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

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The discussion centers around the types of music people listen to when feeling sad, highlighting a diverse range of songs and artists. Participants share personal favorites, including classic tracks like "The Rain Song" by Led Zeppelin, "Creep" by Radiohead, and "Good Morning Heartache" by Billie Holiday. Many emphasize that their choices depend on their mood, with some preferring blues or melancholic melodies, while others opt for uplifting tunes to counteract sadness. Notable mentions include Nick Drake's "Pink Moon," Cassandra Wilson's "New Moon Daughter," and various jazz and classic rock artists. The conversation also touches on the emotional impact of music, with some expressing that sad songs can provide comfort and beauty, while others argue that they can exacerbate feelings of gloom. The thread includes discussions about holiday loneliness and virtual gatherings, reflecting a sense of community among participants.
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.
 
  • #31
Whenever I'm down I just listen to Alvin and the Chipmunks.
 
  • #32
Gokul43201 said:
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.

Gokul, I listened a little bit to Ali Farka Toure'. Really interesting stuff. Definitely blues - but a very different flavor.

Lots of great suggestions for music here from everyone. Thanks very much.

Evo, remind me to send you a copy of the Jingle Cats CD for Christmas. :biggrin:
Hey, where the heck is Tsu? She must be cooking.

You know I was trying to figure out what the most depressing song ever written was. I think my vote goes to "He Stopped Lovin' Her Today" (I can't remember who sang that.)
It's hard to beat country music for heartbreaking lyrics. :cry:
 
  • #33
Math Is Hard said:
Evo, remind me to send you a copy of the Jingle Cats CD for Christmas. :biggrin:
YES! :biggrin:

Hey, where the heck is Tsu? She must be cooking.
She swore she wasn't going to cook. She has been oddly absent. :confused:

Nothing beats country music for depressing lyrics. :cry:
 
  • #34
Gokul43201 said:
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.
Wasn't it Bleeding Gums Murphy on The Simpsons who said, "The blues ain't about making yourself feel better.. it's about making other people feel worse."

(something like that..?)
 
  • #35
Math Is Hard said:
Wasn't it Bleeding Gums Murphy on The Simpsons who said, "The blues ain't about making yourself feel better.. it's about making other people feel worse."

(something like that..?)




More Simpson's genius. :smile:
 
  • #36
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?"

I like certain sad music because it seems to produce some of the most beautiful melodies and most heartfelt singng. If I am feeling down (which isn't often), that beauty and heartfulness feels good. I used to listen to Joni Mitchell all the time for that reason. I always thought it was too bad she stopped being so miserable because we lost a great melody writer and singer. :-p Some of James Talor's music has that, as does Willie Nelson, Nora Jones, Richie Furey, David Crosby . . .
 
  • #37
"Singin the blues ain't about making yourself feel better. It's about making other people feel worse."

--Unknown
 
  • #38
Evo said:
Nothing beats country music for depressing lyrics. :cry:

You have got that right!, but The Wall is still #1 ! in whining.
 
  • #39
O by Damien Rice

I just discovered this great album today. It has one of the best lyrics and musical accompaniments I've ever heard. I'm not one to tear up over music, but I was overcome by emotion listening through the album. If you look on CDNOW everyone is giving it rave reviews:



Some of songs on this album were just recently used on the movie Closer with Natalie Portman, Julie Roberts and Jude Law.
 
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  • #40
Thanks, dd. I really like that. I just listened to some samples.
 
  • #41
I just listened to the samples and they really don't do justice to the album. For example in the song Eskimo the climax of the piece is accompanied by an opera singer which is just spetacular. I would have never in a million years imagined myself liking opera vocals but Rice did a magnificant job.

What was more amazing was that he actually produced most of the album on his home computer. It is just mindblowing what real talent can do.
 
  • #42
Where are these sample coming from? I enjoy all types of music but did not see samples at the Amazon site.
 
  • #43
I don't know why it isn't showing up for you. Go to cdnow.com and do a search for Damien Rice.

Oh, and the whole album isn't opera, it just happens that the last song uses an opera singer at the very end of the song.
 
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  • #44
When I was much younger, when depressed I would often play [on the piano] EJ's "Funeral For a Friend", over and over and over. If I was really depressed [over some woman] I would continue right into "Love Lies Bleeding". Now I just whine a lot and drive Tsu nuts. :biggrin:
 
  • #45
Billy Joel's Greatest Hits album is also good for the blues.
 
  • #46
I love the old classic Billy Joel and Elton John. It seems like they were just so brilliant and then one day they just got way too successful and started to.. uh.. suck. That's just me, though. I love "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton and "Captain Jack" by Billy Joel.
I am listening to my "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" soundtrack right now. There's a lot of really good music on it. I loved that movie.
 
  • #47
Daniel, FFAF, LLB, Your Song, Sweet Painted Lady, all of his great hits and even some more obscure songs like The Ballad of Danny Bailey, I love everything EJ. He is always great for soulful music.
 
  • #48
Speaking of EJ, can someone tell me if Levon is a tribute to Levon Helm of The Band, or is it unrelated ?
 
  • #49
...According to Gus Dudgeon, who produced Madman Across the Water and wrote an essay containing this information to accompany the remastered version, the name "Levon" was inspired by Levon Helm, drummer, lead singer, and founder of The Band, a group from the 60s and 70s. The Band was apparently Elton John's and Bernie Taupin's favorite group in those days. (Taupin is the guy who writes or co-writes a lot of Elton John's songs and who wrote the lyrics for "Levon.")...
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlevon.html
 
  • #50
Thanks Ivan :smile:...one more nagging question that I can scratch off the list.
 

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