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Thao Nguyen Writes About Breakup Songs in Bitch

3:42 p.m. · November 19, 2009 · by Tony Sclafani

Thao Nguyen of Thao With the Get Down Stay Down has written a long, impassioned article for Bitch magazine on breakup songs. Titled "Break Me Off a Piece of that Breakup Song," it looks at "the perverse pleasure of musical pain" you get from wallowing in sad songs, and lists ten of Nguyen's favorites.

The Virgina native-turned-San Francisco musician should know. Her newest CD, Know Better Learn Faster is one of the most memorable post-breakup albums in recent memory, with its emotionally-fraught songs like "When We Swam," "Good Bye Good Luck" and "Oh. No."

So, what tunes make up Nguyen's ultimate breakup mix? Here are her top ten (including two songs by the late, obscure folk singer Karen Dalton), as published in Bitch:

1. Karen Dalton "Just a Little Bit of Rain"
2. Prince "When You Were Mine"
3. Jackson 5 "Who's Loving You"
4. Lucinda Williams "I Envy the Wind"
5. Karen Dalton "Something's on Your Mind"
6. Magnetic Fields "The One You Really Love"
7. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles "You Really Got a Hold on Me"
8. Songs: Ohia "Just Be Simple"
9. Neil Young "Harvest"
10. Cowboy Junkies "Blue Moon Revisited"

[Source: The Daily Swarm]