5 Songs of Beautiful Melancholy
July 30, 2008Coming up with the saddest songs of all time is an impossible task imo, as the strangest and most varied songs will make people cry (nevertheless, Saddest Songs gives it a good try anyway).
So I’ll leave the “saddest songs” list to the experts – this post is about the songs that elicit an ache or feeling of loss rather than outright emotional pain; songs that evoke an atmosphere of pathos and catharsis but whose melodies, entwined with the minor chords, create a heartfelt beauty.
Enya – Boadicea
Made famous as the background sample for the Fugees “Ready Or Not” and less famously as the theme song for Stephen King’s (forgettable) Sleepwalkers movie, this Enya classic is simple but haunting and memorable (if only I could get that “ready or not, here we come, you can’t hide…” refrain out of my head >_<).
Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah
I love Jeff’s version of this Leonard Cohen original – his fragile vocal sets the perfect mood. The song’s been covered a million times by every man and his neighbour’s dog and Shrek, sadly, ruined it for me but Jeff’s version redeems it every time xD. I love the beautiful tone of his guitar… why can’t I get that sort of sound out of my $40 acoustic?
Samuel Barber – Adagio for Strings
Many of the electronic remixes of this song are laughably awful but they prove that you can be completely devoid of emotional intelligence, culture or artistic comprehension and still appreciate something beautiful <– inviting flames xD.
The London Symphony Orchestra’s version of this piece was the highest selling classical piece on iTunes for a while. The saddest thing about beautiful pieces of art like this is that they end up being used to sell shampoo and bombard us from every movie and cheesy TV parody moment to the point where we forget how amazing they are…
Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush – Don’t Give Up
Peter Gabriel’s verses are the melancholy element of this song – Kate’s choruses are hope-drenched anthems. I love Gabriel’s faintly hoarse vocal and the winding melody; the 3/4 metre (nicely accented by the bass riff) – whilst not in any way rare or greatly unusual – provides, at least, a marginally uncommon point of interest in the world of 4/4 pop/rock.
In this live version Paula Cole sings with Gabriel.
Walking In The Air (from the Snowman)
My favourite of the list and a beautiful, timeless classic – so beautiful that it even warrants cheesy cliches like “beautiful, timeless classic”. It’s impossible not to feel the soaring melody spear your heart; the initial piano riff hints at an oppressive minor tone but each chord change is more beautiful than the last…
Honourable Mention
Kermit sings Needle in the Hay
Somebody is going to Muppet hell for what they’ve done to Kermit here…
Shameful behaviour. I should confiscate their Kermit puppet.
And also… yay for the snowman!
Kermit’s a puppet?! O^O <— childhood dreams shattered
re Jeff Buckley and his guitar tone and the fact that you can’t get it out of your $40 acoustic. Perhaps if you actually had a $40 acoustic instead of your solid top more expensive one you might approach this less the holey (sic) grail
gasp! My barefaced, shameful lies have been outed!
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