Absolutely heartbreaking songs
It's 12.30am, I've had some whisky, let's do this.
Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB7E1D_3Na4
Hit me.
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Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust
Bob Dylan breaks hearts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGMHSbcd_qI
1) "Electro-Shock Blues" - Eels
2) "Nieces Pieces" - Xiu Xiu. There is a sense of hopelessness in this which is incredibly sad.
"I can't wait to watch you get older
I can't wait to meet that first boy that breaks your life
I can't wait till you realize the family you've been born into
I can't wait to watch you turn from good to bad
I can't wait to tell your grandpa made your mommy
play stripper while your uncle watched
I can't wait to tell you I punched your mommy in the chest
In front of her new friends
I can't wait till you realize mommy's heart is broken
I can't wait to watch you grow up around the people who broke it"
Cat Power - Colors and the Kids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOTw26B8U2g
yellow hair, you are a funny bear
yellow hair, such a funny bear
Christ this song :'(
'Cause the music...
Is boring me to death...
Surely 'Names' is the heartbreaking Cat Power song?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9IhiX0Dqsg
the Mountain Goats - Matthew 25:21
Especially this version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFpQQM1pfUc
And then came to your bedside
And as it turns out, I'm not ready
And as though
You were speaking through a thick haze
You said hello to me
We all stood there around you
Happy to hear you speak
The last of something bright burning, still burning
Beyond the cancer and the chemotherapy
And you were a presence full of light upon this earth
And I am a witness to your life and to it's worth
It's three days later when I get the call
And there's nobody around to break my fall
There are so many Mountain Goats songs that fit this bill.
This song is for the people who tell their families that they're sorry / for things they can't and won't feel sorry for.
Hate songs that are all WAH I'M SO SAD
well i don't but they're not heartbreaking.
Songs that are empathic are good though. So yeah i reckon maple leaves by jens lekman probably beats any bullshit by perfume genius that someone will post at some point. And everything else too.
Love songs that are all WAH I'M SO SAD
So, y'know.
This covered a lot of that. Rich seam of heartbreakers, including some mentioned here http://drownedinsound.com/community/boards/music/4306543
hmm?
maple leaves isn't a love song
oh wait
carry on
brad paisely
whiskey lullaby. sentimental, overwrought, romantic bullshit, but gets me everytime.
also Plan B - Cast A Light
Proof - Kurt Kobain
Brand New - Coca Cola
The Proof song is immense. Cheers.
Low - Point of Disgust
screw the nether
yogscast parody of "moves like jagger"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqELqRCnW6g
Wilco - Cars Can't Escape
When red is bled
And petals blue
And in my sleepless head
Our love's been dead a week or two
Sometimes, good times
Are stuck inside of you
And then they're gone
But I don't know why
A lot of things have changed
Since we said goodbye
There were reasons for you to love me
But I gave you none
So I tap my glass and nod my chin
And wonder who you've been in rhythm with
So time's just time
Cars can't escape
When clouds are gray and close
Not often, too far away
And blue has no value, power, or hue
Or open skies, relationless
Carelessness is what I miss
And that's how I think of you
Sometimes, good times
Were all we had to do
So I tap my glass and nod my chin
And wonder who you've been in rhythm with
So I tap my glass and nod my chin
And wonder who you've been in rhythm with
Their recent song One Sunday Morning
is a prime candidate for this thread too
fucking hell, Tweedy
hands down one of the finest lyricists ever. that is fucking poetry.
Absolutely heartbreaking eh?
It's Okay by Land of Talk
Literally bawl-your-eyes-out-sad
http://youtu.be/m53--yTPQNk
Video also amazing.
YOU
Spot fucking on.
So much this.
Oh my GOD
This song kills me. I prefer this live version though, where the pain in he r voice is so palpable
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=relmfu&v=OmRnqsvyuJ8
Joni Mitchell
The Last Time I Saw Richard
Richmond Fontaine
A lot, but mostly The Janitor http://richmondfontaine.bandcamp.com/track/the-janitor
Also, this tears me apart when everything finally spills over http://shoesandsocksoff.bandcamp.com/track/protect-your-pc-piglet
It's maybe not "heartbreaking" per se
but from the same Richmond Fontaine album The Fitzgerald I love "Making It Back".
hmm
Snow Patrol Never gonna fall in love again
Snow Patrol?
FFS
it
breaks my heart every time!
To be fair, that's a great song from one of their earlier albums.
Never really found it heartbreaking though. It's too fun and jaunty musically for that.
Kate Bush wins all the awards
Have a wallow in these. Don't watch the actual videos though - too distracting.
Kate Bush & Peter Gabriel - Another Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvt5YnocRp8
Kate Bush - Moments Of Pleasure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5P0v0kGauc
Moments Of Pleasure
is unbearable yeah. easily the best, truest song about loss i've ever heard. nothing else even comes close.
Battle of Land and Sea - Lady
http://youtu.be/XunZgm3vLHY
Chelsea Wolfe - Gold
http://youtu.be/uTTIkQ7dyz0
Blowers Daughter - Damien Rice
COME ON
...
http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/31056298.jpg
IT'S OKAY NOBLET
I'm on your side. Damien Rice is devastating sometimes. 9 Crimes kills me everytime, too.
karen dalton - katie cruel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raLXnnlPI_I
this song has cut me in half this past week.
here i am where i must be, where i would be i cannot.
:(( all the way home.
Mad World by Gary Jules (cover)
DRY YOUR EYES MATE
Yeah?
It's Rough by Smog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YE0L9EQAHk
Stolen Dog
http://vimeo.com/25059735
Heart breaking for anyone that has either stolen a dog or had their dog stolen.
sufjan stevens - casimir pulaski day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXxYvlVWbG8
Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - The Copper Top
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifY4v3maKZY
Actually been in the Copper Top where the song is set a few times.
Yeah can't listen to this without welling up.
It's got some connotations for me that I struggle with.
Low - In Metal
Partly hate to see you grow
And just like your baby shoes
Wish i could keep your little body
In metal
even still_here couldn't disagree, I reckon.
maybe the best Low song?
the depth of pathos to this song is endless, as deep as a human's compassion for their young.
I love this song, but it's not heartbreaking
It's more of a song of affection from mimi (and alan?) to their child. Really beautiful song.
Shots and Ladders (off Trust) gets me though:
they want to keep you for more tests
stick a needle in your chest
and send you home to your own bed
and kiss your beautiful forehead
see how you feel in the morning
here's the thing, c_c_b
she finds the thought of her baby growing old so devastating she wishes she could preserve her (him? I forget which kid this is about) Han Solo-style.
that it's so joyful at the same time, that's the heartbreaker right there.
yeah true. great song, regardless.
obligatory Elliott Smith subthread
I Didn't Understand gets me every time. I love the a cappella version, but this is pretty lovely / heartbreaking too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_MmpjfDt70
let's get lost.
Well I don't know where I'll go now
And I don't really care who follows me there
But I'll burn every bridge that I cross
And find some beautiful place to get lost
And find some beautiful place to get lost
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru67U0eyOGw
from the same album
broken heart
this casiotone song near killed me on the first listen
http://youtu.be/hSLG1SM1KuA
CFTPA subthread
White Jetta http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLNujNUCYds
Mom's been sick now for a long time
She says she hopes I'll want a family after she's died
She says the less you feel like a child
the more you'll want a child
Fiona Apple - Love Ridden
Gets me every time... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsO0Lds94yU
No not 'baby' anymore, if I need you I'll just use your simple name. Only kisses? on the cheek from now on, and in a little while we'll only have to wave.
Ctrl F
No John Wayne Gacy
No Waiting Around To Die
No Poison Oak
You kids today. Yer positively chirpy.
yes. so much this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2HUk-MXpBY
I always say Sound and Vision by Bowie.
Not because it's a sad song per se - obviously it isn't; it's pretty upbeat.
But it's about kicking heroin and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. And a few years later he released Ashes to Ashes - which is also about kicking heroin (in a round about way), so he must have tried kicking heroin a few times before he succeeded.
Elbow - Great Expectations
Yeah I know elbow aren't cool
This isn't heartbreaking, it's really gorgeous and redemptive
My Very Best is heartbreaking
Johnny Cash - If You Could Read My Mind
That trembling, cracked voice makes me well up every time.
Andrew WK - Party Hard
Conor Oberst - Breezy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTzq3F5NvjM
Move your slender fingers
Help me play this song
Spend another night inside this rented mansion
I love you now
I know that doesn't matter
I love you now
I know that doesn't matter
Kissing me full of beer, tequila, weed, and candy
Walking down the boardwalk
Act like we were married
You always made it easy
Then I'd want you more
You always kept it easy
Then I'd want you more
Too smart for your own good
Too sweet, too logical
Statistics round your head
Tried to teach me about baseball
My favorite was the part when they make it home
I like it when they steal, and when they make it home
You left us with a sorrow too unreal to help
Heard the birds sound broadcast speakers at the Phoenix hotel
All your friends are standing, crying, on the sidewalk
All your boyfriends, they were standing crying on the sidewalk
Breezy, I feel dizzy
Can you help me up?
It's crowded at the back door
How we getting to the bus?
I'd like to help you find it if there's something better
Yeah, I'll try and help you find it if there's something better
Move your slender fingers
Help me play this song
Spend another night inside this practice mansion
I love you now
I know that's all that matters
I love you now
And I know that's all that matters
If we're doing Connor Oberst songs surely it's gotta be
Lua. God he's such a sad bastard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBhBFjBF4S4
I haven't listened to it in a while
But 'Runway' by Innocence Mission is amazing.
Here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYNLxCpUAJM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Oldie but a goodie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHuG0b0hJec
Two Weeks Since You've Gone / Scott Walker
Two weeks since you've gone
And I feel like the tramp
Picking dustbins in the alley.
He looks up as I pass
Clutching rags from a city's restless night
I could read all my sadness
In faces I knew
Down at Kelly's bar last Friday
And I haven't been back since I mistook
Somebody for a friend
Harry Nilsson - Without Her
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBuB0FMz_aY
Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere - Nick Cave
The lyrics are heartbreaking on their own, but with Warren Ellis' violin - simply stunning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X0xzjd7jV0
By the Time I Get To Phoenix by Isaac Hayes is the only correct answer
Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan
is pretty much the only song that's ever made me actually cry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxMYqsvgX8c
Goldenrod and the 4H stone
The things I brought you when I found out
You had cancer of the bone
Your father cried on the telephone
And he drove his car into the navy yard
Just to prove that he was sorry
In the morning, through the window shade
When the light pressed up against your shoulderblade
I could see what you were reading
All the glory that the Lord has made
And the complications you could do without
When I kissed you on the mouth
Tuesday night at the bible study
We lift our hands and pray over your body
But nothing ever happens
I remember at Michael's house
In the living room when you kissed my neck
And I almost touched your blouse
In the morning at the top of the stairs
When your father found out what we did that night
And you told me you were scared
All the glory when you ran outside
With your shirt tucked in and your shoes untied
And you told me not to follow you
Sunday night when I cleaned the house
I found the card where you wrote it out
With the pictures of you mother
On the floor at the great divide
With my shirt tucked in and my shoes untied
I am crying in the bathroom
In the morning when you finally go
And the nurse runs in with her head hung low
And the cardinal hits the window
In the morning in the winter shade
On the first of March, on the holiday
I thought I saw you breathing
All the glory that the Lord has made
And the complications when I see His face
In the morning in the window
All the glory when He took our place
But He took my shoulders and He shook my face
And He takes and He takes and He takes
this is heartbreaking
The 'and he takes and he takes and he takes' line is so sad.
Joanna Newsom
Baby Birch
Cosmia
Does Not Suffice
All of these are pretty crushing.
It does not suffice to merely lie beside each other
As those who love each other do.
On a Good Day Too
and this old version of Only Skin, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5nIuS8-xC0
think 'Dreams' by Fleetwood Mac is a pretty hearbreaking song
Stevie Nicks just sounds so genuinely sad.......
only just remembered this. so f'in good
http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_2030851
Keaton Henson - You Don't Know How Lucky You Are
wheat - don't i hold you
Frightened Rabbit - Poke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVuur7aTX8w
Nobody said Portishead - Roads?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQYsGWh_vpE
The Modern Lovers - Hospital
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91U4_UfhSSw
I go to bakeries all day long...there's a lack of sweetness in my life
Mazzy Star - 'Fade into You'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XucegAHZojc
Tumble in the Wind by Jackson C Frank
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP8tmFpTz1k
So sad and tragic.
Bill Callahan
The Breeze / My Baby Cries
Stabbing Westward - Waking Up Beside You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70l6Zhsy23Q
I've been so alone for so long
Forgotten by the world
Forgotten to myself
Your effervescent eyes have awakened me
And brushed the dust away
But I knew you'd never stay
So I memorized the color of your eyes as I lost myself inside you
And I memorized the way our legs entwined as I drifted off beside you
I miss
God I miss
Waking up beside you
At night I cling to you, I'm so afraid
Afraid the day will come
And I'll wake and find you gone
But you promised that you'd not abandon me
And kissed my fears away
But I woke up to that day
But I had memorized the way our eyes
would meet reflected in the bathroom mirror
And I memorized your naked silhouette as you slowly brushed your hair
I miss
God I miss
Waking up beside you
I've been so alone for so long
I forgot how much it hurts
To wake up so alone
But I memorized how warm your body felt
as you lay half asleep beside me
And I memorized the way the sunlight
filled the room and played upon your body
I miss
God I miss
Waking up beside you
I miss
God I miss
Waking up beside you
Randy Newman - I Miss You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB3iGBGX_3w
a lot of his songs are heartbreaking
Randy Newman - Old Man
He wrote this song for his father
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BPdtRjBPxA
Everyone has gone away
Can you hear me? Can you hear me?
No one cared enough to stay
Can you hear me? Can you hear me?
You must remember the old man
I know that you can if you try
So just open up your eyes, old man
Look who's come to say goodbye
The sun has left the sky, old man
The birds have flown away
And no one came to cry, old man
Goodbye, old man, goodbye
You want to stay, I know you do
But it ain't no use to try
'Cause I'll be here-and I'm just like you
Goodbye, old man, goodbye
Won't be no God to comfort you
You taught me not to believe that lie
You don't need anybody
Nobody needs you
Don't cry, old man, don't cry
Everybody dies
Cat Power - Good Woman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lJiwKskTlE
Arab Strap- 'Piglet'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyjNSOsaz0U
Ctrl+F Sparklehorse
NOTHING
NOT ONE OF YOU HAS MENTIONED SPARKLEHORSE. NOT A SINGLE ONE. HAVE YOU ALL LOST YOUR MINDS?
I'm also surprised at the complete lack of The Antlers
This song shakes me, even today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQwkbRVqqxU
The Wrens- '13 Months In 6 Minutes'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POK_PEgGVLI
you absolute novices
this hasn't been posted yet? pfft.
Vic Chesnutt - Flirted with you all my life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4Z-kjr4BLs
This is actually completely gutting (Serengeti - Uncle Traum)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oapUXvVoYXQ
Neutral Milk Hotel - Three Peaches
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFFlyNzvAeY