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It was once said by William Shakespeare that we should "Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none." When a person experiences heartbreak, however, as a result of an interpersonal relationship coming to an end, such words can quite easily be counteracted with hatred, scepticism and emotional manipulation towards another human being.

Particularly for men, this perspective on life is perhaps the easiest one to achieve. Some boys are programmed from an early age to subdue their gentle, caring and loving emotions and strive for success in their lives without any attachments. Even though love -- the attachment that results from deeply appreciating another person’s goodness -- may be desired and learned, it is also considered a weakness when it is achieved, as it joins them (straight men) with a feminine heart and mind, resulting in a unified link of trust, intimacy and interdependence. It may be seen as limiting to the freedom of their masculinity.

When the man experiences a relationship breaking down, he starts to feel vulnerable having experienced a heightened sensitivity for whatever period of time. Thus, he attempts to disguise this and liberate himself once again by fighting against pain caused by the opposite gender with a number of intense emotions. He represses the heartbreak and attempts to take revenge by distrusting and rejecting the possibility of new relationships developing in the near future. In simple terms, he "puts on a front".

But just as love is an active force that allows a person to enter another person's world and open them up to perceive their goodness, the natural way he should grieve after heartbreak is an active force that allows him to recover from loss and from pain in the long term. He hates the feeling of heartbreak, but if he finds it within himself to be compelled to go over memories, ideas or fantasies, rather than shielding himself from the unbearable pain of the past relationship, and preserves negative judgement of all future human beings. Living in denial, he can wallow in the sadness and get over it... in time.

Music is one of the best mediums to accompany an individual through sadness. It makes no demands; it has the powerful ability to evoke the listener's thoughts and feelings so that he is able reflect and grieve upon them. Because it has structure and rhythm, it inspires him to organise his emotions and find some clarity; certain lyrics, in particular, portray a personal experience belonging to the songwriter, but also relate to the listener as they remind him of his own life. If he plays the sad songs first, then he will achieve a sense of clarity, which will motivate and inspire him to live a better life.

The next page contains a list of fifteen sad songs that have been carefully selected for their personal significance and their ability to communicate and interact particularly with the male gender. These are different from the tawdry pop songs seen in most other lists; they reveal the masculine heart and, most of all, prove that men indeed have feelings, too.