I love Beautiful Songs About terrible Things! Suggest some for me...

Inspired by the thread about "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," I want to work on my next Beautiful Songs About Horrible Things playlist.

The greater the disparity between the prettiness of the song and the horror of the events it describes, the better it is for me. Not just shipwreck songs ("Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a big favorite) or nuclear war songs (Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sun is Burning" features big on my end-of-the-world playlists), but even songs about personal tragedies ("In the Pines" by Nirvana) and tragedies others might find trivial (Henry Gross's "Shannon").

To fit my playlist, the song has to be kind of haunting, sound "pretty," and be about something terrible. Bonus if it's about nuclear war or giant disasters like that.

What do you suggest?

Tucker

So as not to fill this thread up with volumes of lyrics making it a pain in the ass to read, I'll just post a link:

http://www.lyricsdepot.com/alice-cooper/only-women-bleed.html

Though I love Alice Cooper, check out Tori Amos's cover of it....

Khash.

has "Cold Ethel" which is a great song, with a pretty gross subject. It's about a frozen corpse.:scared:

by metallica, off their Ride the Lightning cd, track four. It's about suicide...

I actually kind of like Billy Joel's "Downeaster 'Alexa'" about the trials of a hardworking fisherman working overfished seas. His lack of success, distance from family, etc.

It's actually right after "...Edmund Fitzgerald" on this one CD I made.

And no shame here in admitting it. I love songs about the ocean and related stuffs.

of that cheesy 60's song about the car wreck - OHHHH WHEEERE OH WHEERRE CAN MY BAAAABY BEEEE.....

I kind of like that song. Maybe X'x See How We Are would fit?

Yeah, that's a good one.

Black Diamond Bay...story about a resort for the rich and wannabe famous getting deluged by a volcano

Where Have All The Flowers Gone

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young girls gone, long time ago?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Gone for husbands everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the husbands gone, long time passing?
Where have all the husbands gone, long time ago?
Where have all the husbands gone?
Gone for soldiers everyone
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing?
Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Gone to flowers, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

song, "we were only freshman"...I do believe, the song was about a rape, though, I could be wrong?...

"My friend took a week's vacation to forget her/His girl took a week's worth of Valium and slept..." sounds like suicide to me. It's already on my Pretty Sad Songs mix, so I'll already be putting it on this one too.

Tucker

my memory is for shit sometimes...:) I knew the song was sad though...I should listen to it now...

It's not about a specific event, but drug addiction definitely counts as "terrible things."

The song itself is haunting, and Johnny Cash's version is more haunting still.

Granted, the lyrics are -- like all Skinny Puppy lyrics -- in stream of consciousness and confusing as all get-out, but it's still a great song that has become oddly topical again thanks to Bush's claims of WMD. (The song refers to Saddam's use of VX gas against Iranian troops during the Iran/Iraq war.)

:hi:

I'm going with "I Like 'Em Big And Stupid"..... talk about tragedy :)


Khash.

you go away. :P

Goddess In Progress is one of my fave albums, closely followed by Trapped In The Body Of A White Girl. And you won't let me play?

Mean I said and mean I meant!

Khash.

The Stain Remains-by Life of Agony, on the River Runs Red cd...(about suicide again)

Drowing, by Life of Agony, off the 1988-1995 cd....(this one, is my NUMBER one choice, for a sad song, just...sad)

To be honest, the whole River Runs Red cd, is a complete one week story, of a young teen, who at the end of the cd, kills himself...RRR is probably in my top three favorite cds...


on edit:can't forget Everybody Hurts by REM, and Mad World by Tears for Fears, but I like Michael Andrews version better...

Franklin died trying to find the NW Passage.
Best version I know of is by Pentangle. If this links work then click on track 13 :
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/poprock/detail/-/hnum/2860628/rk/home/rsk/hitlist It's only a clip but you'll get the drift. Pentangle even used a hurdy gurdy !
That's a site in Germany which has got the best search engine for music tracks I've ever come across. If link don't work then go to www.jpc.de , click on USA flag to get it into english and then search Lord Franklin to find the Pentangle CD.

Lyrics :

We were homeward bound one night on the deep
Swinging in my hammock I fell asleep
I dreamed a dream and I thought it true
Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew

With a hundred seamen he sailed away
To the frozen ocean in the month of May
To seek a passage around the pole
Where we poor sailors do sometimes go.

Through cruel hardships they vainly strove
Their ships on mountains of ice were drove
Only the Eskimo with his skin canoe
Was the only one that ever came through

In Baffin's Bay where the whale fish blow
The fate of Franklin no man may know
The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell
Lord Franklin with his sailors do dwell

And now my burden it gives me pain
For my long-lost Franklin I would cross the main
Ten thousand pounds I would freely give
To know on earth, that my Franklin do live

The Knoxville Girl

I met a little girl in Knoxville
A town we all know well
And every Sunday evening
Out in her home I'd dwell
We went to take an evening walk
About a mile from town
I picked a stick up off the ground
And knocked that fair girl down;

She fell down on her bended knees
For mercy she did cry
Oh, Willie dear, don't kill me here
I'm unprepared to die
She never spoke another word
I only beat her more
Until the ground around me
Within her blood did flow.

I took her by her golden curls
And I drug her 'round and 'round
Throwing her into the river
That flows through Knoxville town
Go down, go down, you Knoxville girl
With the dark and roving eyes
Go down, go down, you Knoxville girl
You can never be my bride.

I started back to Knoxville
Got there about midnight
My mother she was worried
And woke up in a fright
Saying, ""Dear son, what have you done
To bloody your clothes so?""
I told my anxious mother
I was bleeding at my nose.

I called for me a candle
To light myself to bed
I called for me a handkerchief
To bind my aching head
Rolled and tumbled the whole night through
As troubles was for me
Like flames of hell around my bed
And in my eyes could see.

They carried me down to Knoxville
And put me in a cell
My friends all tried to get me out
But none could go my bail
I'm here to waste my life away
Down in this dirty old jail
Because I murdered that Knoxville girl
The girl I loved so well.

(Note. Based on the old English Ballad of the Wexford Girl
Recorded by The Louvin Brothers - Traditional)

originally titled Wexford Girl. May have been The Carter Family who changed the title late '20s /'30s.

The first from her "Culture Swing" CD. About a young girl on the border whose family is slowly dying of pesticide poisoning. Couldn't find the lyrics online.

The other:

Jewel - Painters Lyrics



Eighty years, an old lady now, sitting on the front porch

Watching the clouds roll by

They remind her of her lover, how he left her, and of times long
ago.

When she used to color carelessly painted his portrait

A thousand times-or maybe just his smile-

And she and her canvas would follow him wherever he would
go

'Cause they were painters and they were painting themselves

A lovely world.

Oil streaked daisies covered the living room wall

He put water-colored roses in her hair

He said, "Love, I love you, I want to give you mountains, the
sunshine,

the sunset too

I want to give you everything as beautiful as you are to me

'Cause they were painters and they were painting themselves

A lovely world.

So they sat down and made a drawing of their love, an art to
live by

They painted every, passion every home, created every beautiful
child

in the winter they were weavers of warmth,

in summer they were carpenters of love

They thought blue prints were too sad so they made them
yellow

'Cause they were painters and they were painting themselves

A lovely world.

Until one day the rain fell as thick as black oil

And in her heart she knew something was wrong

She went running

through the orchard screaming,

'No God, don't take him from me!,'

But buy the time she got there, she feared he already had
gone

She got to where he lay, water-colored roses in his hands for
her

She threw them down screaming, 'Damn you man, don't leave
me

with nothing left behind but these cold paintings, these cold
portraits

to remind me!

He said, 'Love I leave, but only a little, try to
understand

I put my soul in this life we created with these four hands

Love, I leave, but only a little this world holds me still

My body may die now, but these paintings are real.'

So many seasons came and many seasons went

and many times she saw her loves face watering the flowers,

talking tot he trees and singing to his children

And when the wind blew, she knew he was listening,

and how he seamed to laugh along, and how he seemed to hold
her

when she was crying

'Cause they were painters and they were painting themselves

A lovely world.

Eighty years, an old lady now, sitting on the front porch

Watching the clouds roll by, they remind her of her lover

how he left her and of times long ago, when she used to color
carelessly,

Painted his portrait a thousand times, or maybe just his
smile,

and she and her canvas would follow him wherever he would
go

Yes, she and her canvas still follow

Because they are painters and they are painting themselves

A lovely world

A lovely song that may or may not be about
heroine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoZwzqXzkjQ

To fit my playlist, the song has to be kind of haunting, sound "pretty," and be about something terrible. Bonus if it's about nuclear war or giant disasters like that.

La Folie...about cannibalism/madness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8iXIm0YMm8

English Translation.
Good Evening
Your vehicle doesn’t seem to have an occupant
Could you : Would you let me in
Or would that be too much trouble ?
My boots won’t echo too much in your passageway
No noise accompanies my parting
No wasted moments for us
Waiting for an uncertain reunion
Because I’m mad, yes it’s madness

There once was a student
Who had a great desire, as they say in books
His girlfriend was so sweet that by eating her,
He was able to reject all vices, repulse all males,
Destroy everything beautiful
Which up until then, had never been known to him
Because he was mad, yes it’s madness

And if sometimes you can confess to it
To whom can you reveal all - even god himself has
Deserted us

Another Life, another place
And of course, another story
But to whom can you open your heart ?
At dawn, at dusk
How may crimes have been committed
Against falsehods and so-called laws of the heart
How many are here because of madness
Because they are mad

5am friday morning
thursday night far from sleep
i'm still up and driving
can't go home obviously
so i'll just change direction
cause they'll soon know where i live
and i wanna live
got a full tank and some chips

it was me and a gun
and a man on my back
and i sang "holy holy"
as he buttoned down his pants

you can laugh
its kind of funny
things you think
times like these
like i haven't seen BARBADOS
so i must get out of this

yes i wore a slinky red thing
does that mean i should spread
for you, your friends
your father, mr ed

it was me and a gun
and a man on my back
but i haven't seen BARBADOS
so i must get out of this

and i know what this means
me and jesus a few years back
used to hang
and he said "it's your choice babe
just remember
i don't think you'll be back
in 3 days time so you choose well"
tell me whats right
is it my right to be on my stomach
of fred's seville

it was me and a gun
and a man on my back
but i haven't seen BARBADOS
so i must get out of this

and do you know CAROLINA
where the biscuits
are soft and sweet
these things go through your head
when there's a man on your back
and you're pushed flat on your stomach
it's not a classic cadillac

it was me and a gun
and a man on my back
but i haven't seen BARBADOS
so i must get out of this
i haven't seen BARBADOS
so i must get out of this

You would post that!

Always makes me cry... always. As a rape victim myself it hits home. Maybe a small tragedy, just one person's tragedy. But aren't all tragedies personal?


Khash.

And yes, all tragedies are personal.

:pals::hug:

I love "One Song Glory" from Rent. About loss and death from AIDS, and the desire to create something meaningful before you go.

http://www.upseros.com/lyrics.php?c=53245

New York Mining Disaster 1941

In the event of something happening to me,
there is something I would like you all to see.
It's just a photograph of someone that I new.

Have you seen my wife, Mr. Jones?
Do you know what it's like on the outside?
Don't go talking too loud, you'll cause a landslide, Mr. Jones.

I keep straining my ears to hear a sound.
Maybe someone is digging underground,
or have they given up and all gone home to bed,
thinking those who once existed must be dead.

Have you seen my wife, Mr. Jones?
Do you know what it's like on the outside?
Don't go talking too loud, you'll cause a landslide, Mr. Jones.

In the event of something happening to me,
there is something I would like you all to see.
It's just a photograph of someone that I knew.

Have you seen my wife, Mr. Jones?
Do you know what it's like on the outside?
Don't go talking too loud, you'll cause a landslide, Mr. Jones.

You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got.
Set them free at the break of dawn
'Til one by one, they were gone.
Back at base, bugs in the software
Flash the message, Something's out there.
Floating in the summer sky.
99 red balloons go by.


99 red balloons.
floating in the summer sky.
Panic bells, it's red alert.
There's something here from somewhere else.
The war machine springs to life.
Opens up one eager eye.
Focusing it on the sky.
Where 99 red balloons go by.


99 Decision Street.
99 ministers meet.
To worry, worry, super-scurry.
Call the troops out in a hurry.
This is what we've waited for.
This is it boys, this is war.
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by.


99 Knights of the air
Ride super-high-tech jet fighters
Everyone's a superhero.
Everyone's a Captain Kirk.
With orders to identify.
To clarify and classify.
Scramble in the summer sky.
As 99 red balloons go by.


99 dreams I have had.
In every one a red balloon.
It's all over and I'm standing pretty.
In this dust that was a city.
If I could find a souvenier.
Just to prove the world was here.
And here is a red balloon
I think of you and let it go.

Based on a true story in her extended family about a woman who lost her husband and later her son in coal mining accidents.

You can listen to it at her MySpace page (linked here at her homepage.
http://www.karenposton.com/

I don't have a copy to pick one...

"Good Morning, Beautiful"
"Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)"
"The Violence of Truth"
"Kingdom of Rain" (duet with Sinéad O'Connor)
"The Beat(en) Generation"
"August & September"
"Gravitate to Me" (Johnson - Johnson / Marr)
"Beyond Love"

(Don't Fear) The Reaper.

It's about suicide. The last verse especially. is beautiful and haunting... "She knew that she couldn't go on..."



Khash.

Greg Trooper

About the Galveston Hurricane.

co-incidence? I think not!---and what was thrown off the bridge anyway?

If there is an obvious explanation for the lyrics, I'd almost prefer not to know.

The tuning was D-G-D-G-Bb-D. I thought it was one of the best arrangements I'd ever done. I never got tired of playing it, but mostly for the guitar part, not so much the singing or the lyrics. I will say that the fingering used to hurt like hell. It was literally painful.

A lot of times after I played it, people used to come up to me and say, "You know, I always hated that song." I took it as a complement.

I was inspired to play it because of a version I heard by Ellen McIwaine. My version ended up being very different than hers though.

it, the lamers. They offer a "partial album" from her greatest hits, but omitted this song! Sigh.

A gorgeous song about surviving an air crash.

"Luka" by Suzanne Vega, about child molestation

"Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday, about lynchings

Then there's

"American PIe" by Don MacLean, possibly about the Kennedy assassination

"Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman, about being down and out

From the soundtrack of "The Two Towers" performed by Emiliana Torrini

In fact you might do well with many of the songs off of the three Lord of the Ring's movies.

I love it a lot

Another one by master story songwriter Gordon Lightfoot.

Cherokee Bend

His father was a man who could never understand
The shame on a red man's face
So they lived in the hills and they never came down
But to trade in the white man's place
It was early in the spring when the snow had disappeared
They came down with a bag of skins
In the fall of the year of 1910
Daddy died by the rope down in Cherokee Bend.

Daddy didn't like what the white man said
'Bout the dirty little kid at his side
Daddy didn't like what the white man did
Nor the deal or the way that he lied
There was blood on the floor of the government store
When the men took his daddy away
But the boy stayed back till he come to his end
And he run like the wind from Cherokee Bend.

Now the mother was alone and the winter was at hand
And she prayed to her spirit kin
It was warm in the lodge in the Kentucky hills
On the day when the boy came in

Then a blizzard came down and it covered up the door
Till they thought that it never would end
And he told her the tale of the terrible affair
In the government store down in Cherokee Bend

Daddy didn't like what the white man said
'Bout the dirty little kid at his side
Daddy didn't like what the white man did
Nor the deal or the way that he lied

For three long days and three long nights
They wept and they mourned and then
She returned to her work and her weavin'
And they tried to forget about Cherokee Bend

Now the boy wasn't big but he hunted what he could
And they lived for a time that way
But the food run low and the meat went bad
And she said to the boy one day

I'm leaving tonight and I never will return
From the land of my Spirit Kin
You must take what you need and trade what you can
For a Red Man's grave down in Cherokee Bend

It wasn't very long till she closed her eyes
And he wrapped her in a robe
He found her a place on the side of the hill
And he buried her in the snow

Early in the spring he was seen in the town
With his load looking ragged and thin
Not a year had gone by till he stood once again
In the government store down in Cherokee Bend

He was ten years tall and a Redskin too
So he hadn't much face to save
And the men sat around and they laughed and they clowned
At the talk of a criminal's grave

Then the man from the east didn't smile when he said
You're the son of that Indian scum
If you value your hide then you better abide
By the white man's rules here in Cherokee Bend.

Daddy didn't like what the white man said
'Bout the dirty little kid at his side
Daddy didn't like what the white man did
Nor the deal or the way that he lied

And he spit on the floor of the government store
And it served him to no good end
At the close of the day they had taken him away
To the white man's school down at Cherokee Bend

It's been 21 years since the boy disappeared
Where he run to, nobody knows
But they say he fell in with a man named Jim
And he rides in the rodeos

And they say he returns all alone to a place
Hidden deep in the Kentucky glen
And it's pretty well known who hauled up the stone
To the grave on the hill above Cherokee Bend

Daddy didn't like what the white man said
'Bout the dirty little kid at his side
Daddy didn't like what the white man did
Nor the deal or the way that he lied

There was blood on the floor of the government store
When the men took his daddy away
It was 1910 and they never had a friend
When he died by the rope down at Cherokee Bend
It was 1910 and they never had a friend
When he died by the rope down at Cherokee Bend

I had it stuck in my head forever when it first came out and I got a lot of odd looks humming it in the elevator.

Simon and Garfunkel's "Richard Cory"
The Decemberists "Shanty for the Arethusa"
Loreena McKinnett "The Highwayman"
Elliott Smith "Angeles"
Robert Earl Keen "Here in Arkansas"

I like melancholy, sometimes.

jp has a lot of beautiful songs about sad subjects ...

is even sadder.

Though Son Volt and the "Rainy Day" album (w/ Kendra Smith singing lead) both have great versions, too..

Your eyes are almost dead
Cant get out of bed
And you cant sleep

Youre sitting down to dress
And youre a mess
You look in the mirror

You look in your eyes
Say you realize

Everybody goes
Leaving those who fall behind
Everybody goes
As far as they can,
They dont just care.

They stood on the stairs
Laughing at your errors
Your mothers dead
She said, dont be afraid.

Your mothers dead
Youre on your own
Shes in her bed

Everybody goes
Leaving those who fall behind
Everybody goes
As far as they can
They dont just care
You're a wasted face
You're a sad-eyed lie
You're a holocaust....

An old Irish anti-war song, recently recorded by Bruce Springsteen on the "Seeger Sessions" album.

Mrs. McGrath

Oh, Missis McGrath, the sergeant said,
Would you like to make a soldier out of your son, Ted?
With a scarlet coat, and a three-cocked hat,
Now Missis McGrath, wouldn't you like that?
Wid yer too-ri-aa, fol de diddle aa
Too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa.

Oh Mrs. McGrath lived by the seashore
For the space of seven long years or more;
Till she saw a big ship sail into the bay,
Here's my son, Ted, wisha, clear the way!
Wid yer too-ri-aa, fol de diddle aa
Too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa.

Oh, Captain, dear, where have ye been
Have you been in the Meditereen?
Will ye tell me the news of my son, Ted?
Is the poor boy livin', or is he dead?
Wid yer too-ri-aa, fol de diddle aa
Too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa.

Ah, well up comes Ted without any legs
An in their place he had two wooden pegs,
She kissed him a dozen times or two,
Saying, Holy Moses, 'tisn't you.
Wid yer too-ri-aa, fol de diddle aa
Too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa.

Oh then were ye drunk, or were ye blind
That ye left your two fine legs behind?
Or was it walkin' upon the sea
Wore your two fine legs from the knees away?
Wid yer too-ri-aa, fol de diddle aa
Too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa.

Oh, I wasn't drunk and I wasn't blind
But I left my two fine legs behind.
For a cannon ball, on the fifth of May,
Took my two fine legs from the knees away.
Wid yer too-ri-aa, fol de diddle aa
Too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa.

Oh, Teddy, me boy, the old widow cried,
Yer two fine legs were yer mammy's pride,
Them stumps of a tree wouldn't do at all,
Why didn't ye run from the big cannon ball?
Wid yer too-ri-aa, fol de diddle aa
Too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa.

All foreign wars I do proclaim
Between Don John and the King of Spain
And by herrins I'll make them rue the time
That they swept the legs from a child of mine.
Wid yer too-ri-aa, fol de diddle aa
Too-ri-oo-ri-oo-ri-aa.

n/t

definitely kind of haunting, not sure about pretty, musicwise.

Swedish Lyrics

English Lyrics

Before the cock crew I was born
- Far are the paths that I follow -
My mother was dead before the dawn
- Long, long she awaited her sorrow

My father travelled the country round,
- Far are the paths that I follow -
An ill stepmother to me he found.
- Long, long she awaited her sorrow

Into a needle she conjured me
And said that longing would torture me
And then she turned me into a knife
And said I would suffer all my life.

She turned me into a pair of shears
And said I'd be stunted all my years.
A grey wolf then she made of me,
And said no good would come of me.

Under this curse I was to suffer
- Far are the paths that I follow -
Till I drank the blood of my own brother.
- Long, long she awaited her sorrow

So then I lay in hiding
- Far are the paths that I follow -
Till my stepmother came riding.
- Long, long she awaited her sorrow

By the bridgehead I lay watching
Till I saw her horse approaching.
And as she passed I caught her
And down from her horse I brought her.

In vengeance cruel and bloody
I took the child from her body.
And when I had drunk my brother's blood,
I became a knight, gallant and good.

Translation by Alistair Cochrane

I think it is about an attempted suicide.

Lyrics

6 am day after Christmas
I throw some clothes on in the dark
The smell of cold
Car seat is freezing
The world is sleeping
I am numb
Up the stairs to her apartment
She is balled up on the couch
Her mom and dad went down to Charlotte
they're not home to find us out
And we drive
Now that I have found someone
I'm feeling more alone
Than I ever have before
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
they call her name at 7:30
I pace around the parking lot
then I walk down to buy her flowers
And sell some gifts that I got
Can't you see
It's not me you're dying for
Now she's feeling more alone
Then she ever has before
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
As weeks went by
It showed that she was not fine
They told me son it's time to tell the truth
She broke down and I broke down
Cause I was tired of lying
Driving home to her apartment
For the moment we're alone
She's alone
I'm alone
Now I know it

Made it on the top 50 all-time "conservative" songs. I'm sure Ben Folds is proud. :eyes:

I thought it was a suicide attempt!

The abortion thing makes sense though.

Why because it doesn't present abortion as the next best thing to the log ride at disneyland? :eyes:

I've been curious about that list, but haven't come across it yet ...

is a good place to start. :thumbsup:

quite a haunting tune tho

Hopefully, this link works: http://music.podshow.com/music/producers/producerLibrary/artistdetails.php?BandHash=88ebbd82cbd312104bdc7fb1db1065b4

If it does, it's the fourth song down. It fits your description perfectly, I think. :)

the first thing that came to mind was Edmund Fitzgerald

but youre smarter than me and already knew what I was thinking.

Even better than the Fitz, however, is the all-time greatest ever and my all time favorite piece of music:

Nessun Dorma


Edit to add: I believe the Nessun Dorma is such a great and overlooked tragic song I'll post my PM3 of it and the lyrics in italian and english
Nessun Dorma MP3

Il Principe:
Nessun dorma!... Nessun dorma!...
Tu pure, o Principessa,
nella tua fredda stanza
guardi le stelle che tremano
d'amore e di speranza!
Ma il mio mistero
è chiuso in me,
il nome mio nessun saprà!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò,
quando la luce splenderà!
Ed il mio bacio scoglierà
il silenzio che ti fa mia!

Coro donne:
Il nome suo nessun saprà...
E noi dovrem ahimè, morir, morir!...

Il Principe:
Dilegua, o notte! tramontate, stelle!
Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincerò!
Vincerò! Vincerò!

The Prince:
No one sleeps!... No one sleeps!... *)
Nor do you, o princess
in your cold room
Look the stars that tremble
with love and hope!
But my mystery
it is locked in me,
my name no one will know!
No, no, only on your mouth I will reveal it,
when dawn's light will shine!
My kiss will break the silence
and make you mine!

Female choir:
His name no one will know...
And we shall have, alas, to die, to die...!

The Prince:
Disperse, o night! Set, you stars!
Set, you stars! With the dawn I will win!
I'll win! I'll win!

/G

The saddest song ever written about Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

20 volunteers leave a dying Earth to find another livable planet. They return a year later by their own reckoning only to find a hundred years have passed on Earth and all their loved ones are dead. Makes me cry every time. The title refers to the year they depart...and return.

And I never knew what it was about. I have to go listen to it now.

About children burning to death in a fire on Christmas Eve. Bit of a dirge more than "pretty," but it is acoustic guitar.

A beautiful, eerie, creepy song. The piano version is tops.

Sarah McLachlan - Possession


Listen as the wind blows from across the great divide
voices trapped in yearning, memories trapped in time
the night is my companion, and solitude my guide
would I spend forever here and not be satisfied?


And I would be the one
to hold you down
kiss you so hard
I'll take your breath away
and after, I'd wipe away the tears
just close your eyes dear


Through this world I've stumbled
so many times betrayed
trying to find an honest word to find
the truth enslaved
oh you speak to me in riddles
and you speak to me in rhymes
my body aches to breathe your breath
your words keep me alive


And I would be the one
to hold you down
kiss you so hard
I'll take your breath away
and after, I'd wipe away the tears
just close your eyes dear


Into this night I wander
it's morning that I dread
another day of knowing of
the path I fear to tread
oh into the sea of waking dreams
I follow without pride
nothing stands between us here
and I won't be denied


And I would be the one
to hold you down
kiss you so hard
I'll take your breath away
and after, I'd wipe away the tears
just close your eyes.

this may be a rumor, but i heard the stalker in question tried to sue, claiming some of the words were from one of his stalker letters to sarah!

the gall!

It must have been pretty freaky for her.

he won't be missed!

Maybe her best, IMHO, though underrated.

I love Possession - never knew it was about a stalker. I 'heard' it as being about someone who was longing for someone whom she couldn't be with, but who also loved her though neither could freely disclose those feelings. I lived through something like that around the time the disc was released, and it was just uncanny how well those lyrics fit.

"Angel" for example, is always sung at benefits. It was sung after 9/11, after the tsunami, etc. But, it is looking into an artist's life who is addicted to heroin. I am sure it is sung many times at funerals, it is a wonderful song, but the "comfort here" is heroin.

I love singers that have lyrics that don't necessarily mean what you would expect. Peter Gabriel is another great one for that.

not necissarily in this category, but noteworthy none the less.

I love that cover of Dear God.

Its the second most impressive vocal composition. It gives me goosebumps!

See my above post for the first. :D

Even more powerful. I love Suzanne Vega.

It's only been at big outdoor shows, although at one she watched the show from 5' away from me after her set was up.

How Soon is Now, done by The Smiths, Love Spit Love and t.A.T.u (and possibly others?).


Fast Car, done by Tracy Chapman and David Usher.


Me and Little Andy, done by Dolly Parton.



Of course, Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is an all time classic tear-jerker. :cry:

"My dog died the other day
and left me all alone.
The refinance company came
and reposessed my home.
But that's just a drop in the bucket, girl,
compared to losing you.
And I'm down to seeds and stems again, too."

http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1981/38405/west_point/songs/bloodontherisers.htm

Recorded by the West Point Glee Club circa 1950.

A different voice sings each verse and it's a-capella. Some amazing harmonies. And the lyrics are gruesome.

Miss Otis is jilted by her lover, kills him, and then is strung up by a mob. It's a gorgeous song --- I especially like Ella Fitzgerald's version.

I'm not sure if it is beautiful, but I like it. It is from an old series in which both the creator and the characters had mental breakdowns, and is sung over 1) The images flowing from a broken mind of one of the characters then 2) Everyone on the entire planet dying, in a bizzare religious thing (The plot was that people had tried to engineer a second coming, but by this stage everything had gone all wrong)

Basically, it sounds happy (sort of, a very precise emotion, bordering on both joy and regret) and what not, but the lyrics are completely the opposite of the music. Makes for a nice juxtaposition(I suggest not listening to the lyrics for the first few times, to get the feel for the music)

And of course, listening to it knowing that as the song plays a second-coming-gone-wrong annihilates the human race (but all are joyous at it, except for the one guy with the broken mind) adds a very complex & powerful dimension.

It IS rather rare though, so if we do a PM email address swap, I will send it in realplayer format. (The only format I have). (I have two versions)

Vincent Black Lightning by Richard Thomson come to mind. That one is still about something beautiful (the love for a woman and a motorcycle) that has a tragic ending.

And the Pink Floyd song - almost every song from that album qualifies. The Final Cut.

it's called "where did you sleep last night" and was originally written by leadbelly...

Figurines that fall like leaves then disappear, keep calling
Is it real? Is it real?
Dark machines that wheeze and breathe then mock the air, appalling
What is real? What is real?
This world can really be too much
I can't take another day
I guess that I've just had enough
My mind's slipping far away
I'm falling in and out of touch
Could someone please explain?

Set my mind for open sky, but couldn't fly, so sadly
What am I? What am I?
Sullen eyes shed teardrop lies then criticize, now laughing
What is real? What is real?
It's really all become too much
I'm not sure what I should feel
I guess I've finally had enough
I don't know if this is real
I'm crashing in and out of touch
Can anyone explain?

The version with lyrics from the movie.