Sad Songs to Lift Your Spirits: Led Zeppelin, Portishead, etc.

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Discussion Overview

The thread explores various songs and artists that participants listen to when feeling sad, covering a range of genres and personal preferences. The discussion includes suggestions for music that evokes different emotional responses, as well as reflections on the context of sadness, particularly during the holiday season.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest specific songs like "The Rain Song" by Led Zeppelin and "Roads" by Portishead as favorites for sad moments.
  • Others mention artists such as Pat Benatar and Bad Religion, indicating that their music resonates with feelings of gloom.
  • A few participants share a broader range of songs, including tracks by Luther Vandross, Radiohead, and Nick Drake, emphasizing the diversity of music that can reflect or alleviate sadness.
  • One participant notes the importance of context in selecting music, mentioning that different songs suit different shades of sadness.
  • There are discussions about the emotional impact of certain albums, such as Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" and Cassandra Wilson's "New Moon Daughter," with some participants expressing a deep connection to the lyrics and melodies.
  • Several participants express a desire for companionship during the holidays, sharing plans for virtual gatherings and expressing concern for those feeling lonely.
  • Some participants suggest alternative genres, like brass band music and folk/blues from artists like Ali Farka Toure', as uplifting options.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally share a variety of personal preferences without reaching a consensus on specific songs or artists. Multiple competing views on what music is most effective for sadness remain evident throughout the discussion.

Contextual Notes

Participants express varying degrees of sadness influenced by personal circumstances, particularly related to the holiday season. The emotional context of the songs discussed is subjective and dependent on individual experiences.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in music recommendations for emotional support or those seeking to connect with others over shared experiences of sadness may find this discussion valuable.

Math Is Hard
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What songs do you listen to when you're sad?
The ones I prefer are:

The Rain Song, by Led Zeppelin
Roads, by Portishead
Dexter's Tune, by Randy Newman (from the "Awakenings" soundtrack)
Symphony #2, Third Movement, by Rachmaninoff
Good Morning Heartache, by Billie Holiday
I'm Through with Love (Marilyn Monroe sings this on the "Some Like it Hot" soundtrack)
 
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Pat Benatar seems to have a song for every gloomy mood.
 
Depends on what's making me depressed but usually I resort to my Bad Religion collection;
Boot stamping on a human face, sorrow, epiphany, Infected and 'I want to conquer the world' are all good.
but my favourite is Boot stamping on a human face, it's very moving.
 
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Depending on the texture and context (never thought I'd write a sentence with two unrelated words, both containing the letters 'text'...but there's a lot of other stuff I've never thought of, either) of the blues :

Dream Lover - Luther Vandross
Everything about You - Ugly Kid Joe
Wasted Times - Eagles
Creep - Radiohead
Yesterday - The Beatles
First Cut is the Deepest - Rod Stewart
Romeo and Juliet - Dire Straits
Parisienne Walkways - Gary Moore
Old Love - Eric Clapton
Europa - Santana

I guess I could go on...but I'll pause here.
 
As with Gokul, these depend on the shade of blue...

Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich
The Fields, The Sky by the Pat Metheny Group
Boaimmas by Wimme
Things Go On With Mistakes by The Black Heart Procession w/ Solbakken
Girl from the Estuary by Adrian Crowley
Buzzin' Fly by Tim Buckley
Hello Earth by Kate Bush
Lena Is A White Table by jane siberry
A Night In by Tindersticks
The Stolen Child by The Waterboys
Thela Hun Ginjeet by King Crimson
Music for a Summer Evening (Makrocosmos III) by George Crumb
...
...
 
Frank Sinatra, but when I'm sad, which is rare, Send in the Clowns seems to be the right song for me.
 
Jazz has always positive influence on me.
 
Anything by Nick Drake or Spiritualized. Beck's Sea Change is pretty good, too.
 
Thanks for sharing those with me. I am going to shop for some CDs today. It's been a while since I have bought anything, so I was looking for some suggestions. I am in this mood to wallow in self-pity and gloom this week. It's the holidays, you know.
 
  • #10
Nick Drake's Pink Moon album is the best for non-topical sadness. It can be applied to any situation in which the blues ensue. What exactly are you sad about?
 
  • #11
Math Is Hard said:
Thanks for sharing those with me. I am going to shop for some CDs today. It's been a while since I have bought anything, so I was looking for some suggestions. I am in this mood to wallow in self-pity and gloom this week. It's the holidays, you know.

So sad to hear you're sad. :frown: Holidays aren't for self-pity...you're not going to be spending it alone, are you? I'm having Thanksgiving dinner for all the folks living too far from family to spend the holiday with them (or those who want any excuse to avoid visiting their family). All the folks from abroad will still be on PF tomorrow, so you won't be alone at all!
 
  • #12
Radiohead.
 
  • #13
Math Is Hard said:
Thanks for sharing those with me. I am going to shop for some CDs today. It's been a while since I have bought anything, so I was looking for some suggestions. I am in this mood to wallow in self-pity and gloom this week. It's the holidays, you know.
MIH, Tsu and I are going to be alone for Thanksgiving so we are planning a virtual Turkey Fest. (unless tsu ends up NOT alone and abandons me and I'm even virtually alone :cry: )

You can join us! :biggrin:
 
  • #14
For an entire album of bluesy, soulful, deep-throated songs, with just about every one of them good, try Cassandra Wilson's "New Moon Daughter." Besides her original contributions, she does some great redo's like Hank Williams "I"m so Lonesome I could Die," Neil Young's "Harvest Moon, and U2's "Love is Blindness." One of her songs, "Until" I cannot risk playing when I've got things to do because I listen to it too many times. So haunting, with a gentle bongo in the background and what sounds like an electric accordian (or maybe a concertina) accompany a soft guitar. Some of her verse goes:

How can I change your mind
unravel the mystery that confines . . . us
Silence is hiding . . . the pain,
deep in your soul, you must know
Got to take a chance and let our spirits flow
love is an illusive thing
into every heart it sings

Whatever it takes to make it right
no matter how hard, I will fight for you
I swear that's it's true
I want the sweetness in life with you
until this life is through.
 
  • #15
Thanks, you guys. Yeah, I wish I could go home to Texas tomorrow, but I won't be able to go until Christmas. I miss my folks. I might have dinner with my friend and her family tomorrow - but I am sure I'll be checking in at PF for the virtual feast. Cool!
I am much less sad today. Yesterday morning started off bad. I got called "ma'am" four times at Starbucks by the guy behind the counter. (I actually told him if he said it one more time I would reach across the counter and choke him. :devil: ) Then I had a test from hell last night so I came home feeling sure I'd blown it. That compounded my rotten mood and I started going through the CDs. (I got my test score this morning, though, and the test actually went just fine. *sigh of relief*)

Les, I have never heard of Cassandra Wilson. Has she always been a solo artist?
 
  • #16
Moonbear said:
So sad to hear you're sad. :frown: Holidays aren't for self-pity...you're not going to be spending it alone, are you? I'm having Thanksgiving dinner for all the folks living too far from family to spend the holiday with them (or those who want any excuse to avoid visiting their family). All the folks from abroad will still be on PF tomorrow, so you won't be alone at all!

Moonbear, that's sweet of you to throw a dinner for the "orphans". Is it a pot luck?
 
  • #17
Math Is Hard said:
Les, I have never heard of Cassandra Wilson. Has she always been a solo artist?

She is considered not just good, but a great artist by many other jazz musicians, and that is one of the best complements for a singer. She records on Capital's "Blue Note" label, which is reserved for the best artists. Her style reminds me of a sort of black Peggy Lee. Here's a website for you to check out: http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/4587/cassandra.html

I think Amazon also has clips you can listen to. If you call me right now, you can listen to her over the phone because I was foolish enough to turn her on to write down the words of that verse. Trapped!
 
  • #18
Les Sleeth said:
She is considered not just good, but a great artist by many other jazz musicians, and that is one of the best complements for a singer. She records on Capital's "Blue Note" label, which is reserved for the best artists. Her style reminds me of a sort of black Peggy Lee. Here's a website for you to check out: http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/4587/cassandra.html

I think Amazon also has clips you can listen to. If you call me right now, you can listen to her over the phone because I was foolish enough to turn her on to write down the words of that verse. Trapped!

I am listening to some samples of her right now - she does have a beautiful voice. She reminds me a little bit of Sade, and also Anita Baker.
 
  • #19
For a very different kind of blues try Ali Farka Toure'. He's a folk/blues singer from Mali...and Ai Du from Radio Mali has some neat riffs.
 
  • #20
Math Is Hard said:
What songs do you listen to when you're sad?

Songs to make myself happy, of course!

Throw on some James Brown and get your mind off your problems.
 
  • #21
Some of you ought to try some good brass band music. I am listening now and all my problems seem so much simpler.

The Bob (2004 ©)
 
  • #22
Evo said:
MIH, Tsu and I are going to be alone for Thanksgiving so we are planning a virtual Turkey Fest. (unless tsu ends up NOT alone and abandons me and I'm even virtually alone :cry: )

You can join us! :biggrin:

Hey, there's still time to get to my house if you let Tsu do the driving! Being alone on holidays is no fun, that's why I gather up all the other people I find out don't have a place to go and bring them to my house, and I told all of them if they find any more strays, to bring them along. So far, it isn't too many, just 7 for dinner (almost talked 4 more into coming, since one is an OB/GYN fellow on call...don't babies know to wait until after T-day to be born?...and my house is closer to the hospital than hers, and I figured if she had to take off in the middle of dinner, her husband and kid would have company, but then she found a bunch of neighbors who will all be going to her place, so it's probably easier not to tote the kid all the way here...then another couple got invitations from both of us, so they picked her place...they have a daughter close in age to her son, so the kids will have more fun together). Technically, I could have taken the time off to see relatives, but my friends are more fun to hang around with, so it doesn't hurt to let my relatives think I'm just too busy to take a long weekend off to see them.

Where is Ivan that Tsu will be alone? Evo, I guess your daughters will be with their father?
 
  • #23
I'm with loseyourname, Nick Drake's Pink Moon is nigh on perfect. (BTW, people who like Nick Drake might want check out Adrian Crowley.) Similarly good, but more defiant than wistful is Neko Case's Blacklisted.
Where does this mean world cast its cold eye?
Who’s left to suffer long about you?
Does your soul cast about like an old paper bag,
Past empty lots and early graves?
Those like you who lost their way
Murdered on the interstate
While the red bells rang like thunder
--- Neko Case, "Deep Red Bells"
Please beware of them that stare
They’ll only smile to see you while
Your time away
And once you’ve seen what they have been
To win the Earth just won’t seem worth
Your night or your day
Who’ll hear what I say.
--- Nick Drake, "Things Behind The Sun"
 
  • #24
'Alcohol' by Barenaked Ladies

Preferably with libation accompaniment.
 
  • #25
Math Is Hard said:
What songs do you listen to when you're sad?
The ones I prefer are:


Pink Floyd's http://home.mchsi.com/~ttint/, the saddest, most depressing album ever written :cry:
 
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  • #26
fourier jr said:
Pink Floyd's http://home.mchsi.com/~ttint/, the saddest, most depressing album ever written :cry:

You have got that right!
 
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  • #27
B.B. King

My Lucille, for instance;

…Lucille, I take you in my arms and everythings alright.
Lucille, when I have the blues I love to hold you tight…

:smile:
 
  • #28
Listening to early Beatles songs helps me get happy most of the times.

Though I could imagine someone being really down and getting even worse because of the relative happiness of the Beatles...

It's really weird how some people prescribe sad music for sadness; that seems more like a prescription for "How do I make myself more miserable than I already am?"
 
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  • #29
tumor said:
fourier jr said:
Pink Floyd's http://home.mchsi.com/~ttint/, the saddest, most depressing album ever written :cry:
You have got that right!
... but also one of the best albums ever written :rolleyes:
Roger Waters is/was the most underrated lyricist there ever was, imo.
 
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  • #30
wasteofo2 said:
It's really weird how some people prescribe sad music for sadness; that seems more like a prescription for "How do I make myself more miserable than I already am?"

Okay, then. Official Warning : Listening to the blues for when you have the blues only helps your appreciation of the former, not your alleviation of the latter.