OT: Unrequited Love
Is there even a topic that posts can be classified as deviating from anymore? Well, I figure I'll label my post as Off-Topic just in case.
I met someone over spring break who I really, really liked. Unfortunately, he has a girlfriend. And on top of that, my chances of even just seeing him around are pretty slim. You know how it goes.
1. Joni Mitchell - Conversation
He comes for conversation/I comfort him sometimes
You know that one friend you have, the person you get along with so well and can talk to so easily? The one you figure will have to like you eventually, because you're so great together, yet they can't see it? This song encapsulates that perfectly. As a bonus, I'll include this early live version due to its extra verse which I think is the best one out of the whole song:
But friends are friends forever
It's so hard to change the role
Laugh with him, cry together
Hey friend, it feels so whole
But you keep your feelings deep inside
You talk of them, you think you'll cry
Now is the wrong time.
I have no idea why Joni decided to cut it out from the album version. Buy Ladies of the Canyon.
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
Not much to say about this one, except the chorus: "Wait - They don't love you like I love you." This line came to my head so many times when I was realizing that I would only have a few more days with this guy and knowing that in the end he would just go back to his old crowd and girlfriend, never knowing how I felt, while I was feeling like I had a "different" affection for him than the others. Hence, "They don't love you like I love you." Probably silly, since I never actually met most of these others, but all unrequited love features some degree of that silliness, I think. Buy Fever To Tell.
3. Queen - Dreamer's Ball
If I can't have you when I'm waking, I'll go to sleep and dream I'm with you.
This song actually goes back a little further than this particular incident for me. Specifically, back to those awkward high school years where there was that one person I always wanted to ask to prom, but never gathered up the courage to. This song envisions sort of a "prom in your dreams," where you can finally dance with that perfect person. And it also includes a line which I think is one of the most perfect summaries of unrequited love ever:
You make my life worthwhile with the slightest smile
Or destroy me with a barely perceptible whisper
Buy Jazz
4. Kimya Dawson - Tire Swing
Back home, trying to find ways to blow the whole thing off... "You're overreacting, you only knew him one week" etc. And what lyric comes into my head? If I'm a spinster for the rest of my life, my arms will keep me warm on cold and lonely nights. Comforting, eh? In a way it sort of is, even if it's a very lonely proposition. Might not be a conventional unrequited love song, but it still makes my list. Buy Remember That I Love You.
5. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
And then we arrive at one of the quintessential separated-lovers songs. It works for any situation really, not just crushes that are never reciprocated. I'll always love it just because you can almost hear the distance between the singer and the subject in that opening guitar part. And then the chorus just comes up at completely slams you into this wall of loneliness:
How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl
Year after year
A masterpiece, truly. Buy Wish You Were Here.
And then I have two bonus tracks, one because I feel bad about "Tire Swing" not really being an unrequited love song, and the other because I don't think it pertains to unrequited love in general as much as it does just my situation...
+ A Fine Frenzy - Almost Lover
So I have a much more conventional unrequited love song for you all. :) I didn't actually think of this one that much in my situation, because the lyrics talk of a relationship beyond just liking a friend, which unfortunately never really happened with me. It's still a brilliant song on the subject though...
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Should've known you'd bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do.
Buy One Cell in the Sea
+ Patty Griffin - When It Don't Come Easy
Tonight I'll cry for the love that I've lost and the love I've never found
I literally only just discovered this song today, but it instantly hit me as perfect. For me, this song encapsulates that last leg of the journey, just before going your separate ways and leaving the other person to only god knows what. Although you're saying goodbye, they're still with you, and if you had the chance, you'd come back to them in a heartbeat.
But if you break down
I'll drive out and find you
If you forget my love
I'll try to remind you
Buy Impossible Dream.
Well, hope you all enjoy, and I hope it's not too mope-y and self-centered for any of your tastes. It's not like I'm crazy depressed and obsessing over this or anything, I'm just a little disappointed, and the songs were calling me. Hopefully they'll help if you're going through something similar. :)
I met someone over spring break who I really, really liked. Unfortunately, he has a girlfriend. And on top of that, my chances of even just seeing him around are pretty slim. You know how it goes.
1. Joni Mitchell - Conversation
He comes for conversation/I comfort him sometimes
You know that one friend you have, the person you get along with so well and can talk to so easily? The one you figure will have to like you eventually, because you're so great together, yet they can't see it? This song encapsulates that perfectly. As a bonus, I'll include this early live version due to its extra verse which I think is the best one out of the whole song:
But friends are friends forever
It's so hard to change the role
Laugh with him, cry together
Hey friend, it feels so whole
But you keep your feelings deep inside
You talk of them, you think you'll cry
Now is the wrong time.
I have no idea why Joni decided to cut it out from the album version. Buy Ladies of the Canyon.
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
Not much to say about this one, except the chorus: "Wait - They don't love you like I love you." This line came to my head so many times when I was realizing that I would only have a few more days with this guy and knowing that in the end he would just go back to his old crowd and girlfriend, never knowing how I felt, while I was feeling like I had a "different" affection for him than the others. Hence, "They don't love you like I love you." Probably silly, since I never actually met most of these others, but all unrequited love features some degree of that silliness, I think. Buy Fever To Tell.
3. Queen - Dreamer's Ball
If I can't have you when I'm waking, I'll go to sleep and dream I'm with you.
This song actually goes back a little further than this particular incident for me. Specifically, back to those awkward high school years where there was that one person I always wanted to ask to prom, but never gathered up the courage to. This song envisions sort of a "prom in your dreams," where you can finally dance with that perfect person. And it also includes a line which I think is one of the most perfect summaries of unrequited love ever:
You make my life worthwhile with the slightest smile
Or destroy me with a barely perceptible whisper
Buy Jazz
4. Kimya Dawson - Tire Swing
Back home, trying to find ways to blow the whole thing off... "You're overreacting, you only knew him one week" etc. And what lyric comes into my head? If I'm a spinster for the rest of my life, my arms will keep me warm on cold and lonely nights. Comforting, eh? In a way it sort of is, even if it's a very lonely proposition. Might not be a conventional unrequited love song, but it still makes my list. Buy Remember That I Love You.
5. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
And then we arrive at one of the quintessential separated-lovers songs. It works for any situation really, not just crushes that are never reciprocated. I'll always love it just because you can almost hear the distance between the singer and the subject in that opening guitar part. And then the chorus just comes up at completely slams you into this wall of loneliness:
How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl
Year after year
A masterpiece, truly. Buy Wish You Were Here.
And then I have two bonus tracks, one because I feel bad about "Tire Swing" not really being an unrequited love song, and the other because I don't think it pertains to unrequited love in general as much as it does just my situation...
+ A Fine Frenzy - Almost Lover
So I have a much more conventional unrequited love song for you all. :) I didn't actually think of this one that much in my situation, because the lyrics talk of a relationship beyond just liking a friend, which unfortunately never really happened with me. It's still a brilliant song on the subject though...
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Should've known you'd bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do.
Buy One Cell in the Sea
+ Patty Griffin - When It Don't Come Easy
Tonight I'll cry for the love that I've lost and the love I've never found
I literally only just discovered this song today, but it instantly hit me as perfect. For me, this song encapsulates that last leg of the journey, just before going your separate ways and leaving the other person to only god knows what. Although you're saying goodbye, they're still with you, and if you had the chance, you'd come back to them in a heartbeat.
But if you break down
I'll drive out and find you
If you forget my love
I'll try to remind you
Buy Impossible Dream.
Well, hope you all enjoy, and I hope it's not too mope-y and self-centered for any of your tastes. It's not like I'm crazy depressed and obsessing over this or anything, I'm just a little disappointed, and the songs were calling me. Hopefully they'll help if you're going through something similar. :)