Well, it's Friday, and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental amanuensis Hop-Sing and I are off to...well, actually I can't tell you where we're off to because I'm in the midst of firing the disloyal little toad (hint: That Mitzi Gaynor album is missing again) and I don't want to involve lawyers.
But in any case, posting by moi will be completely not happening until Monday.
Thus, in my absence, here's a little project for us all:
Coolest or Worst Post-Elvis Song or Record Referencing The Emotion of Sadness or the Word Sadness Itself (Title or Lyric!!!)
No arbitrary rules this time -- just take your meds and promise you won't slash your wrists when all this is over.
And my totally top of my head Top Eight is:
8. The Five Emprees -- Little Miss Sad
A big hit in the Chicago area, summer of '65. My across the hall college neighbor that fall turned me on to it just this year. Thanks, Eric!
7. The Blues Project -- I Can't Keep From Cryin' Sometimes
Rocks pretty hard for a really sad song, no?
6. The Who -- So Sad About Us
The Modfathers at their most sublimely Byrdsian. It is one of the great regrets of my adult life that I never got a chance to play this one live.
5. Smashing Pumpkins -- Sad Peter Pan
Remember when anybody who wasn't actually in that band took them remotely seriously? No, me neither.
Inspirational verse:
It's the plan of most To discover that magnificent ghost When did I get perverted And my innocent eyes diverted from the view so grand Imbued with distractions I'm greedy like Senior Babbitt I'm just chasing that electric rabbit I'm a reluctant rebel I just want to be Aaron Neville
4. Bob Dylan -- I Was Young When I Left Home
It's like a distillation of all the melancholy in the world. And people said he couldn't sing...
3. The Beau Brummels -- Sad Little Girl
There is a school of thought, to which I occasionally subscribe, that BB's frontman Sal Valentino is one of the greatest rock voices ever.
2. Bruce Springsteen -- The River
As Thelma Ritter says in All About Eve -- what a story; everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end.
And the number one it's-all-so-sad song, don't give me a hard time about this or I'll harm you, quite obviously is ---
1. Hank Williams -- I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
Still the most profoundly blue piece of music ever recorded.
Awrighty, then -- what would your choices be?
And have a great weekend, everybody!!!
Mr Dyingly Sad -- The Critters.
ReplyDeleteAnd I seem to recall some little number by the Everly Brothers.
In no particular order:
ReplyDeleteRichard & Linda Thompson's End of the Rainbow
RT's Tear-Stained Letter
Godley and Creme's Cry
Marshall Crenshaw's Calling Out For Love at Crying Time
Derek & The Dominoes' Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad
Otis Redding's Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)
Bob Dylan's It Takes A Lot To Laugh, A Train To Cry
Johnny Cash's Cry, Cry, Cry
The Beatles' Cry For A Shadow
Roy Orbison's Crying
Paul in DK
Don't have time for more, but
ReplyDeleteCrying in the Rain - The Everly Bros
Still I'm Sad - Yardbirds
ReplyDeletePaint it Black - Stones (heard that one driving to work this morning)
Lou Reed: Sad Song.
ReplyDeleteReally, it's the last word in, er, sad songs.
My no-other-even-comes-close all-time favorite version of I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry is this one by Leon Russell ... er, I mean Hank Wilson.
ReplyDeleteI bought the album when it came out way back when and just fell in love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_n-E55_okY
The winner in the Worst category has to be Sister Goldenhair Surprise by America and, while I'm no great fan of the guy, Jackson Browne's Late For The Sky could fit (somewhere) in the Best.
ReplyDeletea boon to depressives everywhere - thanks for posting
ReplyDeleteThat video of "Little Miss Sad" with horns is a remake. Here's the hit '65 version. Freeport had to keep reprinting the labels with each change of the group's name, from the Five Impressions to the Five Empressions and finally the Five Emprees.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VFZwPJhl8Y
Joe Walsh, “Song for Emma” - after having kids, I can’t listen to this song anymore; such a profound sense of loss.
ReplyDeleteChris Whitley, “Dirt Floor” - a sad but ultimately peaceful meditation on death.
Warren Zevon, “Keep Me In Your Heart” - another I-can’t-listen-to-it-because-it’s-too-sad song, knowing it was his final statement.
The Who, ”Song Is Over” - one of Townshend’s most beautiful, sad, yet uplifting compositions; still gives me chills after 50 years.
Richard Thompson, too many to list, but I’ll go with “Devon Side” from his “Hand of Kindness” disc.
Sitting on Top of the World by Howling' Wolf.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Al
Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands - Bob Dylan
ReplyDeleteWhen Doves Cry - Prince
Sad About Girls - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
On The Beach (the song) by Neil Young, from the ON THE BEACH album - A seven-minute white blues, its seemingly offhand lyrics evoke discontent, ennui, boredom and escape - it manages to sound dispirited, yet somehow soothing, at the same time.
ReplyDelete“This Masquerade” - Leon Russell
ReplyDelete“Mood Indigo” - Charlie Rich
“I Heard That Lonesome Whistle Blow” - Hank Williams
“Drown In My Own Tears” - Ray Charles
“There Must Be A Better World Somewhere” - B. B. King
“A World I Never Made” - Johnny Adams
“Carmelita” - Warren Zevon
“Little Girl Blue” - Nina Simone
“Endless Sleep” - Nick Lowe