Time for another 'Swish List' to create some....

[Swish]

...enthusiasm here, or so I hope. I'm going to list the 25 saddest songs ever recorded, lyrically of course, so hold your witty comments (this mean you Finchy, Slosh, Davey, etc.). I intend to list one per week, starting with # 25, and you can make whatever comments about it you feel are appropriate, or inappropriate as the case may be. I would also ask that everyone play along and not go trolling the web looking for my source for this list. In other words, don't be a d<a>ick please.

Perhaps this won't create as much interest as the '50 Most Influential Records' thing I did
from July 06 through July of this year (approximately), but I felt the need to do something to contribute since I've been sort of MIA for the last few months.

And the first entry is (drum roll please)...


The River - Bruce Springsteen (1980)

The Breakdown: Premature pregnancy, marriage and a weepy harmonica crush the dreams of a young couple.

The Waterworks: "We went down to the courthouse/And the judge put it all to rest/No wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle/No flowers, no wedding dress."

So, is that sad enough to make your top 25?

Swish

[Slosh]

That's my favorite Bruce song (or is it "Lost In The Flood" :confused: ). I'm sure this isn't on your list but I would throw Grandaddy's "The Warming Sun" on mine, along with Bonnie Prince Billy's "You Will Miss Me When I Burn".

NP:

[Swish]

That's my favorite Bruce song (or is it "Lost In The Flood" :confused: ). I'm sure this isn't on your list but I would throw Grandaddy's "The Warming Sun" on mine, along with Bonnie Prince Billy's "You Will Miss Me When I Burn".

NP:

Have you been sneaking around on the web, looking for my source? Why I oughta...

I know what you mean, but I was a bit surprised by some of their choices, which are hardly 'top 10' hits or whatever. Not that many are obscure, but you won't be seeing 'Seasons in the Sun' or 'The Night Chicago Died'.

Swish

[bobsticks]

Not that many are obscure, but you won't be seeing 'Seasons in the Sun' or 'The Night Chicago Died'.

Swish


If that's the case, I already like your list better tan the Rolling Stone Top 20 Music Video bore-a-thon posted in Fave Films.

[RoyY51]

"Just sweet sixteen, and now you're gone
They've taken you away
I'll never kiss your lips again
They buried you today."

If this one isn't on the list, something's wrong!

[Slosh]

Add Lucinda Williams' "Pineola" to my list as well. I can probably think of several hundred of these without much effort. Hmmm, I smell a comp abrewin' :)

[Rae]

I mentioned a few of mine here: http://forums.audioreview.com/showthread.php?t=22566

A recent one to add should be Lupe Fiasco's "Hurt Me Soul". Great track.

~Rae

[ForeverAutumn]

Hey, hey, hey! You guys are missing the point here. You're supposed to wait for Swish's list, not make your own.

I, for one, don't find The River sad. Now if they had been madly in love and he gave up a big football scholership to work in the factory and take care of Mary and their baby and then he lost his job and then Mary got sick and she died because he didn't have a job or insurance and so they couldn't afford the medical treatment that she needed to stay alive and all this happened while the child was still a baby and the baby had to grow up never knowing its mother...that would be sad.

[Slosh]

Hey, hey, hey! You guys are missing the point here. You're supposed to wait for Swish's list, not make your own.

No we're not, our lists will just be better. Besides, how often do these posts stay on topic? :)

[ForeverAutumn]

No we're not, our lists will just be better. Besides, how often do these posts stay on topic? :)

I was just busying your balls. ;)

That your lists would be better goes without saying.

[Swish]

"Just sweet sixteen, and now you're gone
They've taken you away
I'll never kiss your lips again
They buried you today."

If this one isn't on the list, something's wrong!

But not a bad choice at all.

Swish Baby

[Finch Platte]

So, this is going to go on for half a year??

:yikes:

[audiobill]

Absolutely, top 25 sad song material.

My wife always comments about how "down" that song is; while I, of course, find it's one of my all-time Bruce faves. Melancholy is good -- especially, if you can relate to small parts of it and realize how good you really have it. I can never whine when I hear "the river".

Great thread, Swishmeister!!! I look forward to the doom and gloom you are about to bring to this board.

audiobill

[Swish]

So, this is going to go on for half a year??

:yikes:

Maybe I'll post one every other week, or maybe I'll just lengthen the list to 52 just to p<a>iss you off (the one phrase where it's justifiable to end the sentence with a preposition). The possibilities are endless.

Swish

[Mr MidFi]

Songs that were born of personal tragedy always strike a chord with me, because the emotions are so real (or at least, as real as they can be on the 14th take in the studio). Sinead O'Connor's "This is the Last Day of Our Acquaintance" works because you get to share the actual sorrow (and frustration and disappointment and rage) of an actual divorce.

Similarly, Natalie Merchant's "River" sounds like real grief...probably because it is (it was written and recorded just after the death of her good friend, River Phoenix). U2's "Bad" is more than just another anti-drug cautionary tale because it has its origins in a real tragedy, and it sounds like it. Someone dying too young is an affront to all that is good and all that seems right, and the immediacy of such a tragedy can sound a lot like indignation.

I have no idea what the origins of Porky Tree's "Collapse the Light Into Earth" may be, but man, that is one sad melody. It reminds me of the way my sister once described a bout with depression...that it feels like her sorrow is a giant black hole, destroying everything around it with its crushing weight and swallowing all the light.

Those are my sad thoughts for now. Enjoy!