I Did My Time in the Jail of Your Arms

At some point after being dumped, you will be angry (and will experience many different kinds of anger).  I have covered that a little on the blog, but nothing quite captures the bitterness and ill will you feel toward the person for being so stupid as to dump you. YOU, of all people.  Doesn't he or she know that they will never find someone like you?  That it was them, not you, that is to blame for things ending?  That they will one day regret it, and realize that they have aged and lost the hope of finding another who will love them the way you once did?  That day can't come soon enough, as far as you are concerned.

Tom Waits' song "Who Are You?" is a great song for the dumped, a poison-tongued lament that tells his ex- that she is a cold liar who is incapable of loving anybody.  He wants her to take back all the lies he "believed so well," including her love itself.  He tells her that he did his time "in the jail of your arms," and now she should "get down on the floor / Don't you know this is war?"
 [Props to Any Major Dude With Half a Heart ]




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You Didn't Stand By Me

When you look back on all the promises you made to each other, that you would love each other forever, grow old together, and so forth, it can make your whole situation seem all the more confusing and unimaginable.  You might find letters, objects, and other things that swear eternal fidelity, and see these as proof that you are not crazy, that you should not have been dumped.  The only alternative in your eyes is that the whole thing was a big lie.

The Clash knew this feeling too-- "Train in Vain" is an anthem for the dumped, and it can feel good to sing along as Joe Strummer bitterly laments, "You must explain my this must be / Did you lie when you spoke to me? / Did you stand by me? / No not at all."

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