Any Major Unrequited Love
Last week we celebrated reciprocated love in all its giddy black & white glory; today we deal with love on a more twisted basis: the unrequited kind.
Most people have had a bout of unrequited love in their lives. If it was infatuation, they got over it fairly soon. If it really was love, they bear the scars forever — or at least until they find another true love.
The trouble with unrequited love is that double kick in the face: the crushed hope of ever finding happiness and the gut-wrenching feeling of rejection. And if one doesn’t get the over latter swiftly, the former executes true torture on the poor victim.
Unrequited love comes in many forms: the object of desire might not know that you even exist, or just doesn’t like you, or thinks you’re not in their league (or you might fear you’re not and never act on your feelings). Or he or she might be in a relationship that you can’t (and probably shouldn’t) break up.
Perhaps the worst is when you are friends with them. Guys might know that one well: “I love you — as a friend”, perhaps with the soul-destroying addendum, “Why can’t all guys be like you?”, as they cry on your shoulder, a compliment that provides a particularly nasty kick.
So this collection of songs deals with various forms of unrequited love; some are still hopeful (such as Earth, Wind & Fire’s Wait), others are realistic about emotional desolation wrought by being in love with somebody who doesn’t want you.
Anyway, if he or she doesn’t love you back, remember to love yourself.
As ever, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes covers made from home-wept tears. PW same as always.
1. Joe Jackson – Is She Really Going Out With Him? (A Cappella Version) (1988)
2. The Band – It Makes No Difference (1978)
3. The Holmes Brothers – I Want You To Want Me (2007)
4. Warren Zevon – A Certain Girl (1980)
5. Wilco – I’m The Man Who Loves You (2002)
6. Damien Jurado – Simple Hello (2005)
7. Ani DiFranco – Untouchable Face (2007)
8. Linda Ronstadt – Long Long Time (1970)
9. Ray Charles – You Don’t Know Me (1962)
10. Sam Cooke – Cupid (1963)
11. The Temptations – Just My Imagination (1971)
12. Earth, Wind & Fire – Wait (1979)
13. P.P. Arnold – To Love Somebody (1968)
14. The Association – Cherish (1966)
15. Cat Stevens – Here Comes My Baby (1967)
16. Bob Dylan – Most Of The Time (1989)
17. The Cardigans – For What It”s Worth (2006)
18. Matthew Sweet – Farther Down (1998)
19. Mazzy Star – Give You My Lovin’ (1990)
20. Nick Drake – Man In A Shed (1970)
Wow, this looks like a great one. (Let’s hear it for Matthew Sweet!) Thanks, looking forward to this. Unrequited love; possibly a songwriter’s best friend.
This is a great collection. Can’t wait to hear it. If you ever do a second edition, consider “A Woman in Love (It’s Not Me)” by Tom Petty. About half of Elvis Costello’s first decade of work would be appropriate too.
@Hey-Its Mike
PS: P.P. Arnold! Yeah! I never knew she existed until stumbling across her version of “The First Cut is the Deepest” recently. This and so many other cuts on this collection are just wonderful.
I really appreciate your work. You are like an encyclopedia of music listening, a conglomeration of what we all used to have in various friends, and in radio stations. That’s how we found music, learned about music, rediscovered music. I’ve loved all your mixes that I’ve checked out (12-15 or ’em), but I think this one is my favorite. You really got these songs right. Thank you. And, don’t ever stop.
Ah, thanks so much, Duke.
Well, we’ve all been there at one time or another, haven’t we? Many thanks for the compilation which I’ll listen to while driving home tonight, with possibly a tear or two in the corners of my eyes. Cheers!
@halfhearteddude
You’re welcome! And please reply to my separate email about the origins of Major Dude. Haha! :)