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FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Sploops on April 28, 2008, 11:13:19 AM

Title: Sad Songs...
Post by: Sploops on April 28, 2008, 11:13:19 AM
... are nature's onions.

I was just listening to "You Are My Sister" by Antony and the Johnsons and I started to tear up.  So I wondered - What songs make you cry?


Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Sarah on April 28, 2008, 11:19:15 AM
"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" (I know the Pogues' version best), Billy Bragg's "Great Leap Forwards," Seize the Days' "United States," and other songs like that.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Susannah on April 28, 2008, 11:20:44 AM
"Holding Back the Year" by Lou Barlow, "Apology Accepted" by the Go-Betweens; mainly on account of an ex-boyfriend.  Love stinks.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: erika on April 28, 2008, 11:22:12 AM
Passing Afternoon by Iron and Wine. Every time.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Matt on April 28, 2008, 11:26:26 AM
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=mVcb1Hl46Ds[/youtube].
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: TL on April 28, 2008, 11:49:43 AM
Ugh - where to begin?
Short list:
Jimmy Mack - Martha and the Vandellas
The Broad Majestic Shannon - The Pogues
Carolan's Farewell to Music - Turlough O'Carolan (I only know it as performed by Derek Bell)
Many, many Waterboys songs - The Whole of the Moon, Fisherman's Blues, Always Dancing, Never Getting Tired, etc.
Linden Arden Stole the Highlights - Van Morrison
Move on Up - Curtis Mayfield
Lots of Thin Lizzy - The Black Rose, Chatting Today, Sitamoia, etc.
Corporal Chalkie - Mekons
Oro Mo Bhaídín - Mary O'Hara
Everyone Sees What I See - Clive Product
It's Good to Have Met You - The Pupils
Straight to Hell - The Clash
Johnny Appleseed - Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros
Parts of Yes Sir, I Will, by CRASS
If I'm in the right mood, One More Time, by Daft Punk (don't judge!)
Salt Lick - Tad (just kidding!)
And, uh...  this:
[youtube]0k17RSzxTvM[/youtube]
That's actually me crying at the side of the stage.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Laurie on April 28, 2008, 11:59:50 AM
Most Lisa Germano songs.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1iErRTVp518

"It's a Rainbow" on the Lisa Germano/Joey Burns/Howe Gelb collab, OP8, was my anthem in high school. It never failed to make me cry.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: samir on April 28, 2008, 12:02:59 PM
any of the songs from:

(http://diapena.free.fr/mendelson/seuls/images/philophobia.jpg)
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Chris L on April 28, 2008, 12:18:01 PM
Johnny Appleseed - Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros

This used to make me cry too, because it often meant that John From Cincinnati was starting. 
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: emma on April 28, 2008, 12:24:34 PM
Autumn's Here by Hawksley Workman, Imaginary Bars by the Great Lake Swimmers, Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens and Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure by the Weakerthans (natch!) are usually pretty surefire bets.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Laurie on April 28, 2008, 12:30:39 PM
Johnny Appleseed - Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros

This used to make me cry too, because it often meant that John From Cincinnati was starting. 

HA!
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Stan on April 28, 2008, 12:43:11 PM
Maybe it has to do with an association with another time in my life, maybe it's Fripp's solo but either way this isn't my video:

[youtube]k6n9s1e8EXs[/youtube]

Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: dave from knoxville on April 28, 2008, 01:25:29 PM
Autumn's Here by Hawksley Workman, Imaginary Bars by the Great Lake Swimmers, Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens and Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure by the Weakerthans (natch!) are usually pretty surefire bets.

I want to jump on the Casimir Pulaski day bandwagon. A few other come to mind. (Just go ahead and insert your own "Don't judge!" after each of these.) I am really opening myself up to censure here; maybe Tom doesn't read this part.

Pretenders - Stop Your Sobbing
Bruce Cockburn - You've Never Seen Everything
Bruce Springsteen - Stolen Car
Kate Bush - Walk Straight Down the Middle
Ben Folds - Hospital Song
Richard Thompson - Beeswing
Aimee Mann - Save Me
Weather Report - A Remark You Made
Todd Rundgren - Torch Song
Ryan Adams - Come Pick Me Up
Jules Shear - The Mystery's All Mine

and, I gotta say it; GO AHEAD AND JUDGE

Yes - And You And I (I have also been known to get misty over the climax of The Revealing Science of God.)
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: God Stewart on April 28, 2008, 01:28:38 PM
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945
Pedro the Lion - Arizona
Silver Jews - Pretty Eyes

and lately...

Silkworm - The Bones
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: emma on April 28, 2008, 01:42:25 PM
How about songs that aren't associated with any particular memories and sometimes are not even sad-sounding but they still just make you cry? Like there's some kind of weird pressure point in your brain? I only have, like, two or three of these, but do most people have any? Or am I just nuts?
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: erika on April 28, 2008, 02:02:25 PM
How about songs that aren't associated with any particular memories and sometimes are not even sad-sounding but they still just make you cry? Like there's some kind of weird pressure point in your brain? I only have, like, two or three of these, but do most people have any? Or am I just nuts?

Emma I know just what you mean. "Passing Afternoon" is one of those for me.

"Happy Xmas (War is Over)" makes me cry at the end, "Don't Dream It's Over" gives me a lump in my throat and makes my head hurt when I hear it, and Radiohead's "Motion Picture Soundtrack" has brought me to tears for no real reason.

Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Matt on April 28, 2008, 02:21:05 PM
Linden Arden Stole the Highlights - Van Morrison

YES. Veedon Fleece on the whole is a good, weepy record. And dare I say, his best?

Most sad songs make me happy rather than sad; the best of them are so perfectly articulated and performed that they give me kind of a bittersweet uplifting feeling. The only two examples I can think of right now are Richard & Linda Thompson's "Has He Got a Friend for Me" and Chris Bell's "Speed of Sound" - the line "So you find him attractive/so what if he is?" in the latter especially kills me.

It's not really a sad song, but Dump's version of Prince's "The Beautiful Ones" kinda gets me misty-eyed.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Sarah on April 28, 2008, 02:26:19 PM
When I heard Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau perform, I cried almost from the start.  And the Queen of the Night's aria in The Magic Flute always makes me cry, too.  I think certain voices just have that power.  (This is in response to emma, by the way.)
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: emma on April 28, 2008, 05:14:10 PM
Now I feel un-crazy enough to share this story.

Back when I was badass* (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2299/2450293838_d696c80835_m.jpg), and by badass I mean into semi-awful ska-punk bands, there was this one buncha kids who were completely forgettable (all I remember about them was that their singer had a super-average angry growly thing going on, and all their songs were about unity, drinking, fucking shit up, or fucking shit up while drunk in the name of unity) EXCEPT that, for some reason, their cover of Sound System by Operation Ivy always had me fighting back tears. Yours (Sarah and Erika) still make way more sense than that, I think.



*the hair is the result of me thinking it would be a good idea to dye it orange on top of the "forest green" it already was.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: samir on April 28, 2008, 08:04:01 PM
I'm a girly man and have been brought to tears by the following songs, when seen live in concert:

'Scattered Black and Whites' by Elbow.
'Keep Your Dreams' by Primal Scream
'Exit Music' by Radiohead
'Broken Heart' by Spiritualized
'No Danger' by the Delgados

Don't judge!
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: JonFromMaplewood on April 28, 2008, 10:29:15 PM
-"Elizabeth Childers" performed by Richard Buckner (from the poem by Edgar Lee Masters)...it is part of the longer, single-track "The Hill" EP
-"Pale Green Things" by The Mountain Goats
-"Minnesota" by The Mountain Goats
-"Cool Water" by Marty Robbins
-"All That You Have Is Your Soul" by Tracy Chapman. Yeah. That's right. Tracy Fucking Chapman.

And here's a weird one:

-"KYEO" by Fugazi...I think it is an angry, pained cry in this case.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: masterofsparks on April 29, 2008, 06:27:53 AM
Tractor Rape Chain by GBV has given me a lump in the old throat a couple of times for no discernable reason.

As for more obvious ones:

Northern Sky - Nick Drake
Albuquerque - Neil Young
Shakin' Street - MC5
Maggot Brain - Funkadelic
Seasons of Wither - Aerosmith
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: theericcarr on April 29, 2008, 11:44:47 AM
The Real Kids have a few tunes that always cause me to 'get something in my eye'.

'Just Like Darts'
'Common At Noon'
'Who Needs You'


One thing Boston got right.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Shaggy 2 Grote on April 29, 2008, 12:05:25 PM
How about songs that aren't associated with any particular memories and sometimes are not even sad-sounding but they still just make you cry? Like there's some kind of weird pressure point in your brain? I only have, like, two or three of these, but do most people have any? Or am I just nuts?

No, Emma, that totally happens.  Boston's "Peace of Mind" and Traffic's "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" make me sad for no reason at all.

Sarah, ditto for Billy Bragg's "Great Leap Forwards," and Jon, ditto on Tracy Chapman. 

TL's "Bleeding Powers" makes me tear up for reals.  Also Radiohead's "Optimistic," Le Tigre's "Much Finer," Ani DiFranco's "Joyful Girl" (don't judge, I'm a lesbian trapped inside a man's body), a lot of songs on 7 Seconds' "The Crew," Bruce Springsteen's "Meeting Across The River," Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," Dolly Parton's "Bargain Store."  And Beethoven makes me melancholy (the composer, not the fillum, which fills me with joy and laughter).
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: gravy boat on April 29, 2008, 12:55:17 PM
Ditto on on some Tracy Chapman stuff.

Bicycle Thief - Rainin' (3 a.m.)
Lucinda Williams  - Greenville
Bruce Springsteen - Used Cars
Turandot - Nessum Dorma
Mark Eitzel singing Western Sky on the Songs of Love Live album

Listening to Tom Traubert's Blues always makes me really sad and crawl into a bar for a week.

Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: erika on April 29, 2008, 01:11:22 PM
Ani Difranco gets me with a few of hers:

Joyful Girl
Swan Dive
School Night

Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: iAmBaronVonTito on April 29, 2008, 01:53:43 PM
with/out reason:

Lilac Wine- Jeff Buckley/Nina Simone
The Ballad of El Goodo- Big Star
Waterloo- The Kinks
Don't Hate Me- The Get Up Kids
You Only Live Once- The Strokes
Can't Get Over You- Daniel Johnston
Holland 1945- Neutral Milk Hotel
The Greatest- Cat Power
Heavy Metal Drummer/Please Be Patient With Me- Wilco
Bottle and Hotel Room- Harlan T. Bobo
Blackbird- The Beatles
Don't Stop Believin'- Journey
I Believe (When I Fall In Love...)- Stevie Wonder
Love At First Fell- Mark Kozelek
I Wanna Fuck You- The Ponys
Bad Man- The Reigning Sound
Woody- Hayden
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Beth on April 29, 2008, 02:00:29 PM
Ani Difranco gets me with a few of hers:

Joyful Girl
Swan Dive
School Night



I'd like to add "You Had Time" to the mix. Tears everytime.
 
I agree with all of those, especially Swan Dive. I can remember being 15 alone in my bedroom and singing "I DON'T CARE IF THEY EAT ME ALIVE" at the top of my lungs. I don't listen to Ani much anymore, but she did get me through some of my darkest days of high school, and I'll always be grateful for that.


(don't judge)
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Chris L on April 29, 2008, 03:00:22 PM
These have all reduced me to a Jason Segal-like mess in the past (ok, not that bad, but still...)

Elliott Smith - Between the Bars
Laura Cantrell - When the Roses Bloom Again
Sleater-Kinney - Good Things
Cat Power - Maybe Not
and, I'll say it, more than song on the fucking Langley Schools Music Project album.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: dave from knoxville on April 29, 2008, 03:35:46 PM
The one-two punch of Sufjan's Romulus followed by Kate Bush's Nocturn a few minutes ago made me take a pause from grading finals to ponder the pointlessness of it all. But I recovered.

Almost anything by Neko Case (solo stuff) or Lucinda Williams can hit me in the same way. Oh, and Neil Young's Cortez the Killer (Zuma version.) I once pulled the car over when that one came on.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: dave from knoxville on April 29, 2008, 04:22:34 PM
Maybe it has to do with an association with another time in my life, maybe it's Fripp's solo but either way this isn't my video:

[youtube]k6n9s1e8EXs[/youtube]



What is this, Stan? Is it David Sylvain? Japan?
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: mostlymeat on April 29, 2008, 04:57:01 PM
david gates (of Bread) controls my sad feelings.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: B_Buster on April 29, 2008, 05:54:56 PM
Sweet Old World/Lucinda Williams
Hurt/Johnny Cash
Wreck on the Highway/Streets of Philadelphia/Bruce Springsteen
Rainy Night in Soho/The Pogues
Wish You Were Here/Pink Floyd
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Stan on April 29, 2008, 06:49:12 PM


What is this, Stan? Is it David Sylvain? Japan?

 My apologies for failing to label it, Dave. It's St. Elmo's Fire from the album Another Green World by Brian Eno. It's one of the four 'must own albums' of his, along with Here Come the Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy and Before and After Science.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: JonFromMaplewood on May 04, 2008, 10:39:44 PM
Almost forgot "Sympathy" by Sleater Kinney.  As a parent, it hits me right in the kishkes.  I can't even sing along without my voice cracking.

"I know I come to you only when in need.
I'm not the best believer,
not the most deserving.
All I have all I am all I can,
For him."

Excuse me a moment...

(dabbing eyes)
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Julie on May 05, 2008, 04:04:35 PM
Christmas Eve in the Drunk Tank chokes me up every year.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Julie on May 05, 2008, 04:05:38 PM
Actually, all pre-1959 Christmas songs make me cry. It gets worse every year. I could cry just thinking about it.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: ben on May 05, 2008, 10:46:56 PM
'you're decided' by edith frost

bad divorce that turned into a sad/good friendship when it came out, so circumstances involved
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: Man Machine on May 06, 2008, 12:12:06 AM
"Shannon" by Henry Gross. For 30 years that song has gotten to me. Same thing with "Seasons in the Sun".

Someone previously mentioned the Waterboys' "The Whole of the Moon" and I second that.
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: ben on May 06, 2008, 12:14:36 AM
pretty eyes by the silver jews

and take care by big star
Title: Re: Sad Songs...
Post by: ben on May 06, 2008, 12:25:31 AM
smog-goldfish bowl
galaxie 500-tugboat
dirty three-i remember a time when once you used to love me
low-in metal
m83-america


i responded a bunch but i kept thinking of songs that meant something to me, sad maybe in my own context, they make me cry when i hear them, so sad enough

good topic

and yeah, had a hard day, drinking a cold beer