What’s a breakup song without an iconic chorus that everyone knows the words to? Here are some lyrics from breakup ballads of the 80s. These stayed burned in out memory.
“How Am I Supposed To Live Without You” by Laura Branigan
“Tell me how am I supposed to live without you / Now that I’ve been loving you so long.”
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In the aftermath of a breakup, especially if you’ve been with someone for a long time, as this song suggests, being alone feels like a struggle for survival. Michael Bolton perfectly captures that emotion in “How Am I Supposed To Live Without You”. This one was Michael Bolton’s first major hit as a songwriter, and a song he also later recorded himself.
“(There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me” by Naked Eyes
“Well how can I forget you, girl / When there is always something there to remind me?”
This song is about how getting over someone is pretty much an impossible task, especially when there’s constant reminders everywhere. Before Naked Eyes recorded this one, it was also done by Dionne Warwick, Lou Johnson, and then Sandie Shaw, who took it to the top of the UK chart in 1964.
“The Winner Takes It All” by ABBA
“The winner takes it all / The loser standing small / Beside the victory /That’s her destiny.”
When ABBA member Bjorn Ulvaeus got divorced from other band member, Agnetha Fältskog, he wrote this heartbreaking ballad. Featured in the Mamma Mia soundtrack, “The Winner Takes It All” is actually mostly fictional, but still, if it was written entirely about the divorce, we would believe it.
“Didn’t We Almost Have It All” by Whitney Houston
“Didn’t we almost have it all / When love was all we had worth giving? / The ride with you was worth the fall, my friend.”
Recorded for her second album, Whitney, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All?” explores the lingering feelings after a breakup. In this song, written by Michael Masser and Will Jennings, Houston sings about how even a touch from an old flame can bring back memories of what once was.
Photo by: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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