Songs of s/he said; s/he said
June 5, 2012 6:26 PM

Songs of s/he said; s/he said?

I love Gotye's current hit Somebody That I Used to Know for its heartfelt representation of two sides of the story of a relationship. Now I want more songs that do the same. Please share your favorites!
posted by rosa to Media & Arts (54 answers total) 28 users marked this as a favorite
"Don't You Want Me," Human League.
posted by southern_sky at 6:29 PM on June 5, 2012




Don't You Want Me by Human League
Ballad of Love and Hate by the Avett Brothers
posted by smirkette at 6:30 PM on June 5, 2012


Yeah, Oh Yeah by Magnetic Fields
posted by rumposinc at 6:30 PM on June 5, 2012


Ciao! by Lush with Jarvis Cocker
posted by dayintoday at 6:33 PM on June 5, 2012


Nothing Better by The Postal Service.
posted by Nomiconic at 6:34 PM on June 5, 2012


Traveling Light by Tindersticks
Buried Bones by Tindersticks.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:35 PM on June 5, 2012


A Little Time by The Beautiful South
posted by otters walk among us at 6:38 PM on June 5, 2012


Did You Ever? by Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra
posted by lhputtgrass at 6:39 PM on June 5, 2012


Fairytale of New York by the Pogues.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 6:45 PM on June 5, 2012


How about Jackson by Johnny and June Carter Cash?
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 6:47 PM on June 5, 2012


Paradise by the Dashboard Light.
posted by mikewas at 6:48 PM on June 5, 2012




John Prine and Iris DeMent, "In Spite of Ourselves." They're still very much in love, despite their frank assessments of each other.

Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler are fabulous as old marrieds, looking back at how their love and marriage have deepened over the years: "This Is Us".

More conversations than he said/she said, but delightful back-and-forths.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:51 PM on June 5, 2012


Summer Nights from Grease . . . classically classic.
posted by WaspEnterprises at 6:53 PM on June 5, 2012


Baby It's Cold Outside
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 6:55 PM on June 5, 2012


The Juan MacLean One Day
posted by citron at 6:57 PM on June 5, 2012


Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand, "You Don't Bring Me Flowers"
posted by gladly at 6:59 PM on June 5, 2012


Matt Johnson (The The) and Sinead O'Connor, "Kingdom of Rain."

"You were the girl I wanted to cry with
You were the girl I wanted to die with/
And you were the boy who turned into the man
Broke my heart and let go of my hand"
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:02 PM on June 5, 2012


I think "Picture" by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow is kind of what you're looking for.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:04 PM on June 5, 2012


Maybe Breakfast at Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something?

And I said "what about Breakfast at Tiffany's?"
She said, "I think I remember the film,
And as I recall, I think, we both kinda liked it,"
And I said, "well, that's one thing we've got."
posted by phunniemee at 7:05 PM on June 5, 2012


She Said She Said by The Beetles.
posted by alms at 7:08 PM on June 5, 2012


She said, she said:
I Know Him So Well from Chess
I Still Believe from Miss Saigon
posted by Wordwoman at 7:13 PM on June 5, 2012


Ahh! I can't believe no one has mentioned this one yet. It's one of my favorite songs!

Modern Nature, but Sondre Lerche
posted by two lights above the sea at 7:16 PM on June 5, 2012


and the heartfelt Summer Nights from Grease!
posted by Wordwoman at 7:19 PM on June 5, 2012


Carol Brown by Flight of the Conchords (he said, they said, really).

Haunted by Shane McGowan and Sinead O'Connor
posted by lovermont at 7:24 PM on June 5, 2012


Your Ex-Lover is Dead by Stars
posted by Lapin at 7:28 PM on June 5, 2012


It's abstract, but I love "Argument to Beethoven's Fifth"

TVTropes has quite a few more at Counterpoint Duet.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:50 PM on June 5, 2012


Tiger Phone Card by Dengue Fever
Sober Driver by Dengue Fever (I could only find a live version)
posted by TrarNoir at 8:46 PM on June 5, 2012


A lot of Alanis' stuff is like this. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking of

Hands Clean
posted by spunweb at 8:47 PM on June 5, 2012


A little time by the Beautiful South.
posted by therubettes at 9:32 PM on June 5, 2012


What about Old Gregg's "Love Games" from The Mighty Boosh? Or that it-said/he-said...
posted by kendrak at 10:57 PM on June 5, 2012


Leather and Lace -Stevie Nicks and Don Henley
posted by marylynn at 11:17 PM on June 5, 2012


Something in the Woodshed by The Divine Comedy. Basically the whole thing is he said, she said. Its got a proper story also!

Another Matt Johnson one, this time with Neneh Cherry: Slow Train to Dawn.
posted by biffa at 2:24 AM on June 6, 2012


Here's your special request & dedication...

All Cried Out by Lisa Lisa & Full Force.
posted by ladygypsy at 3:06 AM on June 6, 2012


"I Remember It Well"
posted by essexjan at 4:24 AM on June 6, 2012


"You Want That Picture" by Bonnie Prince Billy. Great song also.
posted by distorte at 4:43 AM on June 6, 2012


I don't think this counts as "heartfelt", but He Said, She Said by Bruce McCulloch fits the bill.
posted by Chichibio at 4:56 AM on June 6, 2012


Previously, related.
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:09 AM on June 6, 2012


Hello, Goodbye by the Beatles.
posted by goethean at 5:15 AM on June 6, 2012


You're the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly, by Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty. (Delbert McClinton and Kacey Jones do a good version, too.)
posted by Bourbonesque at 5:43 AM on June 6, 2012


Ah, I accidentally linked to a fan cover of "You Want That Picture" instead of the original! Here is the album version.
posted by distorte at 5:51 AM on June 6, 2012


Not heartfelt but one of my favorite back-and-forth songs.
"You Don't Know Me" Ben Folds w/ Regina Spektor
posted by DisreputableDog at 6:46 AM on June 6, 2012


Strongly seconding "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" by Stars and a healthy portion of their catalogue overall. They have male and female lead singers and do this type of back and forth really well. I can't do links right now, but other songs from them to check out in this vein:

-The Big Fight
-Midnight Coward
-Personal
-One More Night
-What I'm Trying to Say
posted by dry white toast at 7:01 AM on June 6, 2012


Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off"
posted by kirkaracha at 7:14 AM on June 6, 2012


"Never Before and Never Again," by the dB's (guest vocal by Syd Straw)
posted by underthehat at 8:49 AM on June 6, 2012


"That's All She Wrote"--Jihad Jerry & The Evildoers
posted by luckynerd at 10:42 AM on June 6, 2012


"Gone" by Esthero, feat. Cee-Lo Green. A beautiful, heartfelt, sad song about a couple breaking up:

Esthero:
There ain't nothing here for you if you stay
And it's so hard to hear myself say, "Go away,"
Instead of, "Baby, please stay just one more day."
I barely have the strength to leave you
But you don't want to be with me so go on
Just get gone

Cee-Lo:
That isn't true
Girl, how could you say what you not mean
Oh we used to have such a hot thing
And I just can't go anywhere and be not seen
But for the love of you theres places I will stop being
And don't make me start about all the sweets and all the shopping
I mean God I even went out and got a ring
And it's no cliché
Love is blind as in you literally stop seeing

And to move from sombre heartache to something sillier: Lily Allen's "Knock 'em Out" features lines of dialogue between male and female singles on the prowl.
posted by miss_kitty_fantastico at 7:13 PM on June 6, 2012






> How about Jackson by Johnny and June Carter Cash?

Or how about Jackson by Pansy Division and Calvin Johnson?
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:57 PM on June 6, 2012


Girl Afraid - The Smiths

What Have I Done To Deserve This? - Pet Shop Boys & Dusty Springfield
posted by SisterHavana at 11:19 PM on June 6, 2012




Two songs with the same title, similar topics (the wife and the other woman)
Reba McEntire & Linda Davis Does He Love You
Rilo Kiley Does He Love You
posted by Fuego at 10:39 AM on June 8, 2012


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