First, you don't need violins to make a good heartbreak song, some electronic bands have even managed to create superb tracks filled of melancholy and regrets...
The most obvious one is by Everything But The Girl back in 1994 when they left their old folky style to venture into more electronic territories. Missing is a sad as a grey rainy day in an industrial town:
More recently, another duo ( Danish this time) have also crafted a perfect anthem for all the masochists amongst us who can't help but play the love martyr game - I blame the period dramas like Pride & Prejudice by the way...
Trentemoller then, on their 2010 album Into The Great Wide Yonder with the mournful voice of Josephine Philip "...Even Though You're With Another Girl"
get your tissues ready, the video is as beautiful as the song:
Alt Country is an other style that has spawned many a sad love song. I have to include Ryan Adams in here, but he has written way too many beautiful tracks to choose one, but fair's fair and I'll go for "Come Pick Me Up" on his first album, the aptly titled Heartbreaker in 2000. It's full of regrets with hints of hope, perfect for a heartbreak. Here's a live version ( you can laugh at his dress sense too)
In a more lo-fi genre, Death Cab for Cutie too have a knack for lyrics that go straight to your heart and lacrimal glands. On Plans, their fifth album in 2005, there is a song I keep going back to when I need a good cry. "Someday You Will Be Loved" with its perfect video. Strangely enough I don't find it that hopeful...
Some old classical songs add some gravita to the heartbreak, after all love pain is as old as the world, right? Here, Nina Simone covers Screaming Jay Hawkins's "I put a spell on you" in a haunted way. If the original (1956) was rather eccentric and out of the ordinary, Simone's cover is full on melodramatics with over the top strings and rolling tears
Talking of putting a spell on a loved one, here we have the unrequited love version from English singer songwriter Matt Hales aka Aqualung. On his first self titled album in 2002 he hit the jackpot with this distressed and poisonous "Strange & Beautiful" - stalker alert!
Obviously we can't talk of heartbreak song without mentioning the one king song to rule them all. No need for an introduction, just sing along and shiver:
So, take good care of your hearts, kids, as Saint Bonnie sings it eloquently: "it's a heartache, nothing but heartache, hits you when it's too late, hits you when you're down. It's a fool's game, nothing but a fool's game. Standing in the cold rain, feeling like a clown..."
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