Two Day Magazine

For All the Mr. and Ms. Lonelyhearts Out There..

Music has always served as a constant companion. Music doesn't judge you. Or mistreat you. Or dump you. Or sleep with your boyfriends/girlfriends. Music is always there for you. A musician’s self-expression and the ability to mend a broken heart reward their listeners consistently; music is a giver, not a taker. Although it’s not the best long-term habit, I prefer to repair my self-esteem by wallowing in other people’s misery (music). It makes your problems not seem so bad, right? So, for anyone going through a break-up right now, I give you the gift of music!

Jimmy’s Break-Up Mix

“Bones & A Name”, by Nina Gordon (Bleeding Heart Graffiti, 2006)
•    A countrified ballad where Gordon plays monkey in the middle of a friends frayed relationship. “I always thought that you were funny/I always thought we could be friends/But the way you treated her in the end,” she sings. As much as us relationship spectators don’t want to take sides, isn’t it often inevitable?

“Ballerina Out of Control”, by The Ocean Blue (Cerulean, 1991)
•    One of my favorite unknown songs by a (sadly) unknown band in college. Ethereal and lilting, the ballerina in the song “twists and whirls” and “dances the night away” to remedy her broken heart, persevering to find eventual bliss.

“Inside of Love”, by Nada Surf (Let Go, 2003)
•    “Making out with people I hardly know or like.” – Who hasn’t been there?

“Breakin’ Up”, by Rilo Kiley (Under the Blacklight, 2007)
•    The highlight of Rilo Kiley’s latest release, Jenny Lewis’s sugary vocals align with dancehall new-disco beats and tambourine. The poppy chorus assures us that it’s “good to be free.”

“Why Can’t We Love Each Other?”, by Juliana Hatfield (Peace & Love, 2010)
•    The song title is pretty self-explanatory. Master of the break-up song, Hatfield trades in her trusty SG for keyboards and gently plucked acoustic guitar. “We’re both pretty damaged/fragile and afraid/why can’t we love each other?” she asks. A seemingly simple question, but often difficult to answer.

“Trying My Best to Love You”, by Jenny Lewis (Acid Tongue, 2008)
•    Sometimes “trying your best” just isn’t enough. Rilo Kiley’s front woman is at her ballady best on this wistful piano piece.

“Shak’ida”, by Donora (Donora, 2009)
•    3-piece Pittsburgh rockers combine seething versus, “Once in awhile you get it as close to perfect as I’ve ever seen/And once in awhile you make us all forget you’re kind of crazy” with an effervescent, toe-tapping chorus (though, I’m still not quite sure what “Shak’ida actually means).

“The Rollercoaster Ride”, by Belle & Sebastian (The Boy With The Arab Strap, 1998)
•    Judy is “too frumpy for the teenage population of her kind,” and has “big pockets for the pharmaceuticals it takes to fix her brain.” Her emotional instability keeps her “inside.”

“Dear Chicago”, by Ryan Adams (Demolition, 2002)
•    Possibly one of the saddest songs ever committed to tape, Mandy Moore’s unlikely hubby compares love and self-worth to the windy city. “I’ve been thinking some of suicide, but there’s bars out here for miles.” Grab your box of tissues, kids.  

“Cat Power” – Metal Heart (Moon Pix, 1998)
•    It’s no secret that Chan Marshall wrote much of her material in a drunken haze, and she’s no less of a mess on this chilling, melancholy ditty. A “metal heart” – to me – is putting up armor around your heart to protect it. And trying to covet emotions. Sometimes, we build a shell around ourselves so thick that it seems as what Marshall sings, “a sad sad zoo.”

“Elliott Smith” – Everything Reminds Me of Her (Figure 8, 2000)
•    The dearly departed Elliott Smith built his too-short music catalog around failed relationships. Relationships with others, relationships with drugs, the relationship with himself; before his suicide in 2003. Whether this simple and hauntingly beautiful song is about being reminded of a girl or drugs (“Everything Reminds Me of Her(oin?), we’ll never actually know. Either way, an addiction and love are two of the strongest possible feelings.