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Muskrat Love — NOT!
These ain't no silly love songs
By Greg Rohloff
Business Correspondent
She left with the dog and all you can think
about is what a great dog it was and you miss it.
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Photo Ralph Duke
Sweetheart: Rosemartha Cates, owner of
Doughnut Stop, serves up a sweet treat for your sweetie, heart-shaped doughnuts
for Valentine's Day.
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His cell phone on the
bedside table rings at 3 o'clock in the morning
and when you answer it as he sleeps, some slutty whiner wants to know
who you are.
Face it, Valentine's Day isn't always
a Hallmark occasion. And there's good reason not to head straight for
the Jack Daniels to think about what might have been.
So here's a dozen
tunes that share the misery and the reminders that lost loves are as universal
an experience as those magic moments
when you realize you've found true love.
After all, it could
be worse. You could still be with him or her.
- Your Cheatin' Heart. Hank Williams lived the lost-love life to the point that it killed
him. "When tears come down like fallin' rain
..." says it all.
- Wicked Game. Chris Isaac is a master of
irony, contrasting the excitement of meeting a woman you'd
obviously never take to meet Mom and then losing her, vowing never
to fall in love again.
- Cry Me
a River. Take Julie London's
advice when the lowlife scum comes crawling back and just say: "Cry
me a river, I've
cried a river over you."
- You've Lost that Loving Feeling. Righteous Brothers. Disregard the string arrangement and think
about the desperation that produces
the line "... I'd get down on my knees for you ..."
- Crying.
Roy Orbison. Sometimes it's the simple things, like the
momentary touch of a hand, that lets you know you still aren't
all right with a breakup.
- A Man Alone. Frank Sinatra. Old Blue Eyes
was just as comfortable being Old Wet Eyes as he was being the
swinging cat. This song
needs a warning
label about mixing it with anything stronger than ginger ale after
midnight.
- Song for the Dumped. Ben Folds Five proves that wasted
love still happens to the young, but reveals naivete in values and
expectations with the lyric "I want my money back." Love doesn't
come with that particular guarantee. Besides, what about your time, dignity
and ... whoa, they aren't particularly guaranteed, either.
- Tracks
of My Tears. Smokey Robinson knows we are only trying to fool
ourselves after a breakup. "Outside I'm masquerading/Inside
my hope is fading/Just a clown oh yeah/since you put me down/
My smile is my makeup/I wear since my breakup with you."
- It
Doesn't Matter Anymore. West Texan Buddy Holly is remembered
for the syrupy "Peggy Sue," but when it comes to
a broken heart, well, he tells his ex: "There's no
use in me a-crying/ I've done everything and now I'm
sick of trying."
- The Last Thing I Needed the First Thing
This Morning. Willie Nelson recorded the best-known cover of
this song written by
cowboy Gary
P. Nunn about
a lover walking out one morning. It builds to a crescendo, starting
with minor annoyances like spilled coffee and overdue bills and
peaks with "excuse
me for living/ and being forgiving/ So just go on if you want
to be free."
- " George Jones tells
what happens when you don't
let go of love gone bad. "They placed a wreath upon his door/And
soon they'll
carry him away/""
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