How to write a break-up song

True to form for Song Talk Radio, the day before Valentine’s Day seemed a good day to talk about break-up songs. So Phil brought “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)” by Jim Croce, Neel chose “One More Minute” by “Weird Al” Yankovic, Bruce performed a new original tune “I Don’t Love You Anymore”, and Vanessa selected “White Blank Page” by the band Mumford & Sons. We talked about:

• conflict in break up songs
• break up song experts – The Smiths, Jann Arden, Morrissey
• “Operator” chord progression – I, III, IV, V (Nashville numbering system), finger-picking, guitar riff
• “One More Minute” – original song in a doo-wop style, one idea repeated getting more extreme, a bridge might have helped
• “I Don’t Love You…” – Key of E, lyric tune-up to bring clarity, needs a bridge?, Neel finds the word “hating” too harsh
• “White Blank Page” – maximum drama through arrangement, a religious song?, abstract songs let the listener interpret
• remembering phone numbers in the age of the cell phone

Listen to the whole show

White-Blank-Page

Operator-Jim-Croce-Lyrics

One-More-Minute