The beauty of country music is its ability to convey a wide variety of emotions through the songs, including heartbreaking ones. These three songs from the 90s might be some of the saddest country breakup songs of all time.
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“How Do I Live” by Trisha Yearwood
“How Do I Live” is on Trisha Yearwood’s (Songbook) A Collection of Hits album. Released as a single in 1997, the song was written by Diane Warren, who wrote it for the Con Air film, starring Nicolas Cage. The song was first recorded by Rimes for the movie. But when producers thought Rimes sounded too young for the song, Yearwood recorded it instead.
Although not used as a breakup song in the film, “How Do I Live” is a true heartbreak ballad about the end of a relationship.
“How Do I Live” says, “How do I live without you? / I want to know / How do I breathe without you? / If you ever go / How do I ever, ever survive? How do I, how do I, oh how do I live?“
Both Yearwood and Rimes had hit singles with “How Do I Live”. Yearwood and Rimes were both nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for the song, which went to Yearwood.
“What Might Have Been” by Little Texas
Little Texas released “What Might Have Been” in 1993, on their sophomore Big Time album. Written by band members Dwayne O’Brien, Porter Howell, and Brady Seals, the song is a somber look back at a relationship that could have worked, but didn’t.
“What Might Have Been” says, “We could sit and talk about this all night long / And wonder why we didn’t last / Yes, they might be the best days we will ever know / But we’ll have to leave them in the past / I try not to think about what might have been / ‘Cause that was then, and we have taken different roads / We can’t go back again, there’s no use giving in / And there’s no way to know / What might have been.”
“Somewhere in My Broken Heart” by Billy Dean
Billy Dean wrote “Somewhere In My Broken Heart” with Richard Leigh. The song was first recorded by Randy Travis for his 1989 No Holdin’ Back record. Dean includes it on his freshman Young Man album, becoming Dean’s second Top 5 single.
“Somewhere In My Broken Heart” begins with, “You made up your mind it was time it was over / After we had come so far / I think there’s enough pieces of forgiveness / Somewhere in my broken heart / I would not have chosen the road you have taken / It has left us miles apart / I think I can still find the will to keep going / Somewhere in my broken heart.”
As country breakup songs go, this one is pretty heartbreaking.
Photo by: Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
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