Few words are off limits!
While Gloria Gaynor’s greatest hit, I Will Survive takes us through the healthy process of overcoming our fears, discovering our inner strength and resolving to learn from our mistakes: I’m not that chained up little person / still in love with you / now I’m saving all my loving / for someone who’s loving me; Gloria Trevi’s Cinco Minutos (Five Minutes) openly boasts about her ex’s misfortune: I’ll give you five minutes; vent / Don’t think I don’t have anything better to do / And if I said hello it was only a courtesy / Now you are at the bottom and I am at the top.
On the other side of the spectrum, Beyonce’s chart topper, Irreplaceable steps up the rage: You could pack all your things, we’re finished / Cause you made your bed, now lay in it / I can have another you by tomorrow / Don’t you ever for a second get to thinking you’re irreplaceable; but still is not as forceful as say Pesado’s Ojala (Hopefully), which leaves very little to the imagination: Hopefully / Life will charge you with interest the damage you’ve done to me / That you may not find love, And if one day you do / That it fails / Hopefully someone will make you suffer and from all the pain / You will no longer desire to live / That you will want to die.
Now that’s frustration!
La India’s Que Me Importa (What do I care?), callously expresses: What do I care to see you like that, without dignity / I don’t care about anything and that is your truth / What do I care… / If it takes you a lifetime to understand / That you have lost me / If our memories hurt you / And cause you to cry like a child / What do I care? Not to be forgotten. Few can deliver a great break-up song as well as the Mexican singer Paquita la del Barrio (Paquita from the hood). Her most popular anthem Rata de dos patas (Two-legged rat) spares no offense in its fury: Disgusting rat / Despicable animal / Slum of the earth / Ridiculous mistake / Damn reptile / How much damage you have caused me / Trash of this life / I hate you and despise you.
Next time you’re unfortunate enough to be suffering from a love affair gone wrong, you might give Spanish break-up songs a chance. They may not have a lasting impact, but in the moment, they are a hell of a quick fix.
If you have a favorite break-up song of your own, share it here.
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