misery loves company

For a long time, I have been working on a mixtape in my head called "Misery Loves Company" -- a mix of all the best (i.e. most tragic) love-gone-wrong songs. I was thinking about my list today while cranking my iPod on a trip to scenic Dover, and thought I would post a list of the five songs I have come up with so far.

5. "The Art Teacher" -- Rufus Wainwright. A great song about a woman remembering her unrequited love for her high school art teacher. Lucy and I were singing this throughout London as we visited art museums..."I looked at the Rubens and Rembrandts. I liked the John Singer Sargents. He told me he liked Turner. Never have I turned since then. No, never have I turned to any other man."

4. "Simple Kind of Life" -- No Doubt. Back when they were just a couple of kids growing up in the OC, Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal fell in love. After years of hard work, touring the country with their little ska band, life got in the way, and Gwen and Tony broke up. But despite the band's success, all Gwen ever wanted was a simple kind of life. "I always thought that I'd be a mom. Sometimes I wish for a mistake. The longer that I wait the more selfish that it gets. You look like you'd be a good dad." Now Gwen has Gavin, and baby Kingston, with another on the way, so she is living the dream, and I am happy for her. But if Tony needs someone to carry his baby, so he can find out if he would indeed be a good dad, I could probably make myself available.

3. "You Were Mine" -- Dixie Chicks. Country music. Key changes. Cheating men. Do you really need anything more for a great break-up song? Well, how about if we throw in an additional dagger to the heart (Justin, if Ally is reading this to you, brace yourself.....), kids caught in the middle. "I can give you two good reasons to show your love's not blind. He's two and she's four and you know they adore you, so how can I tell them that you've changed your mind?" Cue weeping.

2. "No Children" --Mountain Goats. More bitter than working class voters in Pennsylvania, and at least twice as witty. "I hope it stays dark forever, I hope the worst isn't over. I hope you blink before I do, I hope I never get sober. And I hope when you think of me years down the line, you can't find one good thing to say....And I hope you die, I hope we both die..." Hey, at least they don't have kids.

1. "Fairytale of New York"-- the Pogues with Kirsty McColl. This song gets me every time. Poor Shane McGowan is in the drunk tank on Christmas Eve, pining away for Kirsty, and Kirsty is totally over him, calling him a "scumbag" and a "maggot", among other choice words. This one is made so much more poignant by the fact that Shane McGowan really is a horrible drunk, and Kirsty McColl met a tragic end, decapitated by a boat. You can't make that shit up.

Now you have to tell me what other songs I should put on my mixtape (and by mixtape, I mean iTunes playlist). Thanks for your help.