I’ve always felt that Valentine’s Day was a stupid crock, but this is the first year I’ve actually hated it. Here’s a playlist for the broken-up.
“God Damn Valentine’s Day” (zip)
1. The Swell Season – “The Rain”
2. Death Cab for Cutie – “Tiny Vessels”
3. The Hold Steady – “You Can Make Him Like You”
4. Pedro the Lion – “Options”
5. Pete Yorn – “Lose You”
6. Say Hi to Your Mom – “Let’s Talk About Spaceships”
7. Cloud Cult – “It’s What You Need”
8. The Mountain Goats – “No Children”
9. The Magnetic Fields – “Epitaph For My Heart”
10. Cake – “Friend Is a Four-Letter Word”
11. The Dandy Warhols – “You Were the Last High”
12. Speechwriters LLC – “Blood on the Frets”
13. Ice Palace – “Slow Motion Fall”
14. Mumford & Sons – “Little Lion Man”
15. Tegan & Sara – “The Cure”
16. Susan Tedeschi – “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”
17. Iron & Wine – “Boy With a Coin”
18. Stars – “In Our Bedoom After the War”
19. Archer Prewitt – “The Race”
I have issues with your Magnetic Fields pick! As I went walkabout in Cambridge last month, I made my own list of sad songs for lost love. Why not “How To Say Goodbye,” “Come Back from San Francisco,” “I’m Sorry I Love You,” or “I Don’t Want To Get Over You?” “Reno Dakota” and “If You Don’t Cry” bobbed high in my playlists as well. Lacking, though, in my choices, was diversity. I pick from at most a third of these bands, plus Belle & Sebastian.
Yeah, the Magnetic Fields are the king of the busted love songs. I chose “Epitaph For My Heart” because it was the closest to how I was feeling–the others are awesome songs, but didn’t capture my particular breakup scenario.