The Annotated 70s Breakup Mixtape
By Al Herrera
When you think of a mixtape, you may imagine a gift between lovers or between friends, but I think there’s a form of mixtape that’s just as important: the breakup mixtape. When I was younger and a friend was going through a particularly rough breakup, I’d share a playlist of songs for them to dance around to and have fun again without their ex. The 70s had no shortage of breakup songs across the many genres thriving at the time. What’s better for a broken heart than a little groovy tune to get them through the day? Here is a mixtape of songs perfect for getting through a breakup, from wallowing in pity to going out with your friends.
It’s never good to push away your feelings and bottle them up. Let’s start letting them out with the 1972 track “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” by Al Green. It’s easy to feel helpless and full of grief when a breakup is fresh, and Al Green is able to capture the feeling of a broken heart beautifully in his cover of the Bee Gees’ song. Green's version of the song is set apart from the original, largely due to Willie Mitchell's production choices. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Mitchell explains the intentionality behind his producing style in the studio, “I told the band, play like you’re sitting by a river and there’s a big forest over there, with all this music coming out of the forest and floating across the river, kind of delayed. That’s making it come out of the woods.” This cinematic quality in the mood of the piece has contributed to its career of popping up in various pieces of media. A personal favorite of mine is the 1999 film Notting Hill, but a watch may be reserved for when a listener has processed their emotions by the end of the mixtape.
For the lister who got dumped, I’ve picked “She’s Gone” by Hall & Oates, off their 1973 album Abandoned Luncheon. This song is perfect for the listener who has recently come to terms with the fact of the breakup, knows they should start picking up the pieces, but just can’t stop thinking about it. A large part of why I picked this song was the diverse instrumentation that helped create the piece. Notably, John Oates is credited with playing the “Wah-Wah Guitar”, and Chris Bond is credited with playing the mellotron and synthesizer. In addition to the sweeping string arrangement and horn section (featuring some great saxophone moments from Joe Farrell), the mechanical droning of the wah-wah guitar and buzzing of the synth and mellotron help score the feeling of trudging through life day by day when the reminder of the breakup looms over your head. This track may also lead the listener to SZA’s “Gone Girl” which interpolates the Hall & Oates song.
It gets worse before it gets better, and for the listener who is typically moved to screaming post-reflection, I’ve added “Silver Springs” off Fleetwood Mac’s iconic 1977 album Rumors. Stevie Nicks wrote this song about Lindsey Buckingham making it a B-side response to “Go Your Own Way”, adding to the personal band drama that fueled the classic album. The raw emotion mixed with Nicks’s flair for the magical makes for some haunting lyricism. The chorus stands out in terms of intensity with lines such as, “Time cast a spell on you, but you won’t forget me,” and, “You'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you.” One of the real treats of this piece are the live performances, where Nicks and Buckingham are known to turn their gazes towards each other, deepening the strength of the song’s sentiment. This is not just a fabulous song for a grieving heart, but it will take the listener on a journey paved in other break up media to channel their emotions through, such as the Fleetwood Mac live album The Dance and its live performance videos, or the book/TV show Daisy Jones & The Six which is the tale of a fictional band not unlike the real-life band who released the song.
For the listener who broke off the relationship, I recommend “It’s Too Late” on Carole King’s beloved 1971 album Tapestry. Carole King is one of the queens of the singer-songwriter genre, and she wrote this hit with one of her collaborators, Toni Stern. In a video interview with Stern, she describes the process of writing the lyrics and King writing the music. Stern said she would go to King’s house and, “present her with an entire lyric on a large legal pad.” King would take that pad to the piano to get to work as Stern explains, “within an hour, hour and a half at the most, the entire song was written, “It’s Too Late” and all the others. This was standard operating procedure.” The simplicity and efficiency of this process are wildly impressive. Sometimes the decision to end a relationship is a simple one, and the lyrics of this track are the perfect comfort to a weary heart (plus the music isn’t too bad either).
For our listening friend back on their feet, I ‘ve selected Gloria Gaynor’s 1978 smash hit “I Will Survive”. Of course, the lyrics make a fabulous excuse to break out the karaoke track, but the music is just as important. The minute listeners hear the piano in the song’s opening, they know they’re in for a good time. Disco’s importance to marginalized communities was not lost on this song. It has resonated with various communities for decades, and that starts with the story of its artist. Polydor told Gaynor they were going to drop her, and she was paralyzed after a performance. However, after a switch in leadership and a healing journey, Gaynor was given a song to record that would change everything. Understanding her power, Gaynor recognized the song as an anthem for the LGBTQ+ community amidst the AIDS crisis and for victims of domestic violence who found great comfort in the track. Hopefully, this track’s power to lift spirits and empower listeners will translate to the mixtape’s audience as they regain their own self-confidence.