songs that rather inexplicably make you sad

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bram tchaichovsky - girl of my dreams
jackson browne - somebody's baby

maybe someone can explain??

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 5 March 2005 15:46 (twenty years ago)

i know exactly what you mean, and I can't explain it either, but something about Big Star's first album - and i'm NOT talking about "Thirteen" - kinda chokes me up. It's the rock songs on that record - there's something so beautiful about them, and they make me so fucking sad!

Other songs make me sad for obvious reasons - because they are sad songs, because they remind me of a person / place or thing, or because of prior knowledge about the artist. But that doesn't count. I think waht you're asking is, why did the Church try to ban that 'evil' chord back in the day? The one that ispires sadness, drunkeness, sloth, depression (musicians help me out I don't remember which chord it is)...maybe there's something to that! Maybe too many Eminors = Iancurtiselliotsmithkurdtcobain

― O'erbite Dagwood, High Priest of Salt & Cheese (roger adultery), Saturday, 5 March 2005 15:53 (twenty years ago)

Air - "Sexy Boy"

Gives me this euphoria that climaxes into sublime sadness and frequently weeping when the keyboard solo comes in.

― Ferlin Husky (noodle vague), Saturday, 5 March 2005 15:59 (twenty years ago)

"Come back from San Francisco" - Magnetic Fields

― his face was burned off in a flaming crossbow accident (King Kobra), Saturday, 5 March 2005 18:46 (twenty years ago)

you mean like this?

Ambushed by unexpected emotion

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 5 March 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

I think there's yet another thread on this, where Alex in NYC said XTC's "Across This Antheap" did it to him every time.
For me, it's Brian Eno's "Big Ship." No lyrics needed.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Saturday, 5 March 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

elliott smith's "fond farewell to a friend" does it for me.

― the rock n roll nigga (the rock n roll nigga), Saturday, 5 March 2005 19:55 (twenty years ago)

but those are hardly inexplicable!! they're sad songs!

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 5 March 2005 20:29 (twenty years ago)

Springsteen's 'Secret Garden'...maybe it's a Jerry Maguire trigger, who knows. I dunno, I just get welled up when I hear it. I don't even KNOW anyone like that chick, and I don't really like the song that much. WTF?

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 5 March 2005 20:36 (twenty years ago)

where Alex in NYC said XTC's "Across This Antheap" did it to him every time.

Wow. Check out the memory on Jazzbo! Outstanding. Yes, "Across This Antheap" does indeed choke me up (especially the fade out wherein Andy Partridge just wails "on and on and on and on and on and on..." I fail to see why this should get me misty, but it so effortlessly does.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 5 March 2005 20:56 (twenty years ago)

Amateurist - have you seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High? 'Cause if I'm not mistaken, "Somebody's Baby" is played near/during the part where Jennifer Jason Leigh's character gets deflowered unceremoniously in some baseball dugout, and that's kind of sad - maybe you had made some subconscious links?

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Saturday, 5 March 2005 22:15 (twenty years ago)

"Moon River" sometimes does this to me.

― o. nate (onate), Saturday, 5 March 2005 22:29 (twenty years ago)

"Exit Music (For Films)"

Absolutely great moment though - the highlight on "OK Computer"

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 5 March 2005 22:42 (twenty years ago)

"Je T'Aime ... Moi Non Plus" ... probably because it's so cynical.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 5 March 2005 22:47 (twenty years ago)

"Song 2" by Blur also makes me sad, in a completely different way, thinking of what they might have been and how they wasted their talent....

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 5 March 2005 22:48 (twenty years ago)

geir IS richard roeper

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 5 March 2005 23:12 (twenty years ago)

Geir, isn't "Exit Music (For a film)" supposed to be a sad song? That make it within the realm of explanation. I think I read it was supposed to be for the end of that Romeo and Juliet version made in the late 90s.

― mike h. (mike h.), Saturday, 5 March 2005 23:13 (twenty years ago)

I wrote: maybe you had made some subconscious links?

To clarify (because I just realized that this could be interpreted in a not-so-good way): links between the *song* and the *movie scene*.

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Sunday, 6 March 2005 01:00 (twenty years ago)

The Pet Shop Boys version of "Go West"

― Robert Myers (Robert Myers), Sunday, 6 March 2005 02:01 (twenty years ago)

Inexplicably, the break in Daft Punk's "Digital Love" where there is a build to "Why don't you play the game" gets me everytime. I write it off as a happy crying because the song is perfection and I'm happy it exists.

― jmeister, Sunday, 6 March 2005 05:30 (twenty years ago)

Lucky Pierre - Crush, oh god why the fuck am I acrying again?

― Jena (JenaP), Sunday, 6 March 2005 06:24 (twenty years ago)

i should clarify too: it's not a bad sadness these songs evoke, it's a fairly nice, warm sort of sadness.

as for fast times at ridgemont high... i don't remember that scene having a lot of resonance with me (ahem), so i don't think it explains it. was she really "deflowered" in that scene? i thought it was just joyless sex, not necessarily first-time joyless sex. but it's been a while since i saw the movie.

actually i bet armed with a bit more music theory and if i chose to interrogate my emotions a little more, i could figure out why these songs effect me so. but i sort of like the ambiguous sadness they invoke.

as for "ambushed by unexpected emotion," these songs don't quite qualify because i've learned to expect feeling a bit sad when i hear them. in fact i sometimes pull them out and listen to them with the intention of invoking this feeling.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 6 March 2005 08:27 (twenty years ago)

in the examples that come to mind (aaliyah "more than a woman", camp-lo "this is it" - neither sad at all, but restrained in tempo), i suspect there is a very precise music theory thing going on, along the lines of some chords not resolving, but since i'm not a music dude, i can't say exactly what. wasn't there a thread once about diminished seventh chords being the key to musical melancholy??

― dave k, Sunday, 6 March 2005 08:47 (twenty years ago)

"Pretty Baby" by Blondie. The song is slightly wistful, true, but when Debbie sings "long live innocence" it always makes my stomach drop - which is a bit over the top considering I've been listening to it since 1978.

― Kent Burt (lingereffect), Sunday, 6 March 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)

Plenty of Madness songs.

― dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 6 March 2005 20:27 (twenty years ago)

i mention this on that incredible 'We Built This Starbucks on Heart And Soul' thread, but it fits here: my inexplicable pick is Starship's 'We Built This City'.

this song feels strangely epic; the descending bass line into the chorus, the bafflingly confused yet powerfully confident imagery. the glitz and the strange nostalgia, the synthesized arrogance and robotic dreck of it all, coupled with an almost revolutionary call-to-arms in the chorus. it's like the ultimate co-option. 'who cares, they're always changing corporation names', when starship was efectively a corporation at this point. this is the sound of selling out, and it's horrible. this is the big fucking cash-in. is the lyric ironic? i mean, this song is NOT rock and roll. 'looking for america, coming through your schools' i love the the soaring keyboards in the bridge, over the fake-radio-announcer(the first participatory pop single?)

this song was going through my head when we drove through the neighbourhood that i lived in between ages 1-7 or so, and saw that a field and modest strip mall had become these incredible fields of massive big-box stores, parking lots, spotlights, fast food. it was the weekend to celebrate the grand opening of BC's first krispy kreme location, and there were over 200 cars lined up, police guarding streets that had been converted into the snaking doughnut line.

i love this song for its strange inexplicable sadness. it's the forceful defiance in the face of overwhelming odds, i think. it even fails at that, though: this song might as well be the end of rock and roll, for all that it 'rocks'.

― derrick (derrick), Sunday, 6 March 2005 21:09 (twenty years ago)

I second PSB "Go West". And how about "Always on my mind"?

― daavid (daavid), Monday, 7 March 2005 01:19 (twenty years ago)

Damnit to Hell, Scritti Politti's "Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry for Loverboy)"...it is admittedly in a minor key, but it sounds like department store music (although I know better than to dismiss it as that...there's always a lot going on with Green and his deconstructionist approach) and that's why it's inexplicable as to why it makes me want to cry.

― Ian Riese-Moraine (Eastern Mantra), Monday, 7 March 2005 02:41 (twenty years ago)

across the universe does it for me. in the right mood i can't refrain from crying when i hear it. it's not a happy song but not really sad neither. it's a song which touches something deep inside. maybe there is some mystic indian sub-conscious stuff at work there. who knows.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Monday, 7 March 2005 16:15 (twenty years ago)

i second brian eno's big ship. and big star.

also:

owner of a lonely heart- yes
its beautiful and sad i swear
infectious too

― jane (jane), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 03:09 (twenty years ago)

Bran Van 3000 - "Drinking in LA"

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 03:13 (twenty years ago)

The Grave - Don McLean

― kate/baby loves headrub (papa november), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 03:22 (twenty years ago)

was she really "deflowered" in that scene? i thought it was just joyless sex, not necessarily first-time joyless sex. but it's been a while since i saw the movie.

It's been a while for me, too, but I thought it was not just first-time joyless sex, but also verging on date rape. Very sad scene, and the use of the song in a happy scene in "Not Another Teen Movie" really confused me.

Most of the songs that make me sad are obviously sad, in terms of lyrics -- e.g., Warren Zevon's "Keep Me In Your Heart" turns me into a teary-eyed mess. Um, R.E.M.'s "Camera" makes me sad sometimes.

― Lyra Jane (Lyra Jane), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 17:37 (twenty years ago)

I was just going to list REM songs that choke me up, weird.
"Shaking Through"
"Wendell Gee"
"The Sweetness Follows"
"Good Advices"
"Green Grow the Rushes"
"The Wrong Child"
"Just a Touch"
and "Fall on Me" of course

― toothy philanthropist, Wednesday, 9 March 2005 18:03 (twenty years ago)

By The Time I Get TO PHoenix by Glen Campbell is pretty sad. All those old classic Jimmy Webb-penned songs are. But they're so good, I could listen to them for hours and hours.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 18:08 (twenty years ago)

Another song that makes me sad is "All That Glitters" by Dan Seals. It makes me want some coke.

― toothy philanthropist, Wednesday, 9 March 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

"Come On Eileen" is the pitch of joyful melancholy for me, but most just think it's a pop song. Its sad that most haven't heard the whole album either...

― Adam Bruneau (oliver8bit), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

Thanks, toothy - you've reminded me of how damned good REM were just when I badly needed reminding. I used to dig out Wendell Gee and defy people not to be moved by it.

The Wrong Child is astounding and sad but surely deliberately so? (Again, I defy anyone not to be moved by that last "I'm not supposed to be like this, but it's OK")

Slightly less obvious, but it always did it for me, is Don't Go Back To Rockville ("I know its kind of strange, but I believe you'll be coming back before too long". Sniff. Sigh)

― Jeff Cook (Bro_Danielson), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 21:40 (twenty years ago)

Archie Bell & The Drells - "Tighten Up." Love this song and it's supposed to be a fun dance anthem but fore some reason makes me v. sad.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 21:42 (twenty years ago)

Toothy just listed virtually every R.E.M. song that messes me up too.

― Ferlin Husky (noodle vague), Thursday, 10 March 2005 00:43 (twenty years ago)

Bran Van 3000 - "Drinking in LA"

OTM!

― daavid (daavid), Thursday, 10 March 2005 05:06 (twenty years ago)

BTW I still wonder why "Drinking in LA" wasn't even nominated for the ILM '90s tracks poll. It would have made my top 10 for sure.

― daavid (daavid), Thursday, 10 March 2005 05:10 (twenty years ago)

Pet Shop Boys - Go West
Pet Shop Boys - A Red Letter Day
Kirsty MacColl - Soho Square
Madness - One Better Day
Alpinestars - Burning Up
Bent - Swollen
Dubstar - The Day I See You Again

OK, most of these aren't really inexplicable - pit a hopeful, rueful lyric against some swelling strings, and I'll be blubbing.

― davidsim (davidsim), Thursday, 10 March 2005 05:27 (twenty years ago)

I love that Bram Tchaikovsky song. It's the only thing by them that I've heard -- off of a Rhino compilation, I think. That's the sweet melancholy indulgent kind of sadness, though. Or maybe not that even, but the quiet kind (cf. Simon & Garfunkel).

― youn, Thursday, 10 March 2005 05:39 (twenty years ago)

Dammit, someone already mentioned "Digital Love." Different part for me, though- what always chokes me up for some reason is that synth horn bit about a minute and a half in. Reminds me of PBS logo sequences, or something that would fit on George Martin's Yellow Submarine soundtrack despite sounding nothing like it...

― Telephonething, Thursday, 10 March 2005 06:10 (twenty years ago)

the hits around the time of my first breakup make me sad: "Open Your Heart" "Mandolin Rain" a few others (I think "You Be Illin'" is one too)

― Aaron A., Thursday, 10 March 2005 06:14 (twenty years ago)

Kraftwerk's "Computer Love" and, weirder, Tangerine Dream's score to "Risky Business". Both are totally corny but also somehow evoke this really weird tension/isolation and sprawling, empty, rainswept metropolises. "Risky Business", outrageously, is my favorite film score by a mile. And I don't even (otherwise) like Tangerine Dream!

― Ryan Pitchfork, Thursday, 10 March 2005 07:21 (twenty years ago)

Archie Bell & The Drells - "Tighten Up." Love this song and it's supposed to be a fun dance anthem but fore some reason makes me v. sad.

-- Mark (r-...) (webmail), March 9th, 2005 9:42 PM. (MarkR) (link)

ok, this is truly, wonderfully inexplicable!

bram tchaikovsky is a "them"? and not a "him"? i did not know that.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 10 March 2005 07:30 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

All Her Favorite Fruit - Camper Van Beethoven.

Actually, all of Key Lime Pie soes it for me. Well, maybe not "Pictures of Matchstick Men".

― John Justen (johnjusten), Saturday, 26 March 2005 03:54 (twenty years ago)

Octopus' Garden, the Beatles

― shookout (shookout), Saturday, 26 March 2005 14:35 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

the damned- smash it up

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 3 July 2005 23:15 (twenty years ago)

i think i wrote about this in another thread but there are seriously times when "together in electric dreams" makes me want to BAWL.

― joseph (joseph), Sunday, 3 July 2005 23:31 (twenty years ago)

Limahl's Neverending Story *blub*

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 4 July 2005 01:05 (twenty years ago)

"Down In The Tube Station At Midnight" seems to always make my eyes well up.

― it's ALL too loud, Monday, 4 July 2005 01:44 (twenty years ago)

Can I take my post back? I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that particular piece of info being, you know, out there.

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 4 July 2005 02:00 (twenty years ago)

Don't worry. We won't tell anyone.

― it's ALL too loud, Monday, 4 July 2005 02:02 (twenty years ago)

Another vote for Pet Shop Boys "Go West."

― daria g (daria g), Monday, 4 July 2005 03:12 (twenty years ago)

Shit ...alright: when Green Day did "we are the champions" today, i was feeling incredible eastbay love, but resisted the tears.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Monday, 4 July 2005 03:26 (twenty years ago)

"Love Will Keep Us Together," Captain & Tenille. It happened to be on the radio when I was reading an extremely affecting story, including a sex scene between husband and wife (first sex scene I remember reading) followed by the revelation that their son was kidnapped while they were getting it on. The entire gamut of hormones and good & bad emotions, all tangled up with this song that can't really bear the emotional weight. Whoosh!

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Monday, 4 July 2005 03:31 (twenty years ago)

the records - starry eyes*

*but maybe this makes everyone sad?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 4 July 2005 03:33 (twenty years ago)

btw i think i may know why the damned song makes me sad, but i'd have to write a novel to explain it.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 4 July 2005 03:34 (twenty years ago)

Transmission - Joy Division

Yeah....

― Aja (aja), Monday, 4 July 2005 03:37 (twenty years ago)

in·ex·pli·ca·ble P Pronunciation Key (n-kspl-k-bl, nk-splk-bl)
adj.
Difficult or impossible to explain or account for.
in·expli·ca·bili·ty or in·expli·ca·ble·ness n.
in·expli·ca·bly adv.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 4 July 2005 03:51 (twenty years ago)

Are you saying YOU can explain why "Transmission" makes ME sad?? I don't know why.

Or are you saying that since you can explain why the damned song, even though you'd have to write a whole novel to do so, it shouldn't be on this thread?

― Aja (aja), Monday, 4 July 2005 03:56 (twenty years ago)

touché!

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 4 July 2005 04:14 (twenty years ago)

p.s. you are not 13.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 4 July 2005 04:14 (twenty years ago)

Exactly!!! Finaly, someone gets it.

I'm 14.

― Aja (aja), Monday, 4 July 2005 04:16 (twenty years ago)

most bob dylan

― nicholas de jong (nicholas de jong), Monday, 4 July 2005 04:41 (twenty years ago)

A girl I know finds the Geto Boys' "Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangsta" unspeakably melancholy. That must be about the music in the sample, right? Or are the lyrics more ambiguous than I realize?

― Horseshoe, Monday, 4 July 2005 06:24 (twenty years ago)

Nearly all of ABBA's output and especially 'Dancing Queen'

― Baaderonixx le Belge (Fabfunk), Monday, 4 July 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

six years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehWllPyK7A8

― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 00:35 (fourteen years ago)

i guess there's nothing inexplicable about it it's easy to explicate.

― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 00:35 (fourteen years ago)

Kinks - Days

― Colin Allstations (PaulTMA), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 01:03 (fourteen years ago)

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