Songs that evoke your ex-girlfriend ...

"Bitch", obviously.

Question is, which "Bitch?" :-)

Usher's "Burn," though I imagine she's singing it. I practically heard the first verse note for note and assume she's singing the rest of the song out of earshot.

me, I'd be singing the Magnetic Fields' "I Don't Really Love You Anymore."

Actually, hadn;nt even thought of Magnetic Fields until now. I prolly should give those discs a whirl ... I'm partial ... "Chicken With Its Head Cut Off" for that kinda stuff.

'Sesimilla Party" by Eek-A-Mouse. Just because she used to sing along to it.

Always a somber remembrance, for sure ... My ex was big into singing Kinky's "El Presidente."

I was once briefly going out with a woman who was obsessed with Ace Of Bass's "All That She Wants". I took the hint and legged it.

smashing pumpkins - today
eminem - the way i am
pavement - spit on a stranger

very wise, Noodle, very wise.

Damn, I could name a million examples here ... so many songs that remind of certain moments with certain people.

I listened to "Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld" this week and it reminded me of a girl I went out with in high school (who I hadn't thought about in ages). We used to lie on the couch in her house and listen to that album all the time.

Slowdive's "Here She Comes" reminds me of sitting in the car watching the stars with her one night ... there are about ten other songs associated with that girl too.

I haven't dared listen to Grateful Dead's "Ripple" since the end of a relationship from a few months ago, because she loved the Dead and hearing the song now would likely just make me sad :(

"If I Were With Her Now" by Spiritualized

..but then I wisely got over her and met someone new and got married, so I can finally listen to above song again and not punch the walls red.

every last fucking song she put on the cd she gave me post-breakup

1. catch - the cure
2. perfect world - liz phair
3. temptation - new order
4. laid - james
5. just like heaven - the cure
6. as is - ani difranco
7. like a friend - pulp
8. dreams burn down - ride
9. blueskied an' clear - slowdive
10. hallelujah - jeff buckley
11. treasure - the cure
12. whitechocolatespaceegg - liz phair

notice the arc? cute, eh?

goddammit.

that selection is cruel ... how could it not remind you of her? ... and she knew that, and gave you the CD anyhow.

The Smiths' Queen is Dead album, The Jam's "In The City," anything by Madness, and a ton of 80s hits ("Love Plus One" chief among them) all remind me of a long relationship I had through high school. Good riddance to that one tho

The Undertones's "You Got My Number," The Pogues's "Once Upon A Time" and some Labradford stuff all make me a little sad - I broke up with a really nice girl in college who I've since tried to become friends with to no avail. She was great.

"Past girlfriend music" usually only evokes a comfortable nostalgia nad maybe a little regret, never animosity. I don't harbor any bad feelings toward any ex except for one - she was a painter. One night we took a lot of drugs and decided to paint together. It was my first (and last) ever oil painting, and it came out great (better than the crappy sub-minimalist thing she was doing). She was jealous of it and 'accidentally' stepped on it in the middle of the night while it was drying. I still have the thing, with her stupid footprint on it. Anyway she LOVED Nick Cave and the Cowboy Junkies. It was years before I could listen to The Trinity Sessions again. What an album to inspire feelings of rage!

I could do this w/ every girl I dated for a decent period of time. But here's the last 3 "real" girlfriends:

"Remind Me" - Royksopp
"En Tus Ojos" - Davide
"Down Down Down" - DJ Quik

not a recent relationship but smog's "all your woman things" can bring back a very distinctive time in my life.

four songs for four girls:

breeders "safari"
annie lennox "why"
lash "beauty queen"
paul kelly "when i first met your ma"

x-post

Barry, thank you kindly, but I uh, may not be entirely deserving of your sympathy. Two sides to every story and all that. Ahem.

"I was dancing in a lesbian bar, mmm hmmm"

the one Jonathan Richman song I ever liked.. if only I were a lesbian, oh well.

oooh, sounds ominous Lukas ... well, then you deserve the painful reminder, you bastard you :)

(there, now I'm no longer taking sides)

slayer - 'angel of death'

she loved that song

Apologies for the wisecracking, this thread deserves better.

"Sworn & Broken"--Screaming Trees
"Abandoned Love"--Dylan
"Your Lies Become You"--Monster Magnet

Nick Cave, Far From Me (from Boatman's Call). A real bye bye, baby, goodbye.

Aimee Mann, "Could've Been Anyone." Man, that song still hits me today. Every time I hear it, which in my house, is often.

I've been on the Lanegan front this month, one more:

"Don't Forget Me"--Mark Lanegan (from "Field Songs")

all of Bonnie Billy's Ease Down The Road
anything by Prurient (ha!)
"Wild Horses"
Codeine "Second Chance"

mc hammer "2 legit 2 quit" reminds me of the first girl i kissed
blink-182 "dammit" reminds me of my high school girlfriend
mbv's cover of "map ref" reminds me of a girl from college who i had one of those college pseudorelationships with, actually so does slowdive and lightning bolt and a lot of crap that i never listen to

the good thing about dating girls who aren't into music is you don't wind up with emotional landmines tied to favorite music. my girlfriend is into biggie and eminem and abba but all that predates her by a lot. the only song i can think of that is inextricably tied up with her and only her is lindsay lohan's "that girl (teenage drama queen)"

Other songs I've found I can identify with at the moment:

"Friend is a Four Letter Word" -- Cake
"Hardest Button to Button" -- White Stripes
"Oh Lonesome Me" -- Neil Young's version
"Yesterday" -- Beatles
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" -- Al Green's version
"Song For the Dumped" -- Ben Folds Five
"Like a Pimp" -- David Banner/Lil' Flip (gets me in touch with my inner asshole)
Buckingham's stuff on Tusk ... just beautiful.
And one positive one that makes me weep, too ... Harrison's take on "If Not For You."

Mickey Newbury- She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye
David Allan Coe- I'd Just Like to Fuck You One More Time
The Byrds- I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better When You're Gone
Nina Simone- Please Read Me
Bill Fay- Be Not So Fearful
Johnny Copeland- Your Gonna Reap What You Sow
Gary Stewart- She's Actin'Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)
Waylon Jennings- The Wurlitzer Prize
The Chi Lites- Coldest Days of My Life Pt.1
Sebadoh- Jaundice
Fear- I Don't Care About You

Metal Machine Music, #1-4. Just kidding.

*"You really got a hold on me," the Small Faces version.
*"Fucked-up girl," the Vandals.
*Anything by Oasis, her favorite band. Goodbye to all that. Thank god I never put anything by My Bloody Valentine, the Buzzcocks, or Lou Reed on her mix cds, otherwise I'd be screwed completely.

Also "One of us cannot be wrong" by Leonard Cohen. Which pretty much says it all.

Robert Miles, 'Children'

It's a shit song, but she was a shit human, so it works out just fine.

"27 Jennifers", by Mike Doughty.

I've dated three Jennifers in my life, and things with the last one ended in a LOT of tears - mostly mine.

Sigh.

Well, anything by Omara Portuondo evokes my ex-boyfriend.

Deee-lite's "Groove Is In The Heart", Nazareth's "Love Hurts", and (don't ask) B-52s, "Strobe Light"

The significant ones:

1. Oh Lori - Alessi

2.a) New Rose - The Damned*
2.b) Eddie & Sheena - Electric Chairs

3.a) Careering - PiL
3.b) Flares & Slippers - Cockney Rejects

4.a) Wild Is The Wind - David Bowie
4.b) Cities (in fact the whole of Fear Of Music) - Talking Heads

5.a) Love Cats - The Cure
5.b) Cruel - Prefab Sprout
5.c) So What - Anti Nowhere League
5.d) Little Donkey - trad.

6. (nothing particular leaps to mind)

7.a) New Rose - The Damned*
7.b) God Only Knows - Beach Boys

* - nominating this twice may seem a bit off, but I feel I should point out in my defence that:
(a) it is the greatest song ever;
(b) 2. and 7. are actually the same person anyway.

Only of course she's not an "ex" in her second incarnation. Bugger - I really should have thought that through more thoroughly!

ballistic brothers "blacker"

'Never my Love' - The Association

'don't carry it all' by low

plenty of songs bring up the "cuntbags" spirit.

Toad The Wet Sprocket - Always Changing Probably
Toad The Wet Sprocket - Don't Go Away
Toad The Wet Sprocket - Windmills
Jeff Buckley - Lover You Should Have Come Over
Red House Painters - Mistress

and "Song 34" by Dave Matthews Band ugh.

The ex that was:

Pulp, "Disco 2000" (turned out to be troublingly prescient)
Black, "Wonderful Life"

The ex that never was (unrequited situation):

Liz Phair, "Supernova"
The Supremes, "I Hear a Symphony"

I see Pulp, the Cure, and the Smiths have already made an appearance. So I don't really need to post...

Except where's the Tori Amos???

Fuckin' No Doubt's entire recorded output prior to Rock Steady, all that shit can go to hell. And that Moby track whatserface sang on, the south side or whatever that shit was called. All that music can eat shit.

NB I am not really that bitter, I just never really liked any of that to begin with and I had to put up with it a lot with her.

There was also the girl in high school who gave me a copy of Alanis Morrisette's album for my birthday. The things we will put up with for the opportunity to touch boobies. God. Stupidest present EVER.

And the Beatles. Fuck the Beatles, dude.

Oner thing I can say about my ex is that I NEVER had to put up with putrid chick music like Alanis or Sarah McLachlan. She was into stuff like Tool, Korn, POD, Starflyer 51, Dirt, Kinky, Beta Band, RATM, Basement Jaxx, TV on the Radio, Coldplay, White Stripes, Missy Elliott and Dirty South rap.

Damn ... she was f'n cool. :-(

the most painful thing ever is sharing music you love with a boyfriend, breaking up, then finding from your little brother that his new 17 year old lover is into everything you adore.

curse secondhand jams!

songs that remind me of a kind of shitty, but intriguing high school boyfriend:
big star - ballad of el goodo
jim o rourke - prelude to 110 or 120/women of the
world
king crimson - starless

yes, we need a companion thread for ex-boyfriends ... or more women posting here (hopefully they're not turned away by the title).

the male female ratio is all wacked out anyway.
the ladyfriends can post here too...

I expected women to post ... didn't mean anything exclusionary with the title. Just talking from personal experience.

I listen to a lot of Southern rock ... maybe that's part of the reason I'm single now. ;-) Maybe there's other such horror stories ...

Not sure if it's coincidence or some weird association I have with women & lyrics about being irresponsible ..

But one is "Uh-oh Love Comes to Town" specifically the lines "I neglect my duties, I be in trouble"

.. and another, not a girlfriend, but a woman I met only twice who I can't seem to forget: Spoon's "Plastic Mylar" - "I just don't find myself giving a fuck, about the things I have to do when I see ya."

"Autumn Sweater" Yo La Tengo

1. (the god awful) "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston.
2. "Nationwide" by ZZ Top
3. "Gathering Moss" by SFA
4. "In My Life" by The Beatles

Four major relationships; the two shittest summed up by equally shitty songs.

By name? Helium - "Lucy"

As for what evokes her in memory, the entirety of Catherine Wheel's Ferment and the Breathless song "Over and Over".

"Fallin' Ditch" by Capt. Beefheart and the Magic Band reminds me of an ex who treated "Trout Mask Replica" as a funny drug party record.

The Smiths - "You've Got Everything Now"

Hmmmm ... hadn't thought of the Smiths. Maybe I should down a few shots of SoCo and check out a few of their ol' brooders. ;-)

Howabout songs that invoke your ex girlfriend. Wouldn't it be interesting if you could play, say, Life's A Gas, and the ex-girlfriend associated with that song would be invoked. Just for thr duration of that song. So, Life's A Gas.

... or songs that provoke your ex-girlfriend ... might be more suited to one's immediate post-breakup feelings.

One ex-gf generally liked all of my music, but hated, and I mean HATED Pauline Oliveros. The moog would dribble on and on and she's go nuts and force me to change it.

Another one hated MBV. I had this bootleg cassette of a live show from the Loveless tour that I was blasting in the car all of the time, and we used to fight to the death over the volume knob.

Geez...*anything* by Ani DiFranco. And the Barenaked Ladies. And Cake. And worst of all, "Standing Outside a Broken Phonebooth With Money in My Hand" by the Primitive Radio Gods. All of the above would have constant rotation in the jukebox in my own private hell.

Provoke.....mmmm...that would be Tom Waits, who she absolutely hated with a passion.

Also to an extent Nick Cave, who she loved, due to a admittedly dumb music-snob joke I made about him once. I really like Cave but I said something stupid and whenever I play it now I feel guilty.

kinky reggae- bob marley