The Mountain Goats "Woke Up New"

Sung in John Darnielle's gravelly, raw voice, this song perfectly encapsulates the feeling of freedom and deep loneliness that occurs during the days following a breakup. "On the morning when I woke up without you for the first time / I felt free and I felt lonely and I felt scared," the song opens.

The lyrics describe the sense of wandering through daily life with a phantom partner — not there in presence, but there in mind. Darnielle repeats, "What am I gonna do without you?" It's the unanswerable question. He'll do everything he did before, but after waking up new, nothing's the same.

As the lyrics go, "I got ready for the future to arrive." But for now, he's here in the present, and nothing's right at all.