Heartbreak

Two of our closest friends are going through a break-up right now and it's been real tough for them both. I guess the worst thing is that it isn't mutual so that really sucks. I remember having a conversation with Jude a long time ago about Love, and about how I've always thought of it akin to the taste of dark chocolate. To enjoy the decadent ambroisa of dark chocolate is to take the bitter with the sweet. Milk chocolate is too easy, and white chocolate, soulless. Dark chocolate on the other hand, is the essence of life, and love. Bitter and sweet, heartbreak and fulfilment.

Which brings me to, in the words of John Cusack in "High Fidelity", my Top 5 Heartbreak songs of all time. For one reason or another, these five songs have creeped to the top of the list amidst many other worthy contenders. Heartbreak songs aren't just about the pain, but also the yearning, the ache, and the poetry.

1) Joni Mitchell's A Case of You: It's all about the intoxication and the addiction here. Obsession maybe? And the concept of the bittersweet is clearly not lost on her either. Favorite line: "I remember that time that you told me, you said/ Love is touching souls/ Surely you touched mine/ Cause part of you pours out of me/ In these lines from time to time."

2) Leonard Cohen's Famous Blue Raincoat: This song breaks my heart. It's written as a letter from Leonard Cohen to his best friend after he finds out that the friend slept with his wife. There is no rage nor anger, but gratitude almost, and a kind of empathy. It's a letter about a woman who shares her passion with two men, but not her love. Favorite lines: "Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes/ I thought it was there for good so I never tried."

3) The New Radicals' Someday We'll Know: Courtesy of my best friend who shared this in a time of need. The lyrics are especially well-written and the whimsicality of it all belies more than just a tinge of heartache and that incredulous questioning that accompanies all break-ups. All the whys and why nots... Favorite lines: "I bought a ticket to the end of the rainbow/ I watched the stars crash in the sea/ If I could ask God just one question/ Why aren’t you here with me?"

4) Mary Margaret O'Hara's To Cry About: Because it's a little obscure, I can't find the lyrics, but trust me when I say this song will tear you apart. It's all yearning, all ache. She drawls like a cross between Billie Holiday and Rickie Lee Jones which makes everything sound even more plaintive. This will haunt you in your sleep. Favorite lines: "You're in my heart, I'm in your hand/ Drop me off, I miss you and/ You give me something/ To cry about."

5) Bob Dylan's A Simple Twist of Fate: Jude shared this one with me years ago and I've always remembered it as being so very sad. So much in life, and love depends on just that one quirk of destiny. It's all the "what-could-have-been" and "if-only" moments rolled in one. Favorite lines: "People tell me it's a sin/ To know and feel too much within./ I still believe she was my twin, but I lost the ring./ She was born in spring, but I was born too late/ Blame it on a simple twist of fate."

What did you listen to when someone broke your heart?