"My Girl" vs "You Don't Love Me Anymore"

Driving back home to Oakey for my grandmothers birthday and Easter, I spent Friday morning sorting out a playlist for the trip.  Hitting "shuffle", I headed out west (ugh) and as I was passing through Minden the Hoodoo Gurus "My Girl" came on, followed by Weird Al Yankovics "You Don't Love Me Anymore".  I had to have a bit of a chuckle.  For those who haven't heard the songs, both songs are sung from the perspective of a male whose girlfriend has decided for whatever reason that it's time to move on.

"My Girl" by the Hoodoo Gurus

"You Don't Love Me Anymore" by Weird Al Yankovic

Weird Al's song is clearly meant to be humourous and light-hearted - it's Weird Al for pete's sake. However, there is a certain drollness to "My Girl" that makes you smile when you sing along.  Maybe it's the catchy, almost up-beat tune, maybe it's the tone or the simplicity of the lyrics.  Or maybe it's the fact that while Weird Als character sounds like he's heartbroken at the thought of his girlfriend not loving him anymore, Dave Faulkners character almost has a "Well, that sucks" vibe.  Sure, he talks about a girl taking "my love until I couldn't give anymore", but it still feels like he's not going to be throwing himself off a balcony anytime soon (and somehow by "love" I think he's referring to his paycheque). Dave sounds like he's simply been taken for a ride and while he's not happy, he's glad to be rid of her, whereas poor Al sounds like he's desperately clinging to this poor woman to his own detriment. 

Either way, they're both great songs and both are very interesting takes on the subject of breaking up - one song coming across rather silly but being more emotionally invested and the other coming across a bit more seriously but with a little less emotional attachment.