Quote:

 

Unrequited love has been a topic used repeatedly by musicians for decades. Blues artists incorporated it heavily; it is the topic of B.B. King's "Lucille" and "The Thrill is Gone," Ray Charles' "What'd I Say" and many early and later blues songs. Eric Clapton's band Derek and the Dominos devoted a whole album to the topic, Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs, which included such famous songs as "Layla" and "Bell Bottom Blues".[citation needed] Many Rock n' Roll musicians also based songs on unrequited love; from The Eagles all the way to Led Zeppelin, almost every classic rock band has at least one song on the topic. The exact term may be found in the lyrics of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow 1995 song "Insatiable", among others. It is also heard in many of the songs by The Wolfe Tones, most noticeably Boston Rose.

The Doobie Brothers hit it on the head with "What a Fool Believes" which posits that for some, a fantasy, even an unrequited one, is preferable to loneliness.

Don Henley showed the concept of unrequitted love in his song The Boys of Summer in which we see the unnamed protagonist go through his life from a young man which he has his first encounter with his now former lover. It then shows him in middle age, still longing for the object of his affection from his younger days.

J. Geils Band recorded a popular song about the frustrations of unrequited love, Love Stinks, in 1980, which hit #38 on the Billboard pop charts.

In 1981, Rick Springfield had a hit song, "Jessie's Girl", which was obviously about unrequited love, involved a man in love with his best friend's girlfriend.

Radiohead had their first taste of success with their 1993 unrequited love hit "Creep". The band has since strayed away from the topic on the majority of their later work.

Similarly, Vertical Horizon gained international recognition with their massive 2000 hit, "Everything You Want". The song, which topped the billboard charts and became one of the most played songs of the year, heavily addresses the subject of unrequited love.

Modern Rock musicians such as Weezer, Coldplay (notably the song "Shiver") and The Killers are some of the many who still continue this trend today. U2's tome on unrequited love, "All I Want Is You," was accompanied by a dramatic music video recounting the tale of a circus troupe where a dwarf is in love with a trapeze artist, and perhaps even dies trying to impress her.

Vermilion and Vermilion Pt. 2 from Slipknot are arguably about unrequited love, reinforced by the lines:

"She is everything to me, The unrequited dream. The song that no one sings, The unattainable."

The band Muse uses unrequited love as a theme heavily from their first album Showbiz up through their newest release, Black Holes and Revelations. Songs such as "Unintended", "Endlessly", "Space Dementia", and "Map of the Problematique" have unrequited love as a central and powerful theme.

Although most rap and hip hop artists rarely dabble with such a subject, many R&B artists such as Usher and R. Kelly have written songs about it. The English singer Aqualung has also written a song, entitled, "Strange and Beautiful", which was featured in the sound-track to the 2004 film Wicker Park, in which the singer spends much of their life secretly in love with an unspecified person, eventually resolving to quietly prove his or her affections in the hopes of reciprocation.[citation needed]

The 1972 one-hit-wonder "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" by Looking Glass deals with unrequited love between a girl, Brandy, who works in a port city at a bar, and a lonely sailor who's "life, lover and lady" is the sea. He tells her that while he cares for her and thinks she would be a good wife, he cannot and will not leave his job as a sailor. Still, she loves him, even if it is unreturned, and "does her best to understand."

In the musical The Phantom of the Opera, the title character is in love with singer Christine Daaé who mistakes her affection for him as affection for her dead father. In reality, she is in love with her childhood friend Raoul, Viconte de Chagny.

In the musical Les Miserables, based on the novel of the same name, one of the most well-known songs is "On My Own", a vivid account of the crushing loneliness felt by unrequited lovers. In this song Eponine describes the division of her world between her fantasies of life with Marius and the reality of his disinterest. Such fantasies are a common, if not integral component of an unrequited love affair. She is painfully aware that she is marginal in Marius' life, singing[citation needed],

"Without him

The world around me changes

The trees are bare and everywhere

The streets are full of strangers"
And, later, contrasting this with,

"Without me

His world would go on turning

A world that's full of happiness

That I have never known"
Despite most rappers portraying themselves as being able to attract women easily[citation needed], rapper Slug from Atmosphere recounts suffering from unrequited love, not only from one individual, but from an entire ilk. He states in Like Today,[citation needed]


"from Anne Landers, to Ani DiFranco to Orphan Annie

I love all women, but most of them just can't stand me."

One of the most famous songs dealing with unrequited love is the 1980 George Jones smash hit "He Stopped Loving Her Today". The song was about a man who had an unrequited love for a woman for many years until his death. The moment he died is the moment he stopped loving her.

The 2002 "love-gone-wrong" concept album Gutterflower by the Goo Goo Dolls features a track written by John Rzeznik entitled 'Big Machine' that Rzeznik describes as a "propulsive tale of unrequited love":

"Now your world is way too fast
Nothing's real and nothing lasts
And I'm aware
I'm in love and you don't care"
and, near the end of the song:

"I'm torn in pieces
I'm blind and waiting for you
My heart is reeling
I'm blind and waiting for you"
The song "Auf Achse" by Franz Ferdinand expresses many of the feelings held by sufferers of unrequited love, especially in the opening four lines[citation needed]:

"You see her, you can't touch her.
You hear her, you can't hold her.
You want her, you can't have her.
You want to, but she won't let you."
Christian hardcore/screamo group Chasing Victory recorded a track by the same name, featured on their "I Call This Abandonment" album, released in 2005 on Mono Vs Stereo records.

A most recent venture into the unrequited love movement is the Irish singer/songwriter Damien Rice. Many of his songs are about the daughter of his clarinet teacher. "I Remember", "The Blower's Daughter", "Elephant", and "Accidental Babies", are all about the girl in question. Lyrics consist of "The pillow in your pillowcase is easier to touch", "Do you cum? Together ever with him? Is he dark enough, enough to see your light?" and "This has got to die, this has got to stop, this has got to lie down, there's someone else on top. You can keep me pinned, it's easier to tease, but you can't paint an elephant, quite as good as she."

Electronica artist Craig Armstrong, known for composing film scores, included the song "Let's Go Out Tonight" with The Blue Nile singer Paul Buchanan on his first solo album The Space Between Us. The song concerns a man who is asking a woman to go out with him to an unknown place with him as he asks for her prayers and for her love.

Symphonie Fantastique (1830) by Romantic composer Hector Berlioz is one example of a classical work about unrequited love.

"The Saturday Boy" by Billy Bragg is a well known song about unrequited love, especially for one involving a teenage boy:

We dreamed of her and compared our dreams. But that was all that I ever tasted. She lied to me with her body you see. I lied to myself bout the chances Id wasted. The times we were close. Were far and few between. In the darkness at the dances in the school canteen. Did she close her eyes like I did. As we held each other tight. And la la la la la la la la means I love you. I never understood my failings then. And I hide my humble hopes now. Thinking back she made us want her. A girl not old enough to shave her legs.

The song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen by Gustav Mahler takes up this theme of unrequited love, in which the singer narrates how such a love caused him to wander about the world, causing him much pain and sorrow.

The song "Teardrops on my Guitar" by country singer Taylor Swift deals quite bluntly with unrequited love and the pain it can cause.