Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
Last week, I began my list of the top 10 anti-love songs of all time, stopping at number six. Now, I present the rest of the list. Without further ado, here are the top five anti-love songs of all time.
5. Johnny Cash — “Delia’s Gone.” Yeah, there are a lot of sad love songs in the Cash catalog, but nothing so wonderfully evil as this gem. The song is a tale of murder, in which a tired husband takes a gun to his nagging wife. Cash sings it straight, as if the subject matter were no different than any other cowboy’s lament. Sadistic and sick, but enjoyable.
4. Lesley Gore — “It’s My Party.” Forget your Dashboard Confessionals, your Jimmy Eat Worlds and your Saves the Days. This is emo. Well, not exactly, but it does capture the self-centered, “woe-is-me” pain of rejection that every high-schooler feels at one time or another. A classic song and a classic formula. Gore comes across like a spoiled brat, defiantly declaring that it is in fact her party and she will cry if she wants to, damn it. Thankfully, everything works out in the song’s follow-up, “Judy’s Turn to Cry.”
3. Guns N’ Roses — “You’re Crazy.” This track, from the greatest metal album ever, Appetite for Destruction, is an angry love song — Axl-style. On this track, the irascible Mr. Rose declares that he has been looking for love, and all he found was a lover who was f**king crazy. Of course, we all probably realize who the crazy one really was in that relationship, but nevertheless, butt-rockers need anti-love anthems too.
2. The Beatles — “Rocky Racoon.” Despite being slightly tongue-in-cheek, this country tune is one of the few Beatles songs where love ever gets a bad rap. Rocky, the hero of the tale, has the love of his life stolen away, gets punched in the eye, is subsequently shot and then treated by the drunken town doctor. Of course, brave Rocky declares that it’s not over until it’s over, but one gets the feeling that Mr. Racoon is probably doomed. The appeal of the song is the lingering hope that Rocky clings to, symbolized by the copy of Gideon’s Bible that he finds in the local saloon.
1. Tina Turner — “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” Heh, you probably saw this one coming a mile away. That’s all right though. Tina Turner has been through it all, and if anyone is versed on the negative side of that emotion we call love, it’s her. Turner triumphed over an abusive relationship with her husband Ike and forged an even more successful career for herself. In this song, Turner puts her brain before her heart because, after all, “who needs a heart, when a heart can be broken?” Truly a testament to the power of sheer will and perseverance, Tina Turner is easily deserving of the No. 1 spot on this countdown.
So concludes this anti-love countdown. I’m sure I missed a lot of your favorites, and there are many more songs deserving of recognition. Heartbreak has always been a prime target of the minstrelsy. From the Chicago blues of Muddy Waters to the tormented emo-folk of Dashboard Confessional, sadness has been a driving force in popular music. I guess when we cry, we want the whole world to cry, too.
Bangor Daily News