Music for a melancholy mood

The Pink Floyd, especially "Wish You Were Here".

~<>~ Mozart's Requiem K.626 in D minor ~<>~

nymph : (

Try June Tabor's recording of 'The band played waltzing matilda' from her 1978 album 'Airs and Graces'.

I was reflecting on mellow music after playing the Cure's wonderful 'Faith last night'. Tracks starting with the line 'it doesn't matter if we all die' and ending 'there's nothing left but faith' really hit the spot!!

Nigel

Fairports 'Who know where the time goes' reminds me of my mother's death and i find it very poignant. Opera often has the power to make me cry but it depends on my mood.

The Angel and The Dark River by My Dying Bride. The name of the band kinda hints at their type of stance musically. Very doomy and black in places but ultimately gothic in presentation, but not in a sisters of mercy type way.

Ryan

Songwriters/singers Matthew Ryan and Ray LaMontagne, along with the band Death Cab for Cutie, all incorporate elements of melancholy in their music/sound/atmosphere. The trick is somehow shading the melancholy with a sense of hope, rather than despair.

Mark, every time I hear the X factor theme tune, I cry...

Rory Gallagher, A Million Miles Away

Haven't heard it for a while, but "Western Sky" by American Music Club regularly brought tears to my ears:

Time for me to go away
Ill get a new name, Ill get a new face
Time for me to go away
No I dont belong in this place

But Im not gonna ask you why
You think the parade has passed you by
Or if everything good is gone into the western sky

I hate to see you look that way
All the beauty has left your face
Thats such an easy thing to give away
Thats impossible to replace

So Ill take you in my two weekends
And Ill throw you so high
Watch you fall forever in the western sky
And when you land youll turn into some kind of prize
Into somebodys sweet prize

I wont see you no more
Who am I to rate that high
The worlds a shadow of what went before
The world gives off none of its own light

So please be happy baby
And please dont cry
Even though the parade has passed us by
Well you can still see it shining in the western sky
So why wont you stop crying
You can still see it shining

Many of Bach's works move me intensely, but I'm not sure that melancholy is quite the word for them.

quote:

Originally posted by JamieWednesday:
Mark, every time I hear the X factor theme tune, I cry...

Ah, but the auditions are funny, James.

quote:

Originally posted by JWM:
Rory Gallagher, A Million Miles Away

This hotel bar is full of people,
the piano man is really laying it down
The old bartender is a high as steeple,
so why tonight should I sit here with a frown?

The joint is jumping all around me
and my mood is really not in style
Right now the blues want to surround me
but I'll break out after a while

Well, I'm a million miles away,
I'm a million miles away
I'm sailing like a driftwood
on a windy bay

Why ask how I feel,
well, how does it look to you?
I feel hook line and sinker,
I lost my captain and my crew
I'm standing on the landing
and there's no one there but me
That's where you'll find me,
looking out on the deep blue see

There's a song on the lips of everybody,
there's a smile all around the room
There's conversation overflowing,
so why must I sit here in the gloom?

This hotel bar lost all it's people,
the piano man has caught the last bus home
The old bartender is asleep in the corner,
so why must I still be here, I just don't know

Well, I'm a million miles away,
I'm a million miles away
I'm sailing like a driftwood
on a windy bay

A Nice thread on the subject. Here.

ATB from George

I'm going to offer a shamelessly self-serving suggestion here ... please, allow me to make you cry:


Remember the River - The Naim Label - by Fred Simon (hey, that's me!)



There are several tracks that many folks have told me act directly the tear ducts ... hey, I can even make myself verklempt! Especially those tunes on which Paul McCandless plays the English horn, an instrument seemingly invented specifically to induce tears.

All best,
Fred

quote:

Now I don't particularly like weepy films

Nor do I - Ipswich vs. Burnley was sad enough for me.

quote:

There are several tracks that many folks have told me act directly the tear ducts

Before they run to turn it off.....

I really like this album, but it certainly doesn't inspire melancholy.

The Dino Saluzzi/Anja Lechner album has a very mellow tone to it, or maybe it was just the Nero d'Avola.

Nigel

If yu want melancholy and uplifting at the same time then it can only be the Smiths.

Ryan

John Martyn recently performed " Hurt in your Heart " off his Grace and Danger album on a music program on BBC 2 Scotland and it still makes him cry after 28 years . Which I think is very touching .

The Cure - Disintegration
Lou Reed - Berlin
Leonard Cohen - Best of

That's off the top of my head.

Adagio for Strings

He's not dead and they left him in the Jungle !

'Place To Be' and 'Cello Song' by Nick Drake do it for me.

John.

Happy Christmas Mark. Did you keep the 250?

quote:

Originally posted by J.N.:

Happy Christmas Mark. Did you keep the 250?

Yes I've still got it and very much enjoying it. I'm now talking to Jon about the other 250 and the SBLs!

Happy Christmas to you too, John.

Or should that be a Melancholy Christmas?!!

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by hungryhalibut:

I really like [Remember the River], but it certainly doesn't inspire melancholy.

No melancholy? Interesting ... I added a full 10dB of a plaintive filter, and ran the whole thing through the nostalgia cycle twice, adding an entire box of Wistful brand hard-heart softener.

All best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by fred simon:
I added a full 10dB of a plaintive filter, and ran the whole thing through the nostalgia cycle twice, adding an entire box of Wistful brand hard-heart softener.

All best,
Fred

But you did not use the artery compressor.

Anything by Leonard Cohen, and 'End of the Rainbow' by Richard Thompson from the 'I want to see the bright lights tonight' album. Apparently written for his daughter and includes the chorus:

Your mother works so hard to make you happy,
But take a look outside the nursery door,
There's nothing at the end of the rainbow
There's nothing to grow up for any more

Pass the Wilinson Sword!

Marco

When my stepfather died nearly 10 years ago at a very young age, it fell to me to arrange his very sad funeral and I was given the oportunity to play some of his favourite pieces. He was a life long Leonard Cohen fan and I arranged for "If it be your will" to be played. There was not a dry eye in the church and to this day I still can't play it without a tear coming to my eye. It's amazing how emotive music can be.

Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony (Pathetique).

Very Russian, very heavy.

dn'l