Soul crushing songs

Dinah Washington - This Bitter Earth
Talk Talk - New Grass
Sol Seppy - Enter One
Burial - Paradise Circus remix

any suggestions?

John Lennon - Mother
Grouper - Living Room
Elliott Smith - King's Crossing
Smashing Pumpkins - For Martha

What do you mean by "soul crushing"?

That resonate and hit hard for you personally

Democratic National Convention - Fight Song

We're All Alone - Boz Scaggs
Man of the World - Fleetwood Mac
Condition of the Heart - Prince
Let's Go Out Tonight - Blue Nile

Chanel no 5 - mark eitzel

The soul crushingist songs I can think of(at the moment).

Jason Molina - Don't It Look Like Rain
Big Star - Holocaust
The Lilac Time - Back In The Car Park
Billie Holiday - My Man
Leonard Cohen - Dress Rehearsal Rag

Nina Simone - Strange Fruit

Absolutely "Holocaust" by Big Star...

also:

Paul Buchanan - Mid Air
Felt - Down an August Path
Gilbert O'Sullivan - Alone Again (Naturally)
American Music Club - Here They Roll Down

Rodgers/Hart -- I Didn't Know What Time It Was

Beach Boys - 'Til I Die'
Alan Parsons Project - 'Time'
Nina Simone - 'Why (The King of Love is Dead)'

Red House Painters - Katy Song
Nick Drake - Man in a Shed (Nick Drake rules this thread)
Joni Mitchell - The Last Time I Saw Richard
New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
Field Mice - Sensitive
The House of Love - Shine On

This is totally subjective, but, since I knew what the inevitable outcome would be, I was engaging only with light entertainment on election night rather than stressing myself out by constantly watching the returns. At one point, I idly checked the internet (and recognized that a whole other outcome now seemed inevitable) while watching Rita Coolidge perform 'We're All Alone' on The Muppet Show, and now that song sounds like the apocalypse to me. Like, just hearing it in my head right now makes me want to go to sleep and never wake up.

The Blue Nile - Family Life, Regret, Wish Me Well
Ron Sexsmith - Michael and His Dad
Jacob Marley's Ghost - The World's Kite, Prometheus
Mark Kozelek - 1936
Everything but the Girl - Two Star
Paul Westerberg - Good Day, Sunrise Always Listens
Matt Pond PA - It Is Safe
Josh Rouse - Michigan ("Bedroom Classics" version)
American Music Club - Western Sky
Paddy McAloon - I Trawl the Megahertz

nice lists, alex and alpaca

Stevie - Living for the City
Grandmaster Flash - The Message

Could have sworn there have been a few threads like this, but:

Kathleen Edwards, "Alicia Ross."

Ah if there is I'm sorry Josh, was a little drunk when I posted this. Good lists though!

Sandy Denny - No End (especially the home-recorded solo piano version)
Beth Orton - Pass in Time
Richard Youngs - It Will Soon Be Fire
Chris Bell - You and Your Sister
Judy Collins - Four Strong Winds
Nina Simone - Everything Must Change
The For Carnation - Moon Beams

i'll third "We're All Alone"

bpb "i see a darkness"

Songs: Ohia - Blue Chicago Moon

Oh god yes @ 'I See a Darkness'

I swear to god I didn't even see that the Skaggs version of 'We're All Alone' had been posted when I posted about Coolidge's.

Swans - God Damn the Sun
Swans - Failure
etc

Smog - River Guard

Fake Plastic Trees

Oh god yes @ 'I See a Darkness'
I swear to god I didn't even see that the Skaggs version of 'We're All Alone' had been posted when I posted about Coolidge's.
― Froyo On My Slacks (Old Lunch), Monday, December 19, 2016 1:02 PM (twenty-nine minutes ago)

"I See a Darkness" completely! ^^

seasons in the sun

Beach Boys - 'Til I Die'

― Froyo On My Slacks (Old Lunch)

i think "a day in the life of a tree" is even sadder/more crushing!

All good BB songs have an undercurrent of melancholy

*great

townes van zandt--marie

"Lungs" or "waiting around to die" - Townes

Hell, any song by TVZ

Flyin Shoes
Not Needed Now
Live is to Fly

They're all elegies

Even "columbine" is sad as fuck

"Didn't we" by Jimmy Webb

(I credit Webb cos it could be anybody's performance of the song really, Sinatra's, Harris's ,etc). like literally an elder gentleman almost sang that at karaoke the other night and I was happy as hell he aborted midway through. too much baggage tied to that one.

Sufjan Stevens - Casimir Pulaski Day
Gillian Welch - I'm Not Afraid to Die

also even tho you obv ain't supposed to root for the guy, always found poor Jud's "Lonely Room" from Oklahoma misery inducing

Folkal Point - Sweet Sir Galahad
Softies - Hello Rain
Poppy Family - Which Way You Goin' Billy?
Kathy & Carol - Just a Hand to Hold
Hope Sandoval - Down the Steps
Kristin Hersh - The Letter
Marianne Faithfull - Late Victorian Holocaust
Lhasa - I'm Going In
Stina Nordenstam - Soon After Christmas (live version)
Brian Wilson - Still I Dream of It
Nina Nastasia - Bird of Cuzco
Curth Boettcher - Another Time (demo)

and that one Sol Seppy song and all of those TVZ songs

so many fragile souls on ilx it can't be healthy

Violeta Parra - Gracias a la Vida
Radka Toneff - The Moon's a Harsh Mistress

chappaquiddick skyline - leave me alone
elliott smith - needle in the hay et al
red house painters - silly love songs

joy division - dead souls

paul simon--american tune

Eels - Medication is Wearing Off/Electro-Shock Blues

morphine - funeral for miles davis

Sandy Denny - No End (especially the home-recorded solo piano version)

songs that, while perhaps too enervated to actually crush a soul, are just perfect for listening to with a crushed soul:

- Crooked Fingers, "Sleep All Summer"
- Songs Ohia, "Being In Love"

Charlie Rich - Feel Like Going Home (especially the demo version with him on solo piano)

John Cale "I Keep a Close Watch" and basically every other track off Music for a New Society, to some degree

the wrens - 13 months in 6 minutes

Randy Newman - I Think It's Going To Rain Today.

I feel like I woke up with this in my head every day through November.

Death Cab for Cutie - Photobooth

They pretty much bank on doing soul crushing pop so almost every song by them applies. This Julien Baker cover is specially heartbreaking:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SIqyp3GLd0

Reposting from the Lhasa de Sela thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO0wh5Zc6fA&

Radiohead - No Surprises

Another handful of tracks from Moon Pix
― Froyo On My Slacks (Old Lunch)

otm about No Surprises, the first line of that song pops up in my head fairly frequently

Blank Page - The Smashing Pumpkins

the latest Sufjan is as bleak as advertised, yeesh. love it, though.

hmm, "Dark Globe" by Syd Barrett

"No Sense" ftw
― attention vampire (MatthewK), miércoles 21 de diciembre de 2016 3:08 (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^

Silver jews – trains across the sea
bark psychosis – a street scene
hank williams – alone and forsaken
bruce springsteen – racing in the street
geeshie wiley – last kind words
thin lizzy – honesty is no excuse

Johnny Cash - "Hurt"
Crack the Sky - "Long Nights"
The Kinks - "See My Friends"
Tim Hardin - "Don't Make Promises"
Blink-182 - "Adam's Song"
Phenomenal Handclap Band - "15 to 20"
Nick Drake - "Time Has Told Me"
Beulah - "A Man Like Me"
Stone Sour - "Bother"
Sam Cooke - "A Change is Gonna Come"
Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
Ben E. King - "I (Who Have Nothing)"

the wrens - 13 months in 6 minutes

― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Monday, December 19, 2016 9:56 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That song fucking crushes me

Cat Power - Color and the Kids
Smog - To Be of Use
Waxahatchee - Bathtub
Tom Waits - Time
Joni Mitchell - A Case of You
Rihanna - Higher

Yup, Colours and the Kids is the track for me off Moon Pix.

How could I forget Boulder to Birmingham? That utterly crushes me.

God, I forgot the emotional shotgun that is Nick Drake's "Place to Be". Also Radiohead's "Pyramid Song" but that's amplified by a personal experience for me.

a fair few songs have broken my heart but I don't think I'd say any have crushed my soul. it sounds unpleasant

xp re Cat Power - "Colors and the Kids" -- love this song, even learned to play it on piano, but I can't listen to it anymore bc it reminds me TOO much of (already mentioned upthread) Sandy Denny's solo piano demo of "No End"

I listened to a bunch of songs when I was still a bag of hormones with a newborn baby and they all turn me into a blubbering mess now.

Tori Amos's voice in particular, can't even listen to a cover of Take on Me without going wibbly

Alice In Chains - 'Nutshell'
Amy Winehouse - 'Wake Up Alone'
Beach Boys - 'All I Wanna Do'
Beck - 'Steal My Body Home'
Blur - 'Sing'
Buffalo Springfield - 'Expecting to Fly'
Cocteau Twins/Harold Budd - 'Why Do You Love Me'
Corinne Bailey Rae - 'I Would Like To Call It Beauty'
Cynthia Dall - 'Wastebasket Kid II'
Drag City Supersession - 'Nothing Rises to Meet Me'
Gil Scott-Heron - 'Pieces of a Man'
Joe Jackson - 'Breaking Us In Two'
Juliana Hatfield - 'The Lights'
Kermit the Frog - 'Bein' Green'
Laura Nyro - 'You Don't Love Me When I Cry'
Lisa Germano - 'Around the World'
Marit Larsen - 'Under the Surface'
Prince - 'Sometimes it Snows in April'
Rilo Kiley - 'A Better Son/Daughter'
Sade - 'It's Only Love That Gets You Through'
Simon & Garfunkel - 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'
Smog - 'Back In School'
Spinanes - 'Hawaiian Baby'
Syd Barrett - 'Last Night'

Can't have American Music Club suggestions without "Kathleen"

Soul Coughing - "Maybe I'll Come Down" always gets to me, especially knowing how close M. Doughty was to death at that point

and oh yeah. "The Silent Boatman" by Parliament. WROOOONK

More American Music Club: "Why Won't You Stay" and "Sick Of Food"

OHHHHH I almost posted 'The Silent Boatman', good call.

Three favorites I forgot -
Kate Bush - This Woman's Work (Sadly or not, will always associate this with its "She's Having a Baby" use)
Paul Kelly - How to Make Gravy
The Weakerthans - Plea from a Cat Named Virtute ("I know you're strong.")

I like "wibbly" as a description. If iPod listening to these at work, have to make sure it's not pre-meeting, to avoid watery eyes.

80% of all Hank Williams songs, even some of the happy ones

Rickie Lee Jones - On Saturday Afternoons in 1963. (The part that gets me is when the orchestra comes in - "Years go by...years go by...")
Melanie - Some Say (I Got Devil)
Marianne Faithfull - Who Will Take My Dreams Away
Thinking Plague - Fountain Of All Tears
Tindersticks - Walking

Take it to the limit

Lee Hazlewood - My Autumn's Done Come

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW6YQYlftCE

i know people here don't like the guy who sings this but:

i know i'm not supposed to say i'm sorry
i know you've had more loves than mata hari
but you're the star of my life story
and i'm so sorry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjZ7x4mkaxE

That's the way things go
All people's changes they grow
I hide in this room
Let's hope it's not wasted
Oh, it's such a shame

this one though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzWYUomBpwg

Surely don't stay long I'm missing you now.
It's like I told you I'm over you somehow
Before I close the door
I need to hear you say goodbye
Baby won't you change your mind?

this one isn't fair because it's one of the best songs ever

Terry Callier - Dancing Girl
For Against - Daylight
Joy Division - Twenty Four Hours
Christian Death - The Drowning
Ceremony - I Heard You Call My Name
Comsat Angels - On the Beach

If I'm reaching for the crushing Mazzy Star, I'm reaching for "Into Dust".

That reminds me ...

Jackson C. Frank - Milk and Honey

I messed up someone's day after recommending that one.

Started a playlist of this thread last night. Looked at it this morning and thought "Oh god, what have I done," as putting all these depressing songs together in one place is possibly not the best idea anyone has ever had. But still.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUh3oHWXrJrRKOH5MrGVHmbNqiU5gyJdT

yes, Pheel! i need this right now, these can be soothing when you're in distress...

Nillson / Don't Forget Me (or Marianne Faithful's version)

"Alien Observer" - Grouper

Look into the night sky
Looking towards the big lights
Looking towards the freeway
Morning subway passes by my window

I feel it in the darkness
I need to feel it sometimes
I need to fall asleep
Morning never is too far behind

Gonna take a spaceship
Fly back to the stars
Alien observer
In a world that isn't mine

The Associates - Party Fears Two

Kate Wolf singing Sandy Denny's 'Who Knows Where the Time Goes?':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgauX0bnN-0

my soul:

https://i.imgur.com/jb9Hmh9.gif

reminded me of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD1UY6KK-bc

But that cover does nothing to my soul compared to the original. Sandy Denny's voice is the ultimate soul crusher:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oBMDcLf6WA