{"id":2142,"date":"2012-01-31T15:10:08","date_gmt":"2012-01-31T19:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www3.arts.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=2142"},"modified":"2012-01-31T15:10:08","modified_gmt":"2012-01-31T19:10:08","slug":"since-my-baby-left-me-i-found-a-new-place-to-dwell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2012\/01\/31\/since-my-baby-left-me-i-found-a-new-place-to-dwell\/","title":{"rendered":"Since my baby left me, I found a new place to dwell…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Thursday, I was lucky enough to see Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman speak as a part of the Penny Stamps lecture series.\u00c2\u00a0 I, like many of the others in the audience, went to the lecture because my progression from childhood to adolescence to adulthood was basically charted by new volumes of A Series of Unfortunate Events <\/em>which Mr. Handler wrote under his pen name, Lemony Snicket.\u00c2\u00a0 The lecture was not about that series, and I worried that for that reason it might not hold my interest.\u00c2\u00a0 I was happily proved incredibly wrong.\u00c2\u00a0 Handler and Kalman were in Ann Arbor to talk about their new book, Why We Broke Up<\/em>, which charts the relationship and eventual demise of a high school couple through the objects the girlfriend is giving her now ex-boyfriend back. \u00c2\u00a0Handler and Kalman have also started a website where people from all over can share their own stories of “why they broke up<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Sitting there, hearing about the artists\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 own break-up experiences and looking at this art centered around break-ups, I was struck by the idea that there is so much <\/em>art about heartbreak.\u00c2\u00a0 I have a belief that 99% of art is based on love in some form.\u00c2\u00a0 Of that, I would say nearly half focuses on heartbreak or a sad or an impossible love.\u00c2\u00a0 My first thought was the movie High Fidelity <\/em>(I know it is based on a book, but I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t read the book, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to make assumptions about it based on the movie because who knows how much of that adaptation is faithful?).\u00c2\u00a0 This is a movie that dissects break-ups of all shapes and sizes.\u00c2\u00a0 The main character, Rob, works at a record store where he and his co-workers are constantly making \u00e2\u20ac\u0153top five\u00e2\u20ac\u009d lists.\u00c2\u00a0 In the film, Rob recounts his top five break-ups, and due to the nature of his work, each scene is punctuated by a killer soundtrack.<\/p>\n

Probably the most obvious break-up art is the break-up song.\u00c2\u00a0 After the lecture and thinking about High Fidelity<\/em>, I became really interested in the nature of the break-up song.\u00c2\u00a0 I sent out a mass text to my friends asking for their favorite break-up songs\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthey could be that sad, wallowy kind, a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fuck you\u00e2\u20ac\u009d vibe, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m better without you\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhatever had helped them through break-ups.\u00c2\u00a0 Responses came back immediately<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 People love sharing their break-up songs.\u00c2\u00a0 Generally, there were two types of responses: either someone would send one song that got them through a very specific break-up (these usually included a small story) or they would send a list with the best ones they could think of.\u00c2\u00a0 You can tell from the tone of someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s songs what kind of break-ups they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been through and how they dealt with it.\u00c2\u00a0 People were telling me things.\u00c2\u00a0 Big things that had happened to them.\u00c2\u00a0 They have break-up playlists.\u00c2\u00a0 They have songs that immediately make them tear up with the memory of that heartbreak, no matter how\u00c2\u00a0removed they are from the experience now.<\/p>\n

When thinking about the songs that came flooding in, I was surprised.\u00c2\u00a0 Most break-up songs are about the other person.\u00c2\u00a0 This makes sense, but I guess when I think of listening to music after a break-up it is sort of a\u00c2\u00a0self-healing process.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The majority of songs people suggested are about the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153you,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the other person. I was going to compile a list of songs, but I am not exaggerating when I say the results were overwhelming.\u00c2\u00a0 Here are a few of my favorites\/the most popular:<\/p>\n