Recommend Unbelievably Sad Music

[Rushmore]

I admit it--I love sad music. Most particularly, really great classical (Barber's Adagio for Strings) and some of the brilliant Asian string pieces that I hear pretty much only in movies (nice piece in Audition, when his wife dies, a few great pieces in Crouching Tiger, particularly at the end). You probably get the idea.

Help me. I really want to have a big collection of this stuff to go with my Friends of Dean Martinez, Pogues, Dirty Three, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Lucinda Williams, Patty Griffin, and Lisa Gerrard stuff. But, alas, I am ignorant.

So hook me up. Make me cry.

[uw_madtown]

Elliot Smith is the standard answer here, I think.

[MrMon]

Adagio Rule - Nothing good in a film is ever going happen once you hear Barber's Adagio for Strings. See Gallipoli.

[Dominic]

not sure if you're into country, but check out the album "Long Stretch of Lonesome" by Patty Loveless.

[lapoker17]

Lisa Germano - specifically "Cry Wolf" and "It's a Rainbow".

[Boris]

I always thought Tom Waits could drive a person to suicide.

[bennyk]

For normal music:
Beck - Sea Change

For classical:
Bach - The Cello Suites

[TheMainEvent]

<---Mogwai

[tdarko]

i don't speak hopelandic/icelandic so i don't know what the [censored] they are talking about but sigur ros sure sounds sad as hell.

[Cancuk]

[ QUOTE ]
Elliot Smith is the standard answer here, I think.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Cancuk]

Drive - Portishead

Into the Deep - Bird York

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
Drive - Portishead

[/ QUOTE ]

Never heard of it, and neither has Google.

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Normally I hate everything they do, but "I Miss You" by blink182

[phixxx]

E.S. Posthumus - Cuzco

Not really a sad song persay, but one of those really inspirational songs you put at the end of a movie as everyones walking away into the sunset.

[TheMainEvent]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Drive - Portishead

[/ QUOTE ]

Never heard of it, and neither has Google.

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Portishead is the band name, if that helps you.

[diebitter]

Atmosphere - Joy Division

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
Atmosphere - Joy Division

[/ QUOTE ]

Well...yeah.

And the entire Cure album Pornography, right?

Damn. Now I gotta go pull out my Joy Division stuff. You got me.

Now recommend something I never heard, damnit.

[diebitter]

Paris Match - Style council
It's a very deep sea - Style Council

you ain't ever heard them ones, I bet

[Blarg]

Don't Give Up, by Peter Gabriel

[Los Feliz Slim]

It is my mission to mention Nick Drake in every sad music thread, which have now begun to number in the hundreds I think.

Aimee Mann has some sad music too.

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
Portishead is the band name, if that helps you.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought I had everything they'd done. Never heard of "Drive."

The only truly "sad" Portishead song I can think of is "Undenied."

Anyway...."Drive?" Huh?

[ilya]

Well Leonard Cohen if you can stand his ridiculousness has some great sad songs. "The dealer," for example.
I'm sure you know Billie Holliday & Edith Piaf. If you have any French I'd recommend George Brassens. If you have any Russian & actually even if you don't, I'd really recommmend Vladimir Vysotsky (http://www.kulichki.com/vv/eng/), Bulat Oku(d)jawa, Novella Matveeva, & Galich.
Also early blues & jazz...Robert Johnson, Skip James, Armstrong's Hot Fives recordings.
Early Jay-Z.
Wilco, Flaming Lips, Violent Femmes, Neutral Milk Hotel, Moldy Peaches, decemberists...... wow I love sad music.

[diebitter]

The River - Springsteen

but you're bound to know that one...

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
Paris Match - Style council
It's a very deep sea - Style Council

you ain't ever heard them ones, I bet

[/ QUOTE ]

This is true.

And while I am skeptical, I am resolved to try any and all reasonable recommendations made here (read: no, I will not "just give Journey a fair listen"), so I will try it.

[ilya]

[ QUOTE ]
Portishead


[/ QUOTE ]

hell yeah. Portishead is awesome mopey music.

My Immortal - Evanessence (badly misspelled I believe)

[ilya]

[ QUOTE ]
(read: no, I will not "just give Journey a fair listen")

[/ QUOTE ]

good man.

[Eihli]

Albinono's Adagio for strings.

[imported_anacardo]

Lotta good suggestions here. I'd like to put in a bonus good word for the Decembrists, particularly "Picaresque."

Now. This is gonna sound weird, but - a good bit of the soundtrack to Ken Burns' The Civil War absolutely brings me to my knees. And I'm not a weepy guy.

Haven't seen a mention of Patty Griffin yet. Her cover of Springsteen's "Stolen Car" is one of the most haunting things I've ever heard.

[whiskeytown]

Kate Rusby - she has the most beautiful and melochany songs in the world -

Try the album 10 and then The Girl Who Couldn't Fly - there are a few happy tracks but a lot of them have this sad loneliness to them - esp. sleepless sailor.

RB

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
Now. This is gonna sound weird, but - a good bit of the soundtrack to Ken Burns' The Civil War absolutely brings me to my knees. And I'm not a weepy guy.


[/ QUOTE ]

Hey, this is a great suggestion, and doesn't sound weird at all.

Perfect. Thanks. That's what I was looking for.

Keep 'em coming.

[ilya]

[ QUOTE ]


Now. This is gonna sound weird, but - a good bit of the soundtrack to Ken Burns' The Civil War absolutely brings me to my knees. And I'm not a weepy guy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Speaking of soundtracks the Kill Bill Vol. 1 soundtrack is pretty [censored]' sad.

[quinn]

Notorious B.I.G. - Suicidal Thoughts

[diebitter]

Love, Reign over me - The Who
Behind Blue eyes - The Who

[Rushmore]

...but can anyone tell me anything at all about any Asian string/piano stuff? I have heard some really great stuff, but just don't know enough about it to know what to buy, etc.

Think: brooding, melancholic, tragic, miserable and/or redemptive.

(That last is for variety /images/graemlins/wink.gif)

Maybe alice in chains, but thats more angry-sad

[zephed]

Hank Sr.
Delta Blues

[jesusarenque]

Steve Earle--My Old Friend the Blues

[Soul Daddy]

The Smiths/Morrissey

[Rushmore]

By the way, if you have not checked out everything in my OP, you really should.

"One Day I'll Be On Time" - The Album Leaf
"In A Safe Place" - The Album leaf

It's nearly all instrumental music. It's very sad and full of emotion.

[renodoc]

most of pink floyd can be interpretted as such

already mentioned, but the Cure's Disintingration album has some good stuff. "Plain Song" is amazing.

Also:
Depeche Mode "Somebody"
Dire Straits "Romeo and Juliet"

[DCopper04]

Alive With the Glory of Love, by Say Anything.

For many this isn't an unbelievably sad song, but it definitely has the potential to be depending on how you react to it. It's all about the Holocaust, and it's a fairly emotional track. I don't find it extremely sad, but it definitely made me think a little, and if someone told me they thought it was sad, I wouldn't argue or be surprised.

[jacki]

Warren Zevon's last album, especially Keep Me In Your Heart.

[Joe Tall]

Nearly every album by Joseph Arthur (http://www.josepharthur.com/)

Vacancy is the darkest.

[nothumb]

[ QUOTE ]
I always thought Tom Waits could drive a person to suicide.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I was going to respond to this thread with some Waits but I know Rushmore is already familiar with him. Waits is pretty versatile emotionally though. I guess I'll have to think of something else, give me some time.

NT

[PoBoy321]

I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned it yet, but anything off of Beck's Sea Change album is incredibly depressing.

Also, check out Nick Drake. I recommend Pink Moon and River Man (both about suicide, IIRC)

[nothumb]

Ok bud, here's one for you. An old Blind Boys of Alabama track. These guys can wail.

Goodbye Mother (http://s52.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=201ORCLRQG38G1JUEDP0RZ6QPC)

NT

[Joe Tall]

[ QUOTE ]
Warren Zevon's last album, especially Keep Me In Your Heart.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, this is a deeply sad album.

[Leo99]

Johnny Cash
Morrissey

[MrMon]

The Mannheim Steamroller version of "Silent Night" has got to be the saddest interpretation ever.

And speaking of sad songs, find the short story "Unaccompanied Sonata" by Orson Scott Card. Great work that is in part about sad music. Hugo and Nebula Short Story Nominee for 1979. It's a story I've never forgotten and think of often since reading it 26 years ago.

[The Truth]

[ QUOTE ]
Elliot Smith is the standard answer here, I think.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ChipWrecked]

Thought it was so cliche it would have been covered in the first post or two but:

Sadness by Enigma

[Jules22]

Harry Chapin - Taxi

It was raining hard in 'Frisco,
I needed one more fare to make my night.
A lady up ahead waved to flag me down,
She got in at the light.
Oh, where you going to, my lady blue,
It's a shame you ruined your gown in the rain.
She just looked out the window, and said
"Sixteen Parkside Lane".
Something about her was familiar
I could swear I'd seen her face before,
But she said, "I'm sure you're mistaken"
And she didn't say anything more.
It took a while, but she looked in the mirror,
And she glanced at the license for my name.
A smile seemed to come to her slowly,
It was a sad smile, just the same.
And she said, "How are you Harry?"
I said, "How are you Sue?
Through the too many miles
and the too little smiles
I still remember you."
It was somewhere in a fairy tale,
I used to take her home in my car.
We learned about love in the back of the Dodge,
The lesson hadn't gone too far.
You see, she was gonna be an actress,
And I was gonna learn to fly.
She took off to find the footlights,
And I took off to find the sky.
Oh, I've got something inside me,
To drive a princess blind.
There's a wild man, wizard,
He's hiding in me, illuminating my mind.
Oh, I've got something inside me,
Not what my life's about,
Cause I've been letting my outside tide me,
Over 'till my time, runs out.
Baby's so high that she's skying,
Yes she's flying, afraid to fall.
I'll tell you why baby's crying,
Cause she's dying, aren't we all.
There was not much more for us to talk about,
Whatever we had once was gone.
So I turned my cab into the driveway,
Past the gate and the fine trimmed lawns.
And she said we must get together,
But I knew it'd never be arranged.
And she handed me twenty dollars,
For a two fifty fare, she said
"Harry, keep the change."
Well another man might have been angry,
And another man might have been hurt,
But another man never would have let her go...
I stashed the bill in my shirt.
And she walked away in silence,
It's strange, how you never know,
But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for,
Such a long, long time ago.
You see, she was gonna be an actress
And I was gonna learn to fly.
She took off to find the footlights,
And I took off for the sky.
And here, she's acting happy,
Inside her handsome home.
And me, I'm flying in my taxi,
Taking tips, and getting stoned,
I go flying so high, when I'm stoned.

[cnfuzzd]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Portishead is the band name, if that helps you.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought I had everything they'd done. Never heard of "Drive."

The only truly "sad" Portishead song I can think of is "Undenied."

Anyway...."Drive?" Huh?

[/ QUOTE ]

you should read more portishead lyrics. Some extreme melancholy there. Mourning Air and Wandering Star come immediately to mind.

portishead is beautiful music, but its also something i definitly avoid those days that the scars seem enjoyable.

peace

john nickle

[Rushmore]

Yikes. There is some sadness involved there.

Nice call.

[diebitter]

Try getting 'Kiss at the End of the Rainbow' from 'A Mighty Wind', performed by Mitch and Mickey (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara)

I'm not kidding.

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
Nearly every album by Joseph Arthur

Vacancy is the darkest.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds great. I'm buying it.

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
Try getting 'Kiss at the End of the Rainbow' from 'A Mighty Wind', performed by Mitch and Mickey (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara)

I'm not kidding.

[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting. I'll try it.

[emil3000]

[ QUOTE ]

And speaking of sad songs, find the short story "Unaccompanied Sonata" by Orson Scott Card. Great work that is in part about sad music. Hugo and Nebula Short Story Nominee for 1979. It's a story I've never forgotten and think of often since reading it 26 years ago.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is such an awesome short story.

[Slow Play Ray]

Mazzy Star - I Know this Much is True