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 Rock's Backpages offers up a ton of sobworthy classics from all walks of pop. Country, soul, AOR, dance: you name the genre, we've scoured it for heartbreak greats. So get yer handkerchiefs ready... here come the next 20 , from ex-Temp David Ruffin to Lady Soul's sister Erma. -- Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages

40 David Ruffin--"Walk Away From Love," from Who I Am (Motown, 1975): "It's not that I don't love you, you know how much I do/It's just a dread that shakes my body, that even I don't understand..." To the accompaniment of sweeping strings and a superslick Van McCoy "hustle" beat, the troubled ex-Temptation spins a harrowing tale of commitment-phobia.

39 The Byrds--"Here Without You," from Mr Tambourine Man (Columbia, 1965): Gene Clark's girl is away somewhere, and boy does he miss her in this gentle blend of Beatles and Louvin Brothers. As usual, it's Clark's use of everyday imagery that's so disarming: "Streets that I walk on depress me/Ones that were happy when I was with you – It's so hard being here without you..."

38 Ray Charles--"Don't You Love Me Anymore," from Brother Ray Is At It Again (Crossover, 1980): It's over, and he knows it: "Oh baby, somethin's wrong, won't you tell me?" Bewildered and angry, Brother Ray rails against the dying of love's light: "Forever didn't last too long; where, where did we go wrong?"

37 Gladys Knight & The Pips--"Neither One Of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)," single (Tamla Motown, 1973): "It's sad to think...we're not gonna make it." Motown's greatest chanteuse tears the heart out with this agonising can't-live-with/can't-live-without classic--not least when her voice cracks twice on the bridge. "There can be no way this can have a happy ending..." But there can be a final--and very tender--"goodbye".

36 Ben E. King--"It's All Over," single (Atlantic, 1964): An almost-forgotten, Bert Berns-produced uptown-soul masterpiece from the 'Stand By Me' man, this harrowing ballad cruises along on a bed of stately gospel organ and acoustic guitar before erupting in a sobbing, femme-backed chorus. "When I see two young lovers walking down the street/Oh how it kills me when I see their two lips meet..."

35 Todd Rundgren--"The Last Ride," from Todd (Bearsville, 1974): A cosmic blues-rock epic from the Philadelphian genius, featuring tempo changes, piledriver orchestration, bebop horn solo and some typically poignant little-boy-Todd lyrics: "It’s the last ride--our little game is over/It’s the last ride--it’s time to take you home/And we can’t cry, because we’ve seen it coming/No use running..."

34 The Rolling Stones--"Wild Horses," from Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones, 1971): "Graceless lady, you know who I am..." Probably playing in the background when a hundred hippie kids were conceived, this stoner favourite is raw and country-rootsy, and boasts one of Jagger’s most affecting vocals. Plus the production (by Jimmy Miller, with Glyn and Andy Johns) is so roomy it feels like it’s being played in the room with you.

33 Candi Staton--"Young Hearts Run Free," single (Warner Brothers, 1976): "You count up the years, and they will be filled with tears..." Staton's disco-inflected 1976 smash was the I-will-survive-era anthem of cheated-upon women: "Don't be no fool, when love really don't love you." But the sorrow bleeds through the quasi-feminist defiance and pumping 4/4 beat.

32 Spiritualized--"Ladies And Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space," from Ladies And Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space (Dedicated, 1997): "I will love you till I die/And I will love you all the time..." The opening track on Jason Pierce's sublime testament to amour fou-as-narcosis, 'Ladies and Gentlemen' hinges on the great arc of weeping guitar that rings out behind his numbed vocal--the cry of love itself.

31 The Chi-Lites--"The Coldest Days Of My Life, Pt 1," from A Lonely Man (MCA, 1972): This tear-stained epic begins with sound effects (cf the Temps' "I Wish It Would Rain," the Intruders' "Walking In The Rain" et al) then builds into an orchestrated piece mimicking those sounds. Like a man battling with the elements, singer Eugene Record battles against the sorrows of a broken heart: "They were the coldest days of my life, I had to run for cover/ Lord, take away the pain, don’t you know that it pours like rain..."

30 Bob Dylan--"Tangled Up In Blue," from Blood On The Tracks (CBS, 1975): "We drove that car as far as we could--abandoned it out West/Split up on the docks that night, both agreeing it was best..." On Blood On The Tracks, Dylan found a way to combine the lyrical complexity of old ("Desolation Row," "Gates Of Eden") with his more recent simple country-folk melodies ("Girl From The North Country," "Down Along The Cove") to create his most perfect album. This is the album's outright highlight: a tale of love found, lost, found and lost again.

29 Dolly Parton--"Jolene," from Jolene (RCA, 1974): The national anthem of white-trash also-rans. Parton’s average-Jane begs local beauty Jolene not to take her man, acknowledging and flattering Jo’s looks before delivering the killer line: "Please don’t take him just because you can." It's great in the hands of the pneumatic Ms Parton; great too by obscure '70s funkster Kellee Patterson (no, really...) Oh, and the White Stripes don't do a bad version neither.

28 James Carr--"That's The Way Love Turned Out For Me," single (Goldwax, 1968): Greater even than the great "Dark End Of The Street," this is the late James' crowning moment in the heartbreaker stakes--a feverish litany of indignities sung in a torn, perfervid baritone by a man who's extrapolated a kind of cosmic alienation from his hurt: "This old world keeps on turning without me/And that's the way love turned out for me..."

27 Roxy Music--"Sunset," from Stranded (Island, 1973): Despite throwaway camp theatrics like "Editions Of You," Ferry was always at his best as a crooner: and this is one of his finest croons. Taken from Roxy's first album sans Eno--and their last consistent classic--"Sunset" is a poignant observation accompanied, ironically, by their most Eno-esque arrangement ever: a stripped-down pulse of piano, bass and treated-horns.

26 Bettye Swann--"Be Strong Enough To Hold On," single (Atlantic, 1976): The ultimate country-soul ballad, sung by the ultimate country-soul siren--the nonpareil Bettye Swann, who here beseeches her wavering (married) lover not to give in to the manipulations of his spouse, who's just "using your little children/To try to get next to you..." Adultery never sounded so righteous.

25 The Shangri-Las--"Past, Present And Future," (Red Bird, 1966): "Was I ever in love? I called it love." Call me an old kitschmönger if you must: I happen to find this three-minute melodrama from the mind of George "Shadow" Morton utterly sublime--and as tinglingly sad as any soul lamentation you could put up against it. Using Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata as its musical base, Morton constructs a wonderful mini-symphony around the maudlin reflections of the great Mary Weiss. "This will never happen again," sings La Weiss. Quite.

24 Little Anthony & The Imperials--"Hurt So Bad," single (DCP, 1965): "Like needles and pins, people say you've been making out okay/'She's in love, don't stand in her way'..." "Goin' Out of My Head" may be the greater record--symphonically, anyways--but "Hurt So Bad" simply can't be topped as an irruption of juvenile teen-pop agony.

23 Dennis Wilson--"Thoughts Of You," from Pacific Ocean Blue (Epic, 1977): Finally getting the credit it deserves, drummer Wilson’s marvelous solo album is a mostly-mournful look at his damaged West Coast life. On this song he sounds like Alex Chilton on "Downs" as he rails against the very thing that gave him success, the Californian sun: "The sunshine blinded me this morning, love/Like the sunshine, love comes and goes again." Then with an unsettling choir build up over the middle eight – pre-empting Pink Floyd’s The Wall by a couple of years--he all but cries: "Look at love/ Look at love/ Look at love/ Look what we’ve done..." Harrowing stuff.

22 The Ink Spots--"I Understand (Just How You Feel)," Trees Lounge original soundtrack album (MCA, 1996): Over a sparse, jangly pub piano, Bill Kenny's ethereal tenor moan, oozing bittersweet yearning, booms his sympathy for the woman who has just broken his heart. "I understand/And darling you are not to blame/If when we kiss it's not the same/I understand it's not your fault, because your heart has changed its mind/You didn't mean to be unkind..."

21 Erma Franklin--"Piece Of My Heart," single (Shout, 1967): "Didn't I make you feel like you were the only man?" Aretha's sis applies her grittier pipes to this fabulously masochistic classic, a Berns-Ragovoy pearl of a song made still more famous by ball-and-chain superstar Janis Joplin.

 Next week: Part 5: The Top 20!

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