Percentage Points by Dick Diver. A song that stays relevant across the entire timeline of a breakup. From “I’ll never love again” through to “I’ll quit smoking, start working out. I’m totally gonna win this breakup”. Masterful in its simplicity, with wonderfully visual lyrics that build into one of the best lines of all time: “Now you’re all backlit / stood in front of the sun/you glow out your edge/your negative image.”
Bachelor Kisses by The Go-Betweens. The hardest part of a breakup is usually the sticky early part where a couple begins to pull away from each other. I’ve always interpreted this song as being about a couple who are going through the throes of that early break up and are suddenly faced with a life without one another.
St. James by Dyan. Your official soundtrack to crying on the bus.
Push Th’ Little Daisies by Ween. The landscape of a broken heart is treacherous and uncertain. Landmarks once well-known become twisted and foreign overnight; wrought strange by unpredictable and unstoppable emotion. At the same time, places that you would have never dared enter in happiness suddenly become tranquil and full of meaning. It was in such a fashion I discovered Ween.
Guess Work by The Ocean Party. While the lyrics to this song are steeped in socio-political commentary, that didn’t stop me from selfishly retro-fitting the line, “I want to exist outside it all/I want to watch everything fall” to the Great Breakup of ’16.
