Yet Another Cycling Forum
Off Topic => The Pub => Arts and Entertainment => Topic started by: jogler on 26 January, 2010, 08:47:11 pm
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not necessarily personal:more generic.I'll start with
In the Ghetto : Elvis.
what do you think?
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I wish it would rain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyaJnbQfcX8) - The Temptations
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Hurt (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go) - Johnny Cash
Nine Inch Nails are fairly bleak at the best of times but Cash knew he wasn't long for this earth when he recorded this.
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"You might be the loneliest person in the world.....
Your name it would have to be....
Me."
Pretty Things. SF Sorrow. Most under-appreciated rock album of all time.
Close second: 3000 Miles Away. Ian Hunter.
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Strange Fruit - Billie Holliday
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Neil Young's Don't Let it Bring You Down.
Nick Cave's God is in the House.
The latter despite the fact that I don't really understand the song.
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Two Little Boys - Rolf Harris
Snake
My Library (http://www.yudu.com/library/6690/Snakehips-s-Library)
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This usually makes me stop and think.. Michelle Shocked, A Child Like Grace.
A child like Grace
I wish you could've seen her face
How bright that sunflower shone
With a child like Grace
Running all around the place
It should be said, "My, how you've grown"
She was only three
When she taught herself to read
"I do not like them, Sam I am"
She taught us how to love
We learned so much, but not enough
I'm sure that's when we learned to give a damn
She will grace our lives no more
She was only four
She died before she was five
Now it's a grave mistake
God in His wisdom makes
What does he care? He fashioned us from clay
Now lay me down in a bed of sunflowers
Overgrown and wild
I've survived my own child
See the fields and meadows crying, yeah
Proud dandelion heads turned grey
Now the wind in a puff blows you away...
Mary had a baby...
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YouTube
- Peter Gabriel 1999-03-21 Babe (That'll Do)
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SydBcNdzfOI)
Because every day people show that courage and it doesn't do. I'm tempted to do a PBP edit to it.
Damon.
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Burns' Ae Fond Kiss (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIKWHuxljFE) :'(
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This usually makes me stop and think.. Michelle Shocked, A Child Like Grace.
A child like Grace
I wish you could've seen her face
How bright that sunflower shone
With a child like Grace
Running all around the place
It should be said, "My, how you've grown"
She was only three
When she taught herself to read
"I do not like them, Sam I am"
She taught us how to love
We learned so much, but not enough
I'm sure that's when we learned to give a damn
She will grace our lives no more
She was only four
She died before she was five
Now it's a grave mistake
God in His wisdom makes
What does he care? He fashioned us from clay
Now lay me down in a bed of sunflowers
Overgrown and wild
I've survived my own child
See the fields and meadows crying, yeah
Proud dandelion heads turned grey
Now the wind in a puff blows you away...
Mary had a baby...
thats a tough one to follow :'(
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Nothing Compares 2U always makes me cry a little. Even when it's the Sinéad O'Connor version.
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Lost in the moment by Edie Bricknell
Won't copy out the lyric but the story is: Young guy working late shift in a shop gets shot dead in a raid. Pregnant widow waiting at home, wondering why he's late, then moves on to her a year later thinking about all the things he'll never see and they'll never do. Beautifully understated and heart-wrenching
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I have several:
BWV 82 - "Ich habe genug" - J.S Bach
Especially the Lorainne Hunt Lieberson version.
"Im Abendrot" from Four Last Songs - Richard Strauss
"Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen" from Kindertotenleider - Gutsav Mahler
I often think: they have only just gone out,
and now they will be coming back home.
The day is fine, don't be dismayed,
They have just gone for a long walk.
Yes indeed, they have just gone out,
and now they are making their way home.
Don't be dismayed, the day is fine,
they have simply made a journey to yonder heights.
They have just gone out ahead of us,
and will not be thinking of coming home.
We go to meet them on yonder heights
In the sunlight, The day is fine.
And in the non classical field:
I've Been The One - Little Feet
And I've tried everything that whiskey cures
But the pain endures
And now I'm feeling that pain
I put my pride in my pocket
That's how I'll spend my loneliest days
And it must be dust or smoke that's in my eyes
I think it's because I listened to it over and over after a serious relationship ended years ago.
Boulder to Birmingham - Emmylou Harris
You can tell that it's tearing her heart out when she sings it.
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REM - Everybody Hurts
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One for the folkies: Fairport Convention, Crazy Man Michael.
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Lost in the moment by Edie Bricknell
Won't copy out the lyric but the story is: Young guy working late shift in a shop gets shot dead in a raid. Pregnant widow waiting at home, wondering why he's late, then moves on to her a year later thinking about all the things he'll never see and they'll never do. Beautifully understated and heart-wrenching
Good one, I like Edie Brickell and I've not played that for a while.
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not necessarily personal
I would guess any sad song will have personal meaning.
Mine would be Spacing by Shihad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Euo5b0SRH70)
When my partner of a number of years left, we had a hug and a cry whilst that was playing. When she finally walked out of the door for good I cranked it right up for the big guitars bit and blubbed like a baby. Nearly 10 years later, I can't listen to the song without getting a bit moist of eye....
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Any number by Eric Bogle (and not just the obvious two) but I will plump for Brel
Ne Me Quitte Pas
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Like others, there are several for me, not least of which are these:
Goodnight Elizabeth - Counting Crows (always make me think of my late MiL, who was called Elizabeth)
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town - Pearl Jam (especially the live version from the Chicago album, turns it into a real lament)
Think that'll do for now, before the tears start :(
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Feeling Yourself Disintegrate by The Flaming Lips - Another of Wayne Coyne's life-affirming songs about death.
Superman by Crash Test Dummies*
The latter, a comparison of the qualities of Tarzan and a world weary Superman, and made even sadder by Brad Robert's doleful delivery and a very downbeat arrangement.
*live version
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Hmmm.
"Walk on By" Either Dionne Warwick's version or the Stranglers'.
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Ne Me Quitte Pas is astonishing. There's a video of Brel singing it, crying. And Nina Simone brings something extra to it.
Nina's Brown Baby makes me cry, but it is a song of hope emerging from adversity.
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Not been mentioned yet:
Bright Eyes
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"She moved through the fair" All About Eve version.
"Seventeen" by Janis Iain.
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The complete Smiths discography
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Fields of Gold - Eva Cassidy
also
Tracks of my Tears - Smokey Robinson
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Roy Orbison - Crying with k.d. lang
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Agadoo?
It makes me weep.
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Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood: Nina Simone.
Simon & Art: Bridge Over Troubled Water.
Simon & Art: The Sound of Silence.
Simon & Art: For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her.
Plus many others from Simon & Art.
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The "Last Post" bugle call.
Balcony Scene From Romeo & Juliet: Craig Armstrong.
Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia: Khachaturian.
"Nimrod" from the Enigma Variations: Elgar.
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The Band Played Waltzing Matilda ,lots of covers June Tabor is the best IMO
I am Stretched on you Grave Kate Rusby
The Needle and the Damage done -Neil Young
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Silent all these years by Tori Amos gets me every time
In a perverse way Macarena takes me back to a very happy few months in Andalusia in '96 and makes me wonder "what if?"
National Shite Day by Half Man Half Biscuit makes me think that Nigel Blackwell has depressive tendencies.
How Soon is Now by The Smiths - haven't we all been there?
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Neil Young's Don't Let it Bring You Down.
The Needle and the Damage done -Neil Young
You'd better steer clear of Tonight's the Night and On the Beach, then.
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"Im Abendrot" from Four Last Songs - Richard Strauss
Yes to this. This discussion sounds strangely familiar
Also: Thoughts Of Time by Peggy Seeger has me blubbing every time.
YouTube
- Peggy Seeger - Thoughts of time
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzjWqkucecs)
d.
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There's loads.
I always mention Shipbuilding, but this time I was reminded of Home Sweet Home by Peter Gabriel.
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Peter Gabriel is good at these - how about 'Mercy Street'?
It's hard to beat 'Strange Fruit' though, especially when Billy Holiday sings it.
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The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
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Roads - Portishead.
End Song - Radiohead.
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The two saddest songs in my collection are
On Sweet Bells Kate Rusby sings a very sad tale about trying to re-home an old horse.
The Dixie Chicks' Travelin Soldier
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Well the only song I've seen reduce my sister to floods *
Seasons in the sun - Terry Jacks
* in her defence, she was about 5 at the time. :D
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Seasons in the sun - Terry Jacks
That's another Jacques Brel, no?
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It is, kinda. But it's not so damn syrupy in the original.
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Well the only song I've seen reduce my sister to floods *
Seasons in the sun - Terry Jacks
* in her defence, she was about 5 at the time. :D
Can't hear that without thinking of this version...
We had joy, we had fun
We had Sund'land on the run
But the joy did not last
Coz the bastards ran too fast
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One for the folkies: Fairport Convention, Crazy Man Michael.
I find 'One way donkey ride ' sad.
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Borderline mawkish cliche, but Pink Floyd's 'On the turning away' gets me every time.
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Well the only song I've seen reduce my sister to floods *
Seasons in the sun - Terry Jacks
* in her defence, she was about 5 at the time. :D
It's always reduced me to tears ;D ;D as well. Especially his performances on TOTP
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Borderline mawkish cliche, but Pink Floyd's 'On the turning away' gets me every time.
Yes, it's a guilty pleasure, that one! (not their best album, it has to be said ... )
(IIRC the melody is hundreds of years old - a Gregorian chant, or summat?)
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It is, kinda. But it's not so damn syrupy in the original.
That's putting it mildly! The original has a rather bitter edge.
d.
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The saddest song. One that I can hardly bring mysef to write about is.
'I flirted with you all my life'
By Vic Chesnutt.
The song is bleak enough, but what makes it tragic is Vic's recent death and the circumstances around that.
If you want to hear it then Google will find you a blog (sweet chimneys) that'll let you hear it.
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Well the only song I've seen reduce my sister to floods *
Seasons in the sun - Terry Jacks
* in her defence, she was about 5 at the time. :D
Can't hear that without thinking of this version...
We had joy, we had fun
We had Sund'land on the run
But the joy did not last
Coz the bastards ran too fast
The version in my school playground went
We had joy we had fun
We saw streakers in the sun
But the joy didn't last
Cos the streakers ran too fast
;D
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Ours was nastier:
We had joy, we had fun
Flicking bogeys at the sun
But the sun was too hot
And the bogeys turned to snot
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Creep by Radiohead.Its pretty grim.
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It is, kinda. But it's not so damn syrupy in the original.
And neither are as syrupy as Honey by Bobby Goldsboro. :sick:
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Craigie Hill, as sung by Dick Gaughan
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Nothing Compares 2U always makes me cry a little. Even when it's the Sinéad O'Connor version.
Me too, it came out when I was going through a difficult time.
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"Cat's in the Cradle" - Harry Chapin
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"To Love is to Bury" - Cowboy Junkies.
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Home by Foo Fighters (from "Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace") :
YouTube
- Foo Fighters - Home
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHsLuwdjbkI)
White Sparrows by Billy Talent :
YouTube
- Billy Talent - White Sparrows
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3AE52DwXxY)
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"Im Abendrot" from Four Last Songs - Richard Strauss
Yes to this. This discussion sounds strangely familiar
This had been my top sad song for years, particularly after hearing Jessye Norman sing the four last songs in the chapel of an old school in Rouen in Spring 1986. But now I'm wondering whether "Morgen" beats it - the way it evaporates into oblivion is chilling and gut-wrenching. (And I too can't help wondering whether we've done Richard Strauss before...)
On a totally banal level, William Orbit's cover of "Harry Flowers" pulls off a very similar effect. Every time I hear it I think it would be a cool track to have played at my funeral.
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I'm not familiar with Morgen, so I just looked it up...
Er, excuse me, I think I have a speck of dust in my eye...
d.
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Between The Wars ~ Billy Bragg
The Ocean ~ Dar Williams
Can't listen to either while I'm driving.
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Can't listen to either while I'm driving.
I have the same problem with Celine Dion.
d.
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Gorecki symphony No 3
John Martin couldn't love you more
Tom waits nothing sadder than a town with no cheer or pony
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Can't listen to either while I'm driving.
I have the same problem with Celine Dion.
d.
I presume the urge to :sick: would be too great.
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Two more:
"Bells of Rhymney/Coal not Dole" by the Oysterband. The live version is phenomenally powerful, "CnD" having been written by a lass from the Kent village I lived in for 14 years. A truly heartrending song from the guts of a community destroyed by pit closures. It is followed by "Bells", in a version completely different from the Byrds' saccharine take on it, with the final line "Who killed the miners?" answered by John yelling "Bastards!!"
Linked to this, a classic song by the great Ed Pickford: "Ee, Aye, Ah Cud Hew"
When Ah was young and in me prime
Ee aye Ah cud hew
Ah was hewin’ aal the time
Noo me hewin’ days are throo, throo
Noo me hewin’ days are through.
Ah’ve lain down flat and shovelled coal
Ee aye Ah cud hew
Me eyes did smart in the dust filled hole
Noo me hewin’ days are throo, throo
Noo me hewin’ days are throo.
Ah’ve worked with marras and they were men
Ee aye Ah cud hew
They were men and sons of men
Noo me hewin’ days are throo, throo
Noo me hewin’ days are throo.
Ah knaa that work was made by men
Ee aye Ah cud hew
But wee made dust Ah’ll nivver ken
Noo me hewin’ days are throo, throo
Noo me hewin’ days are throo.
It’s soon that pit nee mair Ah’ll see
Ee aye Ah cud hew
But Ah’ll carry it round inside of me
Noo me hewin’ days are throo, throo
Noo me hewin’ days are throo.
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One for the folkies: Fairport Convention, Crazy Man Michael.
By the same band, I'll see your Crazy Man Michael and raise you Who Knows Where the Time Goes by the beautiful and much-missed Sandy. Always brings a lump to my throat.
Edit: Linky for the interested, 'cos I'm nice like that. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2xODjbfYw8)
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One for the folkies: Fairport Convention, Crazy Man Michael.
By the same band, I'll see your Crazy Man Michael and raise you Who Knows Where the Time Goes by the beautiful and much-missed Sandy. Always brings a lump to my throat.
Farewell Farewell - written by Richard (based on a trad tune) but only Sandy could sing it and bring out the bleakness in the lyric - I would, I would, if only I could, but they loathe me, every one
Has anyone mentioned Nick Drake yet?
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Day Is Done - Nick Drake
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I always found Fool in the Rain by Led Zeppelin quite sad, despite the Latin feel. Bell Bottom Blues by Derek and the Dominos was also a "favourite" sad feeling song from my youth. Thinking about both of them now I'm not sure they'd have the same effect on me any more. :-\
Nowadays, I only need to look as far as the extensive nine inch nails collection (already mentioned way upthread).
[off on a tangent, saddest guitar solo? Again thinking about my earlier days, perhaps Holy Mother by Eric Clapton --- it's just one bent not over and over, but it used to get me every time ??? Haven't heard it for ages though]
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Yoga.
Peter Hammil
On Tuesdays, she used to do yoga
while I'd sit and watch the box
in a vegetable way,
but always ready to say
to myself that I was an artist,
implying that she was not.
It's funny the way that self-pity
can take over from self-esteem -
well, I was the prince of pride,
and though I'd cheat I never lied,
as if that were enough to make her happy,
as if that could satisfy her dreams.
Too late now to say that I'm so sorry,
too late to say that I can change and mend
the things that hurt.
She didn't need to worry,
she always knew I'd get there in the end.
Now I'm tying myself up in contortions,
don't know if yoga will do me any good.
It's about time I tried,
though I'd rather be inside from the cold,
studying tantra -
still, I never did that when I could.
I never did the things that really mattered,
there seemed to be some key I couldn't find
to unlock myself;
I could have done it with her help,
but I was too busy scrabbling for each moment -
now I don't know what I did with all the time.
Sometimes I'd play the wild rover,
sometimes I'd just get smashed all day...
on Tuesdays she used to do yoga,
on Tuesday she went away.
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The Gresford Disaster (http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiGRESFORD;ttGRESFORD.html)
You've heard of the Gresford Disaster,
Of the terrible price that was paid;
Two hundred and forty two colliers were lost,
And three of the rescue brigade.
It occurred in the month of September
At three in the morning the pit
Was racked by a violent explosion
In the Dennis where gas lay so thick.
Now the gas in the Dennis deep section
Was heaped there like snow in a drift,
And many a man had to leave the coal-face
Before he had worked out his shift.
Now a fortnight before the explosion,
To the shotfirer Tomlinson cried,
"If you fire that shot we'll be all blown to hell!"
And no one can say that he lied.
Now the fireman;s reports they are missing
The records of forty-two days;
The collier manager had them destroyed
To cover his criminal ways.
Down there in the dark they are lying.
They died for nine shillings a day;
They have worked out their shift and now they must lie
In the darkness until Judgement day.
Now the Lord Mayor of London's collecting
To help out the children and wives;
The owners have sent some white lilies
To pay for the poor colliers' lives.
Farewell all our dear wives and children
Farewell all our comrades as well,
Don't send your sons down the dark dreary pit
They'll be doomed like the sinners in hell.
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Between The Wars ~ Billy Bragg
I'd forgotten how good that song is :thumbsup:
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Jaded, I was thinking of putting that one up. I remember hearing it at an Albion gig at college. Hutchings and co got through the first verses, the "cyclic" bridge came in, and then suddenly Ric was playing this amazing howling, soulbreaking electric fiddle solo.
I wept.
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YouTube
- James Carr - The Dark End Of The Street
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YnHmaYaJpo)
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Adieu Pierrette - Boubacar Traore
It's a lament following the death of his wife in 1987, and you can feel it, even if you can't understand the words (he sings in a mix of about four languages, and even the French I have trouble understanding).
Mariama by the same artist sounds painfully heartrending, though it may be a jolly song about the joy of life, but I don't *think* so.
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Sad but joyous too.
When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease by Roy Harper
Always leaves me with tears down me face anyway.
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I'm suprised no-one's mentioned Tracy Chapman's Fast Car yet. If ever there was a lament for unfulfilled lives, that's the song.
Oh, and Dicky Mo had the great Ms Simone's Don't let me be misunderstood - I'd nominate her version of Mr Bojangles as sadder.
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I'm suprised no-one's mentioned Tracy Chapman's Fast Car yet. If ever there was a lament for unfulfilled lives, that's the song.
Oh, and Dicky Mo had the great Ms Simone's Don't let me be misunderstood - I'd nominate her version of Mr Bojangles as sadder.
Nina is a true master of bittersweet and tugging at the heartstrings. I've not long ago listened to her "Lie - Lock Wine".
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Peter Gabriel's 'Here Comes the Flood'. The acoustic version from Shaking the Tree has real raw emotion in it.
Supper's Ready is impossible to listen to, especially the closing section ('Apocalypse in 9/8'?) since M-i-L died.
Curve ball - Andrew Gold's 'Lonely Boy' but that's guilt on my part 'cos I thought my eldest was going to be an only son.
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I've not listened to Father Son, Peter Gabriel, (from the millenium show) since dad died.
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Jaded, I was thinking of putting that one up. I remember hearing it at an Albion gig at college. Hutchings and co got through the first verses, the "cyclic" bridge came in, and then suddenly Ric was playing this amazing howling, soulbreaking electric fiddle solo.
I wept.
With John Tams - who did the vocals - sitting on a chair smoking while all that was going on.
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Vincent - Don McLean
Was chosen to see my Dad off at his funeral.
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Sad but joyous too.
When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease by Roy Harper
Always leaves me with tears down me face anyway.
God! I haven't heard that in years, fantastic. I only found out recently that he did the vocal on Pink Floyd's 'Have a Cigar' on Wish You Were Here. IIRC Roger Waters regrets not singing that one himself . . .
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Nigel Tufnel - "Lick My love Pump" :( :'(