The Smiley Smile Message Board

 Oooo lets hear it, the sadder the better......

xo
suga

Probably "Caroline, No"

Honorable mention to Tom Waits, who also knows how to write a tearjerker when he wants to.

Steely Dan -- "The Royal Scam"

Frank Black's got some pretty incredible ones. How about practically the entire Show Me Your Tears album, Especially "New House of the Pope." The heartache and sadness and unbearable pain just ooze out of that one.

Mark Mulcahy also deserves a mention with songs such as "Micon the Icon," among others.

I almost mentioned "Headache."  Good thinking.

"I Am the Cosmos," the ultimate manic-depression anthem of all-time. After that, Johnny Thunders' "So Alone," which has some of my favorite lyrics ever:

"I'll just tell you what you wanna hear
I won't break your girlish fear
I tried to get close, I couldn't get near
If I tell you too much, baby, I get smeared"


Plus it's got that great spoken section.

 I am gonna go with Highway Patrolman / Nebraska  (u could really use the entire album)

hrrmmm I am also gonna go with  Hide your love away/ Beatles

Just like a woman / Bob Dylan

suga

Great album.

Which one?

Sorry, "So Alone."

This is hard. For now:


Patti Smith Group - "Pissing In A River"

       -or-

Leonard Cohen -- "Suzanne"

I'm also drawn to Beck's cover of "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime," produced and played on by the inimitable Jon Brion. The harpsicord on the fade-out hits me where I live every time. Fucking gorgeous, and achy as all get-out. (But not achy-breaky. Let's edge away from that ... edge away ... )

"Always on My Mind" - Elvis
"Hot Burrito #1" - Flying Burrito Brothers

And for a different kind of heartache, Warren Zevon, "Keep Me in Your Heart":

"If I leave you, it doesn't mean I love you any less, keep me in your heart for a while." Gets me every time.

Oh merda! "Kentucky Rain"!!

And all that beautiful, gut bearing soul stuff:

Otis - "I've Been Loving You Too Long"

Chi-Lites had some great ones, "Oh Girl," "Have You Seen Her."

Gladys Knight - Niether One Of Us

Nice choice on Suzanne, Lenoard Choen is the fodaing man,

The Streets/ A Grand Dont Come For Free very very moving record

Miss Misery/ Elliot Smith  (Either OR cant forget about that album)

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space/ Spiritulized. There is a special place in my soul for #8 Broken Heart that is a fodaing masterpiece all unto its own

Medowland/ The Wrens

and for a different sort of heartache  In The Areoplane Over The Sea

I Am A Bird Now/ Anthony and the Johnsons
xoxoxoxoxo
suga

"When You're Only Lonely" - JD Souther

Smiths:
"Please Please Please (Let Me Get What I Want This Time)"
"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now"
"Back To The Old House"

Lovin the smiths

I am diggin this thread

Good call on the Chi-Lites, but how about some more Philly soul. Like Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, "The Love I Lost" and especially "If You Don't Know Me By Now."

And some Kentucky soul, the Everly Brothers- "Crying in the Rain."

It's Over - Roy Orbison

The Smiths lyric from 'How Soon Is Now?' - "There's a club if you'd like to go/You could meet someone who really loves you/So you go on your own/And you leave on your own/And you go home and you cry/And you want to die." - was one of those lyrics that said something so obvious and real to many people's lives and yet that had never been expressed quite so explicitly in song before.  The Smiths were quite good at that sort of thing!

Candy - Iggy Pop

I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine - The Ronettes
Nevermore - Queen
Love of My Life - Queen

How come you don't call me anymore -Prince

Frank Sinatra Only the Lonely (Album)
Frank Sinatra No one Cares (Album)
Frank Sinatra In the wee small hours of the morning (Album)
Frank Sinatra What'll I Do? (Song)

Roy Orbison has a lot of great heartbreaking songs..."Crying"..."Blue Bayou"...etc.

Paul McCartney's "Here Today".

"Sara"!  I almost forgot.  If there was ever a more personal Dylan song that induced this much heartache...

Anything off of Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized.

Dennis Wilson - "Moonshine"

It was you who said there won't be tommorrow
You said you love me now in another way
Oh, in another way...

YES!

I'll second Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine by Ronnie Spector......Did you hear the 90's live version on her EP?   killer stuff...


And I also second EBs Crying in the Rain




.....................did anyone mention the country hit
 "If I'd Knowed You Wanted To Come, I'da  Seen That You Got To Get To Go"  ;D

It makes no Difference - The Band, or 'Your Gonna Make Me lonesome when you go' - Dylan, or the alternate 'You're a big girl now' on Biograph.

Speaking of The Band, "Whispering Pines" is always the song that comes into my mind first when I think of heartbreak.  But "It Makes No Difference" is nearly as effective.

Suspicious Minds - Elvis
Why can't you see....what you're doin' to me

"Baby Bitch" -- Ween

who loves the sun/vu

Mother/ John Lennon

How about "The Bed"?

Roller Skating Child.

...Oh....wait...you said favorite song about heartbreak.......I thought you said favorite song about the corruption of young girls into the hairy Wilson tomb.

Buckets Of Rain!  Shameless plug ensues...http://rapidshare.de/files/11774384/IDigWorms-BucketsOfRain.mp3.html

"Amy" by Bobby Darin.. not one of his popular songs but it brings me to tears every time I listen to it.


I'm getting weepy just thinking about it. That "love me.. if only for today" line..  :'(

Reminds me of a Springsteen line that always got to me, "Love me tonight, for I may never see you again..." Sandy is a sad song to me, even though it's about making the right move, taking a positive step and leaving behind what you've outgrown.

General romantic aching dominates in some of these:

"Still I Dream of It": Beach Boys
"Bye, Bye Love": Everly Bros.
"Leah": Roy Orbison
"Oh, Lonesome Me": Don Gibson, Neil Young
"A Good Year for the Roses": George Jones
"Julia": The Beatles
"Days": The Kinks
"Your Cheating Heart": Hank Williams

I would go on (and on), but looking at my list I notice something: all male! Are guys the only ones who shed tears in their beer??? Why am I blanking on all the women with mascara running down their faces as they sing?

I can remember lots of "I will survive" female romantic breakup songs, but the waterworks ones aren't occurring to me.

Could you list a few? As a start, here's one recollected after some thought:

"(I Wish I were a) River": Joni Mitchell (the song that really puts the blues into BLUE. Same river Patti Smith was micturating into?)

Kris Kristofferso's "When I loved her"
Just read these unbeliveable, fucking great lyrics (and it's just the First verse) :

Well she didn't look as pretty as some others I have known.
And she wasn't good at conversation when we were alone.
But she had a way of making me believe that I belong,
and it felt like coming home.
When I found her.

Greatest song ever imho


Some more :

"Would you take another chance on me?" - Jerry Lee Lewis (there are so much by him, but I won't name all)

"After Loving you" - Elvis Presley

"For Ol' Times sake" - Tony Joe White / Elvis Presley

"Caroline No" - The Beach Boys

"Thoughts of you" - Dennis Wilson

"I'll never fall in love again" and "The party's over" -  Lonnie Donegan

and probably alot more which won't come to mind at this time

That makes me think of "End Of The World" with Skeeter Davis, one of the great heartbreak songs, also "The Lonely Sea" with BB's.

Søren

"A day in the life of a Tree."
If Brian had sung it, it would probably be unlistenable for me, due to its pain.  I think that's why Brian had that other dude sing it.  It was just too personal, too dark, too desparate for Brian to sing himself...he was more than likely embarrassed by it, or flat out couldn't do it, would be my guess.  Too hard to muster the pain of performing that out loud yourself in front of people you love.  It's the most gut-wrenching, realistic musical portrayal of someone who's got nothing left for this world.  The veil of the tree metaphor does little to mask the raw, human pain and desparation on that sucker.  Ouch-diddle-ouch.

Along the same lines, "It's Over Now," and "Still I Dream of It."  Wow...zing.  Those are good ones.  Let's be clear on that.  I would also like to mention "I'll Bet He's Nice" from LOVE YOU.  More fitting in the heartache or love-lost category.  That's a gem.  And such an interesting perspective for a heartarche song, don't you think?  Not the standard, "I miss you so much I could die and end up insane" angle.  That should probably get my vote.  Great track.

"Caroline, No" is great but Brian does a nice job of keeping it cool and bluesy as oppossed to leaning on the shear desparation of his more 'frazzled-years' compositions.  It's a great, great track though...complex in every way.  'where did your long hair go...'  Yeah, that's the heartache of growing up and losing all that wonderful idealism.  That's real good one.

I heard it for the first time in years last night. I was forced to listen to FM radio as I was painting my grandmother's basement- It's A Heartache by Bonnie Tyler. Not a favorite at all, hadn't heard it and read this thread. Odd timing.

Whatsername by Green Day

That last line of 'Forgetting you but not the time' really gets me as I've had more than a few moments like that myself.

How about Anyway by Genesis? Existential heartbreak.

"Sea of Heartbreak" - Don Gibson

 I dig me some  Genisis.... when Phil Collins was still the drummer.........

xoxoxoxo

Suga

Exactly.

I agree with everything Shaft said..."A Day In the Life of a Tree" is probably the darkest song I've ever heard, even moreso than "Til I Die".  I wish Brian had sang it but I can certainly understand why he didn't.  So sad it hurts to listen to.

As far as heartache songs go, I'd go with these at the moment:

"It's Over Now"- BB
"Tonight I Wanna Cry"- Keith Urban
"For No One"- Beatles
"You Won't Be Mine"- Matchbox 20
"Comfortable"- John Mayer

Spectacular! Wish I'd thought of that.

"I feel the pull on the rope, let me off at the rainbow."

That line sums up the whole shabang right there. There's more meaning in that one lyric than throughout entire albums. It's good to have someone else bring Genesis into the discussion rather than just me all the time Ian. Now you just have to learn to enjoy 'Duke!'

I will honestly try.

Bill Monroe - "Highway of Sorrow" and "The Little Girl and the Dreadful Snake"

Gene Pitney - "It Hurts To Be In Love"

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry


"That means he’s lost the will to live"

Nice, I love that song.......... and snow white
very very hott..........


xoxoxo
suga

Elvis called it the saddest song he'd ever heard.

Anybody checked out the  American Folk Anthonlgy that has some  sad sh*t on it............

xoxoxo
suga

He knew a thing or two about heartbreak, no?


Yeah baby!!  <snapped that myself at Dinseyworld this past summer>

Windowpane by Opeth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7aD1cXCAKs

Haunting loneliness in the eye
Skin covering secret scars
His hand is waving a goodbye
There's no response or action returned

There is deep prejudice in me
Outshines all reason inside
Given dreams all ridden with pain
And projected unto the lost

Eight years later and this is still absolutely correct.

Mother- John Lennon

So Lonely by the Hollies.

Doesn't sound like it came from the 1960s

U2 - One

Bee Gees - How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Harry Nilsson - Without You

Chicago - Wishing You Were Here

Ringo Starr - Photograph

The Beach Boys - The Warmth Of The Sun

The Beatles - Yesterday

The Everly Brothers - Cathy's Clown

The Who - So Sad About Us