List a song that reminds you of each lover you’ve had
courtesy of Music Listography : Your Life In (Play)Lists
Listen via Spotify Playlist – Here

Editor’s Note :: To honor both my heart and my history, I am defining “lover” as those I have had and shared romantic love with, not just someone I had sex with, as that seems limiting, and I want everything I post in this space to be anything but limiting, and to be true reflections of who I am. To protect the innocent and the guilty alike, and to maintain my privacy, no names will be used, just a brief description. Also, in chronological order, for the most part.

1. Love is Love :: Culture Club
The First Love

“Love is love is nothing without you,
love is love is everything you do.”

2. Shake the Disease :: Depeche Mode
The short-lived High School boyfriend 

“I’m not going down on my knees,
begging you to adore me.”

3. I’ve Done Everything For You :: Rick Springfield
The first time falling for a jerk

“Well, I’m giving up on love this time,
me and my friends will do just fine.”

4. You May Be Right :: Billy Joel
“The First”

“It just may be a lunatic you’re looking for.”

5. Classic Girl :: Jane’s Addiction
The passionate one

“They may say, those were the days…,
but in a way,
you know for us these are the days.”

6. Jeepster :: T-Rex
The charismatic liar

“You slide so good,
with bones so fair,
you’ve got the universe reclining in your hair.”

7. Dancing Barefoot :: Patti Smith
The one I was too young for

“Here I go and I don’t know why,
I fell so ceaselessly,
Could it be he’s taking over me?”

8. Nothing Compares 2 U :: Sinead O’Connor
The one who broke my heart

“I could put my arms around every boy I see,
but they’d only remind me of you.”

9. Wild Horses :: The Rolling Stones
The one whose heart I broke

“Graceless lady,
you know who I am.
You know I can’t let you slide through my hands.”

10. Everyday is like Sunday :: Morrissey
The fellow writer

“Hide on the promenade,
etch a postcard.”

11. Jump in the River :: Sinead O’Connor
The one who belonged to someone else

“When I kissed you,
you didn’t mind.
I thought I tasted like too many cigarettes,
but you tasted like wine.”

12. Spin the Bottle :: The Juliana Hatfield Three
The actor

“He’s in a bunch of movies,
really stupid movies.”

13. Fuck and Run :: Liz Phair
The unexpected one-night stand

“I woke up alarmed.
I didn’t know where I was at first,
just that I woke up in your arms,
and almost immediately I felt sorry.”

14. Innocent One :: Michael Penn
The first husband

 “but you don’t believe that I’m a party to the pain.
How can you believe that I’m the innocent one?”

15. Melt! :: Siouxsie & The Banshees
The confusing goth girl

“See into the back of a long, black car,
pulling away from the funeral of flowers ,
with my hand between your legs,
melting.”

16. Hold On :: Sarah McLachlan
The one I shared a breakdown with

“Hold on,
hold on to yourself,
for this is gonna hurt like hell.”

17. Cherry Bomb :: The Runaways
The Bonnie to my Clyde

“I’ll give ya something to live for,
have ya, grab ya til you’re sore.”

18. Untitled :: The Cure
The one that got away (aka the boy I will never forget)

“Never quite said what I wanted to say to you,
never quite managed the words to explain to you,
never quite knew how to make them believable,
and now the time has gone,
another time undone.”

19. Northern Lad :: Tori Amos
The one I settled for instead

“Girls you’ve got to know when it’s time to turn the page,
when you’re only wet because of the rain.”

20. (I’d Like to) Volunteer, Please :: Dramarama
The one I would marry the second time, who would be the other one to break my heart, and make me a widow

“She hadn’t looked so sad,
think of all we had,
guess it ain’t so bad.
Now watch her body shake,
love that chocolate cake like she used to bake.
She’s not my Valentine.
I’m getting out of line,
out of line, out of line,
please.”

21. Chicago :: Sufjan Stevens
The poet with all my regrets

“I made a lot of mistakes.”

22. School Night :: Ani DiFranco
The “what if”

“and she said:
you are a miracle,
but that is not all,
you are also a stiff drink,
and I am on call.
You are a party,
and I am a school night.
and I’m lookin’ for my door key,
but you are my porch light.”

23. Set Fire to the Third Bar :: Snow Patrol & Martha Wainwright
The long distance heartbreak that still hurts 

“I’m miles away from where you are.”

24. Strange Condition :: Pete Yorn
The rock star who would return again

“Stories and cigarettes ruined lives of lesser girls.”

25. Maggie May :: Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs
The one who was too young for me

“The morning sun when it’s in your face really shows your age,
but that don’t worry me none in my eyes you’re everything.”

26. Fuck Was I :: Jenny Owen Youngs
Yeah, what the song says (what the fuck was I thinking?)

“What the fuck was I thinking?”

26. I’m Yours :: Jason Mraz
The one who almost was “the one”

“Well, you done done me and you bet I felt it,
I tried to be chill but you’re so hot that I melted,
I fell right through the cracks,
now I’m trying to get back.”

28. A Little Bit of Everything :: Dawes
The one I took a leap with

“So in the day in late September,
it’s not some stupid little ring;
I’m giving a little bit of everything.”

29. Into the Mystic :: Van Morrison
The one who returned

“I want to rock your gypsy soul.”