In yesterday’s daily goodie, we explored all sorts of different kinds of love songs. I was delighted by your responses, and spent a longer time than I’d like to admit clicking through all of your suggestions on YouTube. Today we’re going to explore the flip side, and put together the ultimate Persephone Playlist for those who’ll be in the box wine and VD open thread with us on Tuesday.
Like yesterday, I’ll start us off with a few of my favorites then you can jump in with yours. I can’t wait to read the comments on this one.
Let’s get some quick housekeeping out of the way. First: thank you so much for your patience with our growing pains. I appreciate (and read!) all the feedback, it’s been tremendously helpful in finding the little bugs we didn’t notice when there were only a couple thousand of us. Keep it coming.
1. The feature banner (now featuring talented, bookish, clever, fantastic Women of Color for Black History Month) is only on the main page. I know it’s big, but we like it an awful lot, so we compromised.
2. Seeing the open thread with more than 300 posts (I’m writing this at 2 in the morning) made me notice our comment threads are kind of ugly. Like a gift from Persephone herself, a programmer contacted me last night offering to volunteer to help us out and I jumped all over that. Said programmer is so going to rethink this decision when I reveal my list of wants.
3. Speaking of, wouldn’t it be awesome if we could completely bypass the email comment notification and have something on site (like, um, Other Ladyblog used to do but different enough not to piss anyone off) instead? That’s at the top of my want list.
4. The comment notification is screwy as all get out, and I totally feel your pain, everyone who was getting massive email from the board last night. To work around it for now (and just for a short time, I promise) untick the box at the bottom of the commenting threads that send you emails. Then, go to the magic black bar up top, choose My Account >Settings > Notifications and adjust the settings accordingly. I’m turning off a plug in that looked awesome on paper, and that may seriously cut down on the number of emails you’re getting.
5. You love the open threads! I’ve heard from four different people from four different circles that not only do you want more, you want one during the day. Alrighty, we can totally do that. As mentioned the other night, we’re shifting our schedule to have the bulk of our articles run from noon to 10PM EST. We’ll still run a daily goodie (like this one) at 9AM every day, and that can be your daytime open thread playground. Our last post of the night, at 10PM, will be an open thread as well.
To the music already!
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – Suite Judy Blue Eyes. Starts out as a sad, lonely break-up song, ends in a giant party. This is the Woodstock ’69 version; no, I am not so old that I attended. If I had a TARDIS, I totally would, though.
The Cure – The Kiss. It doesn’t get more Blood Clot Day than this, readers. It’s a musical hate fuck.
Erasure – Love to Hate You. Even without the silver fringe pants, this video would be one of the most fantastic things ever.
Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Are Made for Walking. And that’s just what they’ll do.
The Beatles – I’m Looking Through You
The Rolling Stones – Dead Flowers
37 replies on “TDG 2/10: Love Stinks”
“Ocean Breathes Salty” and “Polar Opposites” by Modest Mouse (for your immediate wallowing phase, specifically this lyric: “I’m trying to drink away the part of the day that I cannot sleep away”)
“High and Dry” by Radiohead (the cover by Amanda Palmer is also good)
“Crooked Teeth” by Death Cab for Cutie. The bass line is excellent, and the lyrics are lovely and cynical (“No, you can’t find nothing at all if there was nothing there all along”)
And, like, everything by The Smiths and The Cure for that right amount of melancholy the-world-has-failed-me-ness.
Can I just say two things?
1. All of “Jagged Little Pill” Alanis Morissette was totally pissed off on the whole album.
2. “If You Could Read My Mind” by Gordon Lightfoot, tragic and sad.
I’m sure there are other OHSNAP! songs but these are the first songs I thought of.
Okay, so this turned out to be more than two things…
* “Somebody More Like You by Nickel Creek”: “I hope you find someone your height/so you can see eye to eye/with someone as small as you”.
* Pretty much any song on Fiona Apple’s “When the Pawn…”. That may be the greatest “angry” album ever.
Oh! Dude! How could I forget I’m Not Cryin’ for You by Save Ferris? Another gleefully free breakups song.
“You made so many promises, that’s all you ever do. So know tonight I’m leaving, and I won’t come back to you. It doesn’t really matter what you have to say ’cause you know it won’t bring us back or bring back yesterday. ‘Cause I’m not cryin’ for you. I’m not cryin’ for you tonight. So please listen when I say that there’s no way that I will stay…”
Two get angry songs I’m particularly fond of:
Some Kinda Nerve – Melissa Ferrick
Come On – Lucinda Williams
Doesn’t fit exactly into the conversation, but I fancy Janis Joplin’s “One Night Stand” as well.
Ani DiFranco’s entire Dilate album is the perfect breakup album. That, and Portishead’s Dummy, and Joni Mitchell’s Blue got me through the last breakup.
“One Wing” by Wilco. Simple but poignant imagery of arriving at the point of a doomed relationship. It’s not a “Fuck You” to make Cee-Lo proud, instead more like a track when you’re just collecting yourself, giving the backwards glance, ready to step back out into the cruel rainy world. (and if you’re me, continue looking for my Jeff Tweedy)