Post by Mary on Dec 15, 2006 22:20:37 GMT -5
This is a tentative list subject to change. BTW thanks for making this subject, Ken - this is exactly the kind of thing I needed to entertain myself while holed up with a cold in my parents' living room 
Comments accompany the first 10 songs...
1) Hey That's No Way To Say Goodbye - Leonard Cohen - this is the only song that LITERALLY makes me cry. If I really listen and pay attention and think about what he's saying, I immediately think of particular people in my life, and I immediately start to cry. I really am convinced this is the saddest song ever.
2) If You See Her Say Hello- Bob Dylan - agree with Ken Holzman about this one (and apparently Cameron Crowe too). Devastatingly sad. Even the NAME of the song is heartwrenching.
3) Ne Me Quitte Pas - Nina Simone - The way Nina sings this song sounds like the embodiment of despair - her voice is so broken and resigned and desperate.
4) Gloomy Sunday - Diamanda Galas - I really don't know what else to say about this that I haven't already said. Billie Holliday also has a killer version but Diamanda gives it an operatic reading, while keeping in check her usual insane histrionics, to sound like the voice of heartbreak.
5) I Fall to Pieces - Patsy Cline - what kills me is the line "time only adds to the pain" - something about the fact that she blatantly rejects that old saw that "time heals all wounds" makes the song pretty devastating - because when something horrible happens, all you have is that one hope that you'll feel better as time passes. So that line kills me.
6) Asleep - those goddamned Smiths - is he singing about death? or about a breakup? is there any real difference?
7) We Always Knew - Black Heart Procession - supremely melancholy. the instrumentation, the catch in his voice, the sense of longing. it's exquisitely sad.
8) Lime-Tree Arbour - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - all of The Boatman's Call is devastating, but I've always had a special connection to this song. It's sad in a quiet, unmelodramatic way - it just kind of floats along on its sadness. A beautiful song.
9) 4th of July - X - X may be a strange candidate for this list, and yet I think Ken and other X fans can confirm how sad this song is, as it perfectly captures that moment when a relationship loses its spark, the moment right before official dissolution, when suddenly you know you're just going through the motions. And is there a sadder line than: "She gives me her cheek, when I want her lips"?
10) Holocaust - Big Star - do I really need to explain this?
11) Martha - Tom Waits
12) The Last Time I Saw Richard - Joni Mitchell
13) Temptation - New Order
14) Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
15) Solitude - Billie Holiday
16) Hurt - Johnny Cash
17) Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
18) In-Between Days - The Cure
19) Tomorrow, Wendy - Concrete Blonde
20) Some Kind of Stranger - Sisters of Mercy
I got lazy toward the end. Probably need to think it through much more carefully.
Still, that would make a pretty suicidal mix.
Cheers (?),
M
Comments accompany the first 10 songs...1) Hey That's No Way To Say Goodbye - Leonard Cohen - this is the only song that LITERALLY makes me cry. If I really listen and pay attention and think about what he's saying, I immediately think of particular people in my life, and I immediately start to cry. I really am convinced this is the saddest song ever.
2) If You See Her Say Hello- Bob Dylan - agree with Ken Holzman about this one (and apparently Cameron Crowe too). Devastatingly sad. Even the NAME of the song is heartwrenching.
3) Ne Me Quitte Pas - Nina Simone - The way Nina sings this song sounds like the embodiment of despair - her voice is so broken and resigned and desperate.
4) Gloomy Sunday - Diamanda Galas - I really don't know what else to say about this that I haven't already said. Billie Holliday also has a killer version but Diamanda gives it an operatic reading, while keeping in check her usual insane histrionics, to sound like the voice of heartbreak.
5) I Fall to Pieces - Patsy Cline - what kills me is the line "time only adds to the pain" - something about the fact that she blatantly rejects that old saw that "time heals all wounds" makes the song pretty devastating - because when something horrible happens, all you have is that one hope that you'll feel better as time passes. So that line kills me.
6) Asleep - those goddamned Smiths - is he singing about death? or about a breakup? is there any real difference?
7) We Always Knew - Black Heart Procession - supremely melancholy. the instrumentation, the catch in his voice, the sense of longing. it's exquisitely sad.
8) Lime-Tree Arbour - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - all of The Boatman's Call is devastating, but I've always had a special connection to this song. It's sad in a quiet, unmelodramatic way - it just kind of floats along on its sadness. A beautiful song.
9) 4th of July - X - X may be a strange candidate for this list, and yet I think Ken and other X fans can confirm how sad this song is, as it perfectly captures that moment when a relationship loses its spark, the moment right before official dissolution, when suddenly you know you're just going through the motions. And is there a sadder line than: "She gives me her cheek, when I want her lips"?
10) Holocaust - Big Star - do I really need to explain this?
11) Martha - Tom Waits
12) The Last Time I Saw Richard - Joni Mitchell
13) Temptation - New Order
14) Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
15) Solitude - Billie Holiday
16) Hurt - Johnny Cash
17) Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
18) In-Between Days - The Cure
19) Tomorrow, Wendy - Concrete Blonde
20) Some Kind of Stranger - Sisters of Mercy
I got lazy toward the end. Probably need to think it through much more carefully.
Still, that would make a pretty suicidal mix.
Cheers (?),
M
