There are so many songs under this rubric. Here are some of the less sentimental and schmaltzy.
Love, Alone Again Or. Yet another proof that in American popular music, no decade beats the '60s.
Simon and Garfunkel, The Boxer
Tom Waits, Better Off Without a Wife
Beatles, Eleanor Rigby
Harry Nilsson, One
It's not easy avoiding the sentimental. But what, exactly, is wrong with sentiment? Let's not pursue it. To hell with Adorno. It's Saturday night. Time to feel, not think.
Floyd Cramer, Last Date
Linda Ronstadt, Faithless Love. J. D. Souther wrote it.
John Fogerty, You're the Reason. A crossover hit for Bobby Edwards in 1961.
I almost forgot the great Don Gibson
Sweet Dreams. Patsy Cline's version. And while we have Patsy cued up:
Retreating from the sentimental to the surreal, another indisputable proof of the vast pop-music superiority of the '60s:
Bob Dylan, Visions of Johanna. Marianne Faithfull's effort.