A Wistful Repertoire

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My contribution to the recent spate of listmaking (my apologies if you were waiting for its end) is an admittedly personal selection of ten rather wistful songs. Not performances, not recordings, but songs, with that portable-repertory tearful-solo-performance quality that can make a good wistful song such an important thing. But what do you think?

1. "You're not the Only One that I Know," Gavurin / Wheeler (The Sundays)
2. "Chega de Saudade," Jobim (Joao Gilberto)
3. "Things Mean a Lot," Kozolek (Red House Painters)
4. "Tous les garcons et les filles," Hardy / Samyn (Francoise Hardy)
5. "Alison," Halsted (Slowdive)
6. "Love Song for the Dead Che," Byrd (United States of America)
7. "Makes Me Wanna Die," Tricky / Barrier / Griffin (Tricky)
8. "Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)," Score (A Flock of Seagulls)
9. "You Send Me," Cooke (Sam Cooke)
10. "Soon it will be Fire," Youngs (Richard Youngs)
Runner up: "Does this Hurt?" Boo Radleys (Boo Radleys)

― Nitsuh, Tuesday, 1 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Some of these I cannot separate from their "performance." I don't think "Alison" for example would be one tenth as good as it is if it were a solo acoustic ballad--you gotta have the RRRRUUUUSSSSHHHHHHHHH of swirly goodness in there. I'm always wary of people saying "these are just Good Songs, apart from performance or anything else"--as if there's SOMETHING THERE underneath the surface, so that when you strip away the "trivial" stuff, the Good Song survives. Not that I'm insisting that's what you're doing, Nitsuh; I probably just misunderstood your original post.

― Clarke B., Wednesday, 2 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

No, Clarke, I think you're reading my comments accurately: what I mean is that it's the core elements of the songs that Do It For Me -- the chord progressions, the harmonic figures, the melodies, the structures, the lyrics, the general rhythms and tempos, everything that would remain in, say, a piano-vocal reduction. "Alison" is stunning on the level of performance and production as well, but what makes it so valuable for me is the fact that, as with most of the shoegazer stuff I really go for, beneath that lies a fantastic "song." It all in the laconic phrasing, really, which is the most unique thing about Halsted's writing -- it makes the whole of "Alison" swooning and remarkably soulful, particularly during the descending bit of the verse ("I'll be there in the mor-ning"), which just begs for you to wrap some passion around it. I also go for the change into a major key for the chorus -- there's a sudden sense of certainty and conviction there that really gets me -- and, to my own surprise, I like the way the chorus progression wraps up so tidily at the end.

― Nitsuh, Wednesday, 2 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I understand what you're saying - personally I can't mentally divorce the Youngs, at least, from its context and performance.

― Tom, Wednesday, 2 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Nitsuh - the Dizzy Gillespie version of Chega de Saudade (one of my favourite things evah) is resolutely, willfully not wistful, I think (I'm going to listen to it through now just to check). This is partly because the final recapping of the theme is full-bloodedly joyful, which kind of retrospectively repaints any earlier hints of wobbly sadness. Would this somewhat undermine yr idea that the wist is somehow in the 'permanent' architectures of the music?

My definition of perfect wistfulness: the Kinks' Days.

― Ellie, Wednesday, 2 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Ellie: I'm not necessarily arguing that these songs can't be interpreted in a non-wistful manner -- and thanks, I'll be eagerly seeking out the Gillespie "Chega de Saudade" you mention. The thing that amazes me about that composition is the sheer complexity of the melody, which even in an a capella rendering carries with it loads upon loads of harmonic information. The "inherent" wistfulness I detect comes from the intervals between the notes of that melody, which slur together melancholically; there's also the fact that the ends of many phrases trail downward (first = "tristeza e melancoly") in a way that strikes me as alterately steely-eyed and resigned.

Tom: You're right about the Youngs, and I hesitated before including it. But: I sort of road-tested it myself, and even in a hacked-out rendition that sense of longing seems to carry through. Again, technical stuff: each vocal note is held so long over so much harmonic material moving underneath it, and then the intervals between the notes of the melody are so small ... there's almost a sense of flight (insofar as the instrumental "ground" rushes by while the melody hangs still, above it), which I think is fairly built-in. I'd like to hear it as a drone piece, though.

― Nitsuh, Wednesday, 2 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Well, I think that the first track named is sublime, and as wistful as they come. I don't know most of the others, and wouldn't want to know some of them. I think I know 'You Send Me', and don't think of it as very wistful.

Naturally I approve of naming the authors of songs.

― the pinefox, Wednesday, 2 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I feel like a broken record, no pun intended, but "Lush Life" has got to be one of the forerunners in any wistful/melancholic race. Talk about melodic/harmonic invention and gorgeous lyrics--Strayhorn really hit it with that one. And, cheesy as it is, "At Last" by Etta James. Also "Everytime I Try" by Spain and "Two Hearts" by The Jayhawks. And "Four Seasons In One Day" by Crowded House. And any number of Chopin Nocturnes. "Nature Boy" also comes to mind, though not the tricked out version by Fila Brazilia, yeeeesh.

― Mickey Black Eyes, Wednesday, 2 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Pinefox: Out of curiosity, which wouldn't you want to know? The Tricky? The Flock of Seagulls?

― Nitsuh, Wednesday, 2 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Nitsuh, now that I think about it, the chord changes in "Alison" really are fricking amazing and pretty strange; the way the chorus steadily falls, chordwise, hinting at some sort of comedown after the rush of guitars. Again, though, it's that comedown from the rush that I can't divorce the chord change from--it all goes together so well. Still, I see your point, and I'll be trying to think of songs like that for me.

― Clarke B., Wednesday, 2 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Tricky.

Some of the others are too obscure (to me) for me yet to know whether I would like to know them or not.

Boo Radleys: as I've said on an earlier thread, their callous treatment of their ex-school-friends biases me against them. (So does most of their music.)

I don't really know Flock of Seagulls, but there's an early 80s synth tune I've vaguely liked for ages without knowing who did it. And the other day (on NYDay 80s was it?) I saw FoS playing it. Still don't know what it's called, but it could be their biggest hit for all I know. I really like it, anyway.

― the pinefox, Thursday, 3 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

ten years pass...

Interesting discussion, too bad it fell flat so early because I really would have liked to see Nitsuh break things down so thoroughly as he always is good at doing. I have a piano rendition of "Wondering Boy Poet" by Guided By Voices (peel session) and it is so incredibly gorgeous and wistful. Very moving to me. Stripping down songs like this can easily explain their strength on a contractual level, and I love insight into what techniques create certain feelings with melody alone.

― Evan, Monday, 27 August 2012 03:46 (twelve years ago) link

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