"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
4 November 2006Sad songs say so muchVenomous Kate is looking for the 50 Most Depressing Songs, apparently to inspire her upcoming novel. Please feel free to make recommendations to her. I suggested Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted," which is a world-class downer, but I didn't mention this: at one time the song contained a spoken-word intro which was perhaps intended to set the mood, but which didn't make it into the version released to the general public. After listening to it, I don't miss it at all:
A world filled with love is a wonderful sight
Being in love is one's heart's delight But that look of love isn't on my face That enchanted feeling has been replaced Somebody, maybe Berry Gordy himself, heard that and thought it was just too much. This isn't quite an isolated incident: right before the last verse of the Shangri-Las' heartrending "I Can Never Go Home Anymore," at about the 2:30 point, Mary Weiss originally half-cried, half-whispered, "Listen, I'm not finished." The line was mixed out of the 45 and wasn't heard again for decades. (And this, too, is a Depressing Song, what with mother dying and runaway daughter contrite.) Still, if we want Serious Discomfort in a pop tune, we call upon King Crimson, which in its first two albums was wont to work up implausible titles like "'Epitaph' including 'March for No Reason' and 'Tomorrow and Tomorrow'," from which we extract this example of finely-crafted angst:
The wall on which the prophets wrote
Is cracking at the seams Upon the instruments of death The sunlight brightly gleams When every man is torn apart With nightmares and with dreams Will no one lay the laurel wreath As silence drowns the screams Confusion will be my epitaph This might be laughable were it not so perfectly orchestrated: the song (which runs over eight and a half minutes, with only one more verse and a repeat of the verse/chorus above) is carefully calculated to resonate against your last nerve, making seemingly-adolescent rubbish into a true Tale of Terror. (Lyricist Pete Sinfield, incidentally, is responsible for the unofficial name of my workplace, but that's another The most depressing song I ever heard was "Nobody Loves me but My Mother" by B.B. King. Goes like this: "Nobody loves me but my mother, After that, he's just too depressed to sing anymore and gives up. Posted by: Mister Snitch! at 3:34 PM on 4 November 2006I nominate the Grateful Dead's Althea: You may be Saturday's child all grown Ain't nobody messin with you but you Catchy tune too -- especially if you're already down and like to dwell on the beauty of such things. Posted by: Eric Scheie at 4:36 PM on 5 November 2006I'll nominate Life of Agony's "Let's Pretend" from their second album. It chokes me up every time. In the stillness of the night Mommy it's me But sometimes I like to pretend My mind it's dreaming Now I hear you used to treat me cold But sometimes I like to pretend |