I instill it
I know Im going to feel this way until you kill it
I want you
I want you
Nine Inch Nails - Only
Trent Reznor is my absolute favourite when it comes to angst. The man nails it everytime with his voice and lyrics - and when he's not singing, his instrumental compositions do all the talking. I'm taking this opportunity to remind everyone - PLEASE try to attend their upcoming summer tour, especially if you live in any one of the cities on their schedule. It's not mere concert-going; it's a pilgrimage.
I'm becoming less defined
As days go by
Fading away
Well you might say
I'm losing focus
Kinda drifting into the abstract
In terms of how I see myself
Sometimes I think I can see right through myself
Sometimes I think I can see right through myself
I think sometimes I can see right through myself
Less concerned
About fitting into the world
Your world that is
Cuz it doesn't really matter
No it doesn't really matter
No it doesn't really matter any more
None of this really matters any more
Yes, I am alone
But then again I always was
As far back as I can tell
I think maybe it's because
Because you were never really real
To begin with
I just made you up to hurt myself
I just made you up to hurt myself
Yeah, and I just made you up to hurt myself
I just made you up to hurt myself
Yeah, and I just made you up to hurt myself
And it worked
Yes it did
There is no you
There is only me
There is no you
There is only me
There is no fucking you
There is only me
There is no fucking you
There is only me
Only
Only
Only
Only
Well the tiniest little dot caught my eye
And it turned out to be a scab
And I had this funny feeling
Like I just knew it's something bad
I just couldn't leave it alone
Pickin' at that scab
It was a doorway trying to seal itself shut
But I climbed through
Now I am somewhere I am not supposed to be
And I can see things I never really shoulda seen
And now I know why
And now I know why
Things aren't as pretty
On the inside
There is no you
There is only me
There is no you
There is only me
There is no fucking you
There is only me
There is no fucking you
There is only me
Only
Only
Only
Only
Only
Only
Only
Only
Richard Thompson - Beeswing
This song is a reminisce about a former love. The lyrics are lovely, and the girl spoken of is very much like me in spirit.
I was nineteen when I came to town, they called it the Summer of Love
They were burning babies, burning flags. The hawks against the doves
I took a job in the steamie down on Cauldrum Street
And I fell in love with a laundry girl who was working next to me
Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child, oh she was running wild
She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay.
And you wouldn't want me any other way"
Brown hair zig-zag around her face and a look of half-surprise
Like a fox caught in the headlights, there was animal in her eyes
She said "Young man, oh can't you see I'm not the factory kind
If you don't take me out of here I'll surely lose my mind"
Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
So fine that I might crush her where she lay
She was a lost child, she was running wild
She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay.
And you wouldn't want me any other way"
We busked around the market towns and picked fruit down in Kent
And we could tinker lamps and pots and knives wherever we went
And I said that we might settle down, get a few acres dug
Fire burning in the hearth and babies on the rug
She said "Oh man, you foolish man, it surely sounds like hell.
You might be lord of half the world, you'll not own me as well"
Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child, oh she was running wild
She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay.
And you wouldn't want me any other way"
We was camping down the Gower one time, the work was pretty good
She thought we shouldn't wait for the frost and I thought maybe we should
We was drinking more in those days and tempers reached a pitch
And like a fool I let her run with the rambling itch
Oh the last I heard she's sleeping rough back on the Derby beat
White Horse in her hip pocket and a wolfhound at her feet
And they say she even married once, a man named Romany Brown
But even a gypsy caravan was too much settling down
And they say her flower is faded now, hard weather and hard booze
But maybe that's just the price you pay for the chains you refuse
Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
And I miss her more than ever words could say
If I could just taste all of her wildness now
If I could hold her in my arms today
Well I wouldn't want her any other way.
Dido - White Flag
For a change, the lyrics to this song work because they are simple and to the point, but without being juvenile.
I know you think that I shouldn't still love you
I'll tell you that.
But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it
Where's the sense in that?
I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder
Or return to where we were
Well I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be
I know I left too much mess and
destruction to come back again
And I caused but nothing but trouble
I understand if you can't talk to me again
And if you live by the rules of "it's over"
then I'm sure that that makes sense
Well I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be
And when we meet
Which I'm sure we will
All that was then
Will be there still
I'll let it pass
And hold my tongue
And you will think
That I've moved on....
Well I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be
Well I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be
Well I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be
BONUS TRACK:
Richard Thompson - From Galway to Graceland
While not a "break-up song" in the actual sense, this is one of the finest songs I've heard of love unrequited. Thompson's soothing yet emotional voice only amplifies the beauty of this ballad. Someone on Youtube called him "one of the last great troubadours". Amen.
Oh she dressed in the dark and she whispered amen
She was pretty in pink like a young girl again
Twenty years married and she never thought twice
She sneaked out the door and walked into the night
And silver wings carried her over the sea
From the west coast of Ireland to West Tennessee
To be with her sweetheart, oh she left everything
From Galway to Graceland to be with the king
She was humming Suspicion, that's the song she liked best
She had Elvis I Love You tattooed on her breast
When they landed in Memphis, well her heart beat so fast
She'd dreamed for so long, now she'd see him at last
She was down by his graveside day after day
Come closing time they would pull her away
Ah to be with her sweetheart, oh she'd left everything
From Galway to Graceland to be with the king
Ah, they came in their thousands from the whole human race
To pay their respects at his last resting place
But blindly she knelt there and she told him her dreams
And she thought that he answered or that's how it seems
Then they dragged her away it was handcuffs this time
She said my good man are you out of your mind.
Don't you know that we're married? See, I'm wearing his ring.
From Galway to Graceland to be with the king.
I come From Galway to Graceland to be with the king.
This one I downloaded months ago - Gavin DeGraw's "Chariot" video directed by Zach Braff. Not particularly remarkable, but the song's ok.