January 19, 2004

7:46 AM

I'm working on a Valentine's Day mix CD for that special someone, and was hoping some of you MeFites might have some suggestions. [More Inside]
posted by emptybowl to (82 comments total)

I'm trying to compile the most depressing or inappropriate collection of love or anti-love songs I can find. I haven't looked through my entire collection yet, but here's some songs I'm thinking of off the top of my head:

Billy Bragg - Everybody Loves You Babe
Beck - Lost Cause
Ben Folds Five - Song for the Dumped
Morrissey - You're the One for Me, Fatty
Juliana Hatfield - Ugly or Everybody Loves Me But You (Haven't decided which yet)
Matthew Sweet - Someone to Pull the Trigger

My friend recommended Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart by Johnny Cash. Any more suggestions?
posted by emptybowl at 7:55 AM on January 19, 2004

A cheesy (but goodie) is the song "Valentine" by the Get Up Kids.

Lyrics are "Would you be my / valentine / if I'm a world away." It has a great outro as well. Check it out.
posted by Quartermass at 8:01 AM on January 19, 2004

Anti Love:

Elvis Costello - I Want You - Brutal Lyrics
(I want you, I might as well be useless for all it means to you)

Love:

Mandalay - Beautiful
(do you know you're beautiful, you are, yes you are)
posted by mattr at 8:09 AM on January 19, 2004

Actually, I guess I wasn't clear, I want the "love" songs to be just as inappropriate and depressing as the "anti-love" ones. Like "You're the one for me, Fatty".
posted by emptybowl at 8:11 AM on January 19, 2004

Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street"? (not sure if this is a love song altho I always thought of it as so).
posted by carter at 8:12 AM on January 19, 2004

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad by Meatloaf springs to mind.
posted by filmgoerjuan at 8:13 AM on January 19, 2004

Any Lords of Acid will do. How about "Rough Sex"?

When I think about Love
I don't think about a Bright Moon
Twinkling Stars
Red Wine
Silent Whispers
Holding Hands
Secret Loveletters
I think about Pure Sex, Deep Sex, Hard Sex, Rough Sex
posted by eamondaly at 8:15 AM on January 19, 2004

Hahahahaha! You've got the right idea, eamondaly.
posted by emptybowl at 8:18 AM on January 19, 2004

Mr. T Experience - Even Hitler Had A Girlfriend

I Win
posted by lotsofno at 8:19 AM on January 19, 2004

Hahaha....I forgot about that song. Indeed, you win, lotsofno.
posted by emptybowl at 8:20 AM on January 19, 2004

NoFX has a couple of good ones:
Hotdog in a Hallway: She’ll have another piece of pie / She’ll have a double reuben rye / She kicks hard at eating well / That’s why I love her

or

Monosyllabic Girl: I take her to aquarium, she says shark / I take her to the planitarium, she says it’s dark

Just about anything from Richard Cheese would work too. (try Closer, for instance)
posted by toothless joe at 8:27 AM on January 19, 2004

Chris Isaak's cover of "South of the Border" is a pretty little song about meeting a woman, promising her forever, and then skipping town the next day. It's an Orbison song, I believe, and Patsy Cline did a good cover of it as well.
posted by eamondaly at 8:29 AM on January 19, 2004

Bitter - PIL's "Albatross"

Bittersweet - America Music Club's "Western Sky"
posted by vers at 8:35 AM on January 19, 2004

It's really off the radar, but you could look up "St. Valentine's Day" by Dream Academy. Bright, peppy, sweet song -- first lyric in it: "We broke up on Valentine's Day, been coming for a long long time..." It might fit.
posted by frallyth at 8:39 AM on January 19, 2004

Actually, I guess I wasn't clear, I want the "love" songs to be just as inappropriate and depressing as the "anti-love" ones.

Roy Rogers has a sweet little cowboy ditty called "Cleanin' My Rife (And Dreamin' Of You)." Even with the implicit violence in the title notwithstanding, Freudians would have a field day with that chorus. But Roy's just a happy cowboy. Is that the sort of thing you're looking for?
posted by .kobayashi. at 8:41 AM on January 19, 2004

All of these are great suggestions. "Cleanin' My Rifle" might be the perfect song to end with.
posted by emptybowl at 8:52 AM on January 19, 2004

"Always wanted more" by Ron Wood.
posted by riffola at 8:53 AM on January 19, 2004

Okay, last one: Pat McCurdy's "Screw You":

You wanna know what I've been doing since you left me
With a broken heart
I get the feeling that you're hoping that I'm still miserable,
Still torn apart
You wanna know what I've been up to since you walked out
And turned me upside down
Well, I won't lie to you

I've been going out, having fun, making friends -- Screw you!

...

So this is how the whole thing ends
You say, "We can still be friends."
I don't believe I've ever heard
Such utter bullshit

Well, I've been going out, having fun, making friends -- Screw you!
Going places, running wild, meeting people -- Screw you!
Going out, getting drunk, having sex -- Screw you!
Going out, writing checks, using your bank card -- Screw you!
Going out, having fun, making friends -- Screw you!
posted by eamondaly at 8:54 AM on January 19, 2004

"Bad Time" by the Jayhawks. Lyrical sample:

"Let her be somebody else's queen, I don't wanna hear about it
There is too many others that know what I mean
And that's why I gotta live without it. "
posted by DragonBoy at 8:54 AM on January 19, 2004

"Who Do You Think You Are?" by Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet, on the album The Juliet Letters (lyrics). I could send you the mp3 if you can't find it.
posted by me3dia at 8:54 AM on January 19, 2004

I have The Juliet Letters, so no need to send the MP3. I have to decided between "Who Do You Think You Are?" and "I Want You" because I usually don't like putting more than one song by one artist on a mix CD. "Who DO YOu Think You Are" might be better, though, because, if I remember correctly, the music is cheery.
posted by emptybowl at 8:57 AM on January 19, 2004

Zappa, "broken hearts are for assholes" or "i have been in you" .. or dozens of others.
King Missile, "take me home"
Violent Femmes, "Breakin' up"
Johnny Cash, "delia's gone"
Hendrix, "hey joe"
Screaming Jay Hawkins "I put a spell on you"

I have to assume there's a perfect Tom Waits song too, but I can't think of it right now.
posted by duckstab at 8:59 AM on January 19, 2004

The classically-misunderstood "The One I Love", by R.E.M., and "Feel A Whole Lot Better", by Tom Petty.
posted by mkultra at 9:01 AM on January 19, 2004

Ooh. Zappa. Absolutely.
posted by eamondaly at 9:02 AM on January 19, 2004

Outkast's Spread?

As for Tom Waits, how about Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis?
posted by fletchmuy at 9:10 AM on January 19, 2004

beck has a song with the lyrics "nightmare hippy chick" or similar on one of the early albums (odelay? mellow gold?) that always makes me smile. "she's got tofu the size of texas". maybe it's not bitter enough, but it's not altogether flattering, either.
posted by andrew cooke at 9:11 AM on January 19, 2004

ooops. it's nightmare hippy girl.
posted by andrew cooke at 9:13 AM on January 19, 2004

For fun:

Tom Jones - Sexbomb
Violent Femmes - Gimme the Car
Reel Big Fish - She Has a Girlfriend Now

For swanky fun:

Morphine - Buena
Sister Machine Gun - Burn
Lenny Kravitz - Freedom Train
Massive Attack - Inertia Creeps
Portishead - Numb
Peaches - Diddle My Skittle (anything by her for that matter)
posted by pedantic at 9:16 AM on January 19, 2004

Oh, and Hey Mister by Custom.
posted by pedantic at 9:20 AM on January 19, 2004

"I put my fist through the door, I hate myself for you. I love you."
(Black Flag)

"This is your wretched, heavin' high.
These are the shamed, the damned, the blamed.
I can smell the slowly spreadin' stain.
Oh, the burden of shame." (KMFDM)

You're my superhoney, and you've wasted today.
Cos you're my superhoney, and I'll want you anyway. (Hilt)

"So just be nice to your brother - I'll take your sister to bed.
And I can bloc bloc bloc till the weekend, but you'd better come back soon." (OMD)
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:22 AM on January 19, 2004

I Hate Everything About You, by one hit wonder Ugly Kid Joe.

This is a great idea, and I'm stealing it to make my own anti-valentine compilation. I'd also be honored to donate the cover art for your cd from my Creepy Valentines collection.
posted by iconomy at 9:26 AM on January 19, 2004

Oh, almost forgot: "Coward", by the Swans.
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:27 AM on January 19, 2004

Rollins Band - Tearing
Mary Prankster - Mercyfuck, The World Is Full Of Bastards, Tits and Whiskey, Mac 'n Cheese
Barenaked Ladies - Enid
Ani DiFranco - Gravel, Done Wrong
Liz Phair - Fuck and Run, Divorce Song
Ramones - The KKK Took My Baby Away
Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker, Since I've Been Loving You
Pink Floyd - Young Lust (bonus: bluegrass cover by Luther Wright and the Wrongs)
Tenacious D - Get It On
Jimmy Buffett - Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw?

and the classic stalker song (yet gets lots of play as a wedding song!): Every Breath You Take by The Police
posted by Melinika at 9:36 AM on January 19, 2004

Portishead - Sour Times.
posted by gd779 at 9:38 AM on January 19, 2004

dylan - love sick
I'm sick of love; I wish I'd never met you
I'm sick of love; I'm trying to forget you

Just don't know what to do
I'd give anything to
Be with you

and yeah, this is really is an excellent idea.
posted by duckstab at 9:40 AM on January 19, 2004

Howzabout some Bunny Boiler / No Self-Esteem songs? There's...

Take A Chance On Me (aka Chicka Chainsaw Me), Abba

Or just wildly inappropriate:

Young Girl, Gary Puckett (young girl, you'd better run, girl...)

Or good but fits your criteria anyway:

Long Shot, Aimee Man (You fucked it up, you should've quit...)
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:47 AM on January 19, 2004

This is great. And the songs are stacking up so high, I'm thinking about splitting it into two mixes: one with anti-love songs, and on with inappropriate or sexually explicit love songs. (like "Hot White Cum" by Liz Phair, "kielbasa" by Tenacious D, "Double Fucked by Two Black Studs" by King Missile)
posted by emptybowl at 9:52 AM on January 19, 2004

other less evident ones:
Serge Gainsbourg - Je t'aime... moi non plus
Velvet Underground - The Gift (probably too long, but fits nice)
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Summer Wine (highly recommended. Sweet tune, sounds sonny & cher romantic. Lyrics: Nancy gets Lee drunk and robs him.)
Arto Lindsay - Erotic City (samba/no wave deconstruction of Prince)

other more evident ones:
just about anything on any Nick Cave record.
anything on the Dan the Automator "Lovage" record.
posted by .kobayashi. at 9:53 AM on January 19, 2004

Counting the reader write-ins, here's the motherlode of anti-love.
posted by taz at 9:55 AM on January 19, 2004

I want the "love" songs to be just as inappropriate and depressing as the "anti-love" ones.

Pretty much anything by the Beautiful South, but "Song for Whoever" in particular.

"Fairytale of New York," the Pogues.

"Every Breath You Take" is always nice and creepy.

Randy Newman has some fairly brutal songs. "Love Story," "I Want You to Hurt Like I Do," "The One You Love," etc.

"Violent Love," Willie Dixon or Otis Rush.

"I Used to Love Her (But I Had to Kill Her)," Guns N' Roses.

"Five Short Minutes," Jim Croce (definitely good to get a statutory rape number in there).

"Be My Number Two," Joe Jackson.

"You're My Meat," Louis Jordan.

"Paradise by the Dashboard Light" is actually pretty bleak if you stick around until the ending.
posted by staggernation at 9:56 AM on January 19, 2004

Ooh, how 'bout Revolting Cocks version of "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" Key lyric change: He said "I'm sorry, but I'm out of K-Y Jelly / Nevermind, Sugar, we can watch the early movie."
posted by me3dia at 10:00 AM on January 19, 2004

"Like a Parasite" by The Queers is a sweet, squidge inducing love song...

"Like a parasite,
I wanna crawl all over you,
Like a parasite,
Think of all the good things we can do
Like a parasite,
I wanna crawl all over you"
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:07 AM on January 19, 2004

Closer - Nine Inch Nails is quite romantic.

on the other end of the spectrum there's Tom Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today" which is the saddest love song I've ever heard.
posted by birdherder at 10:13 AM on January 19, 2004

Philip Glass - Einstein on the Beach - Knee Play 5 (the final piece).

"Two lovers ...

... sat on a park bench ...

... with their bodies touching each other ..."
posted by Blue Stone at 10:17 AM on January 19, 2004

If you want truly abysmal love songs, check out pretty much anything by Swedish supergroup Broder Daniel. The music is always great, the singing is always terrible, and they're one of my favorite bands as a result.

Their best love song is, of course, Luke Skywalker.

I fell in love with a girl
but she had a boyfriend
I tried to get her for a while
but now I can't stand her anymore
'cause I'm Luke Skywalker
oh yes I am
I wanna be Luke Skywalker tonight
oh yeah
Luke Skywalker tonight
oh yeah
oh yeah
oh yeah
oh yeah
posted by Danelope at 10:22 AM on January 19, 2004

Social Distortion, "Ball and Chain":

"Well it's been ten years, and a thousand tears
And look at the mess I'm in-
A broken nose and a broken heart,
An empty bottle of gin "
posted by haqspan at 10:22 AM on January 19, 2004

"69 Love Songs" by the Magnetic Fields has stuff across the whole pro-/anti- love song spectrum. Great stuff.
posted by mkultra at 10:29 AM on January 19, 2004

King Missile has what you need:
Love is beautiful
Like birds that sing
Love is not ugly
Like rats
In a puddle of vomit
posted by ook at 10:43 AM on January 19, 2004

Just thought of Wayne (later Jayne) County and the Electric Chair's, "Fuck off".

You think you're hot shit, I heard,
But you ain't nothing but a cold turd.
If you don't want to fuck me baby,
Then baby fuck off.

Jayne's delivery is much better, tho.
posted by carter at 10:49 AM on January 19, 2004

"Shook Me Cold" by David Bowie (or the Pain Teens version)
posted by anathema at 10:51 AM on January 19, 2004

Blue Collar Suicide by The Refreshments:

I can't sleep cause she snores like a chainsaw
And I can't eat cause she can't cook
I can't write cause she's got all my inspiration
And she can't count all the pills I took

Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big and Buzzy is a great break-up album.
posted by ajr at 11:02 AM on January 19, 2004

Soft Boys - Kingdom of Love

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Christina
posted by donth at 11:14 AM on January 19, 2004

Presidents of the United States of America - Last Girl on Earth

you're so awful
you're so ugly
so unattractive
so hard to get along with
I'd like to hurt you
I'd like to leave you
cut these chains and release me
posted by ODiV at 11:19 AM on January 19, 2004

Guadalcanal Diary's "Cattle Prod"

There's a certain kind of loving that my wife don't know
Love so tender just falls off the bone
When I raise my hand I see the cattle shake
I got to have a heaping helping of that sweet flank steak
I got a cattle prod, I got a cattle prod

(I can provide an mp3 if necessary.)

And The Hoodoo Gurus' "Dig It Up"

My girlfriend lives in the ground.
My friends ask why she's not around,
She won't come home.
I'm so alone (you'll never know!).
You can't bury love,
You've gotta dig it up.
Yeah, you've gotta live it up.

Please make the final track listing(s) available--I've been thinking about making an inappropriate love songs mix for a while now.
posted by eilatan at 11:25 AM on January 19, 2004

King Missile - Gary & Melissa
The Shangi-Las - Past, Present And Future ; The Train from Kansas City (also available from Superchunk) ; and a bunch of their other songs.
posted by gluechunk at 11:26 AM on January 19, 2004

Does anyone mind if I geek up the thread and suggest Good enough for now by Weird Al? Fat by the Violent Femmes is also a good one.
posted by Gary at 11:30 AM on January 19, 2004

Coil's cover of Tainted Love
posted by gluechunk at 11:33 AM on January 19, 2004

I don't think I've seen King Missile come up this often in more than a decade.

They're gonna find intelligent life up there on the moon
And "The Canterbury Tales" will shoot up to the top of the bestseller list
And stay there for twenty-seven weeks

And the Chicago Cubs will beat every team in the league
And the Tampa Bay Bucs will make it all the way through January
And I will love you again
I will love you like I used to
I will love you again
I will love you like I used to

The stars are gonna spell out the answers to tomorrow's crossword
And the Phillips corporation will admit that they made an awful mistake
And Bill Gates will single-handedly spearhead
The Heaven 17 revival

And the Chicago Cubs will beat every team in the league
And the Tampa Bay Bucs will take it all the way to the top
And I will love you again
I will love you like I used to
I will love you again
I will love you like I used to

—"Cubs in Five" by The Mountain Goats
posted by me3dia at 11:35 AM on January 19, 2004

Run for your life - The Beatles
posted by Gary at 11:36 AM on January 19, 2004

Oh, and "Love Like Anthrax", Gang of Four.
posted by carter at 11:57 AM on January 19, 2004

Ooh, yeah, the Presidents of the United States of America. "Lump" and "Lunatic to Love" would be good, too.

Also, almost anything from Weezer's album Pinkerton.

And we can't forget "88 Lines About 44 Women" by the Nails. (Wonder if the executives at Mazda ever heard the original lyrics before they used it in that ad...)

Jonathan Richman has a funny song called "When I Say Wife."

What about the Stooges? "I Wanna Be Your Dog" or "Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell."

Finally, "My Sharona" is never appropriate, let alone for Valentine's Day.
posted by staggernation at 11:59 AM on January 19, 2004

Second "The One I Love" by R.E.M....I had to talk a friend out of using this at her wedding reception. ("A simple prop to occupy my time" isn't the most romantic line ever.)

Also "The Wedding Song (An Acceptable Level of Ecstasy)" by Lyle Lovett. Also by Lyle, "L.A. County" (guy blows away ex-girlfriend on her wedding day) and "She's No Lady" might work well too.
posted by Vidiot at 12:03 PM on January 19, 2004

Can't get any better than Johnny Cash:


Delia's Gone

Delia, oh, Delia Delia all my life
If I hadn't have shot poor
Delia I'd have had her for my wife
Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

I went up to Memphis
And I met Delia there Found her in her parlor
And I tied to her chair
Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

She was low down and trifling
And she was cold and mean
Kind of evil make me want to Grab my sub machine
Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

First time I shot her I shot her in the side
Hard to watch her suffer
But with the second shot she died
Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

But jailer, oh, jailer Jailer,
I can't sleep 'Cause all around my bedside
I hear the patter of Delia's feet
Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

So if you woman's devilish
You can let her run
Or you can bring her down and do her
Like Delia got done
Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone




(Birdherder - "He Stopped Loving Her Today" was George Jones... not Tom Jones. ;)
posted by Seth at 12:06 PM on January 19, 2004

I know you already have Billy Bragg, but he also has an actual Valentine's Day song -- "Valentine's Day Is Over." ("Thank you for the things you bought me / Thank you for the card. / Thank you for the things you taught me / When you hit me hard. / That love between two people must be based on understanding. / Until that's true you'll find your thing all stacked out on the landing. / Surprise, surprise. / Valentine's Day is over. It's over. It's over.)

Also, David Gray's cover of Soft Cell's "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye." ("Here was a kind of so-so love / and I'm gonna make sure it doesn't happen again. / You and I had to be the standing joke of the year.")

Creepy songs: Nirvana's cover of "In the Pines," Hole's "He Hit Me and It Felt Like a Kiss," and maybe Psychedelic Furs "Into You Like a Train."

But can I advise against giving this to anyone besides a friend who has just broken up or other friends? Giving to actual girlfriend may not be received well, and why bother with an ex?
posted by onlyconnect at 12:17 PM on January 19, 2004

Ah, how about instead of the Billy Bragg version of "Valentine's Day Is Over" (is that one he wrote or is it a cover?), how about the Oysterband/June Tabor version? It is a great song and Tabor's voice is utterly haunting.
posted by eilatan at 12:31 PM on January 19, 2004

(Birdherder - "He Stopped Loving Her Today" was George Jones... not Tom Jones. ;)
posted by Seth at 12:06 PM PST on January 19

I knew that. Sadly for some reason my brain is misfiling things.
posted by birdherder at 12:55 PM on January 19, 2004

how about Monty Python's "Sit on my face" ("sit on my face and tell me that you love me...")

or Beck's "Debra" ("I want to get with you/oh girl/and your sister/I think her name's Debra"). All done in Beck's best faux-Prince style, of course.

then there's all the 80s hair band power ballads that sound like they're about love but are actually about getting action ("More than Words," "Don't Turn Away," etc.)
posted by boltman at 12:56 PM on January 19, 2004

How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away - Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks
posted by iconomy at 12:59 PM on January 19, 2004

Love Comes in Spurts - Richard Hell & The Voidoids
posted by stefanie at 1:16 PM on January 19, 2004

don't let's start - they might be giants, all dressed up in dreams - the 6ths with mary timony (or like, almost any stephin merritt song :), the all-time quarterback version of the magnetic fields' "why i cry," a whole bunch of brian jonestown massacre songs are about "inappropriate" renditions of love (you can get almost anything they've ever done at http://brianjonestownmassacre.com), tons of buzzcocks songs are about being jilted somehow (ever fallen in love, you say you don't love me, what do i get), crooked fingers' cover of prince's "when u were mine," violent femmes' "kiss off," lisa germano's "lovesick" (you're not my yoko ono/you said those words to me), hayden songs are heartfelt but often about anger over jilted love (in september, hardly, my parent's house all come to mind), nina simone's cover of "falling in love again" and her "love me or leave me"...hm....all those fucked up oldies like "good golly miss molly"...
posted by ifjuly at 2:43 PM on January 19, 2004

My honey gave me a mix which contained a Kid Rock song called WCSR featuring Snoop Dogg. Two weeks later I'm still crying about it even though he claims he didn't know the lyrics and wasn't mad at me. hmm.
posted by oh posey at 3:04 PM on January 19, 2004

Romantic:
Jeff Buckley - Lilac Wine, Grace, Everybody Here Wants You
Led Zeppelin - Kashmir, The Rover
Nick Drake - Northern Sky
Gram Parsons - A Song For You
Cocteau Twins - Sigh's Smell of Farewell

Anti-Romantic
Van Morrison - It's All over Now, Baby Blue
P.J. Harvey - Rid of Me
The Psychedelic Furs - All of This And Nothing, Fall
Throwing Muses - Green
Kristen Hersh - Close Your Eyes
posted by echolalia67 at 3:11 PM on January 19, 2004

Mozart - Ach ich fühl's (All is lost, Die Zauberflöte)
Mozart - La ci darem la mano (seduction duet, Don Giovanni)
Verdi - La donna é mobile (Woman is fickle, Rigoletto)
Schubert: Erstarrung (Numbness), Irrlich (Will-o'-the-wisp), Frühlungstraum (Spring dream, all from Winterreise )
Wagner - Liebestod (love-death, Tristan & Isolde)
de Falla - Canción del amor dolido (Song of sorrowing love) or Canción del fuego fatuo (Love is like the will-o-the-wisp, both from El Amor Brujo)
Berg - Lied Der Lulu (Lulu)
Bartók - Nyisd ki a hetedik ajtók! (Open the seventh door, Bluebeard's Castle)
posted by cbrody at 5:06 PM on January 19, 2004

Heh, kids, let's not forget...

LOVE SUCKS!

(Bonus points for getting the Adam Sandler version.)
posted by kaibutsu at 5:58 PM on January 19, 2004

There are many appropriate choices off the Tallahassee album, but:

The Mountain Goats - No Children
posted by brookedel at 7:03 PM on January 19, 2004

Here's the mix I used for our date auction meet and greet:

Eve 6 – On The Roof Again
Insane Clown Posse – Dating Game
All American Rejects – Don’t Leave Me
Weezer – Why Bother?
Ben Folds Five – Song For The Dumped
Custom – Hey Mister
Cake – Never There
Alkaline Trio – Stupid Kid
EZE – College Girls Are Easy
Sublime – Date Rape
Liam Lynch – United States of Whatever
Matt Skiba – Good Fucking Bye

Hope that helps.
posted by Pockets at 9:06 PM on January 19, 2004

Beth Orton - Sweetest Decline
John Martyn - Glory Box
Ben Harper - Please Please Me
Cassandra Wilson - Can't Stand the Rain

(Great thread!)
posted by squirrel at 10:26 PM on January 19, 2004

Adorable - Homeboy

"I want to drown beneath the waves/I want to dig myself a shallow grave/And hold you up for all to see/I want to cut you up, I want to watch you bleed, ever so slowly/You're so beautiful/You're so beautiful" - scarily this was, and still is, an "our song".
posted by wassock at 3:34 AM on January 20, 2004

Eels - Restraining Order Blues
posted by boost ventilator at 6:09 AM on January 20, 2004

You can't really go wrong with the J. Geils Band's "Love Stinks"

You love her
But she loves him
And he loves somebody else
You just can't win
And so it goes
Till the day you die
This thing they call love
It's gonna make you cry
I've had the blues
The reds and the pinks
One thing for sure

(Love stinks)
Love stinks yeah yeah
(Love stinks)
posted by pardonyou? at 7:34 AM on January 20, 2004

I've always been partial to Scrawl's total punk-rock "He Cleaned Up" from Travel On, Rider an excellent album, IMHO.

(lyrics - repeated over-and-over, faster-and-faster):

He cleaned up...
She took him back...
He fucked up...
She kicked him out...

The disfunctional love song boiled down to its particulars.
posted by lilboo at 2:25 PM on January 20, 2004

Thanks everyone for all your help. I've got a good crop of songs here to work with. I might even use it for my MeFi Swap CD, too. I'll make sure I post the track listing when I'm finished. It probably won't be until closer to Valentine's Day, though.
posted by emptybowl at 5:40 PM on January 20, 2004