The Perfect Song For… A sad breakup

It got her a number four position in the Billboard Hot 100. 

But of course the history of this particular genre goes back much further, to ancient British folk tales and American blues dirges. 

The most famous breakup song is arguably I Will Always Love You, written in 1973 by Dolly Parton and made famous by Whitney Houston some 20 years later. And who doesn’t remember Alanis Morissette’s furious You Oughta Know, or Soft Cell’s electronic version of Tainted Love. 

There are thousands and thousands of breakup songs, from hateful to completely devastated. They provide comfort, a bed of words and melody to wallow in and overcome our grief. Artists understand us better than anyone else.

So, in this podcast episode, we swim in tears, trying to find the perfect song to match the sad departure of your loved one. 



We also have a special guest, journalist and musician Lloyd Coutts, who has written a number of near-perfect breakup songs himself. Listen to Tim Cohen, Fred de Vries and Lloyd Coutts discussing the various stages of grief and the nine tunes that they think will heal the broken-hearted. 

You’ll hear Moments by The Kinks, Eucalyptus by The National, Songbird by Eva Cassidy, Everybody Hurts by R.E.M., One More Week by The Ponies, Where Are You Tonight by Cowboy Junkies, Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division and Most Of The Time by Bob Dylan.

Now get those tissues out, and tell us what you think. Which crucial ones did we miss? And what is your favourite breakup tune? DM

You can listen and subscribe to ThePerfectSongFor … podcast about the perfect song on Apple podcasts, Spotify and iono. Full versions of the songs are in Spotify and Apple playlists;  [email protected]

Contact the hosts of the podcast or email us your suggestions and alternatives at [email protected] 

You can also follow the hosts on X: @perfectsongfor Insta: #perfectsongfor 

Tim Cohen is the business editor of Daily Maverick. Fred de Vries is an author, writer, journalist and South Africa correspondent for Elsevier Magazine and De Groene Amsterdammer. He writes regular music columns for Platenblad in the Netherlands and Vrye Weekblad in South Africa.