melancholic and bleak songs?

[Eddi]

I'm looking to discover melancholic and bleak music

Out of all the songs I know, this one is the best example of the downbeat sound that I like:

The track is called The Eternal and it is by a band called Joy Division on an album called Closer

They also did this, which in my mind is also excellent

Their lead singer killed himself when he was only in his early 20s but the rest of the band carried on as New Order

Are there any similarly melancholic and bleak songs that people could suggest?

 

[amorphous_constellation]

Look up John Dowland, no one can top his songwriting in terms of melancholy: two good ones from him are 'flow my tears' and 'in darkness let me dwell.' Also, agnus dei as sung by andreas scholl

 

[Eyes to See]

Enya. Of course.

Here is a nice one.

 

[Mock Turtle]

The master of misery:

 

[February-Saturday]

"We Came Too Late" by Darxtar is a good one.

 

[Eddi]

"We Came Too Late" by Darxtar is a good one.

Yes!

I'm listening to it now

That's exactly the kind of sound that I like

Thanks for sharing

 

[February-Saturday]

I'm not sure I have anything that's as drudging as these Joy Division songs. I am a fan of quite a few goth bands, but Joy Division has a pretty unique sound that I don't think anyone else has really matched yet. "Cold" by All About Eve, maybe?

The closest I have to that sort of drudgery is Andreas Ronnberg. I specifically recommend the instrumental "Lost in Thoughts" by him.

 

[February-Saturday]

Yes!

I'm listening to it now

That's exactly the kind of sound that I like

Thanks for sharing

Oh, if you like that, I also recommend "Triumvirate" by Lewis and Clarke and "Back Then" by B Story. They're both fairly different, in different directions.

 

[Secret Chief]

Starless by King Crimson

 

[Secret Chief]

Portishead are pretty much downbeat. Here is

Deep Water

Small

Threads

 

[Flame]

Take a dive into the post-rock genre. They have quite a few songs that fit.

 

[PureX]

Patty Griffin ... (a goldmine of melancholia)

"Long Ride Home" (a man returning home from his wife's funeral)

"Top Of The World" (a man looks back after having just died)

"Making Pies" (so many unnoticed memories)

"Useless Desires" (self-explanatory)

bonus song ...

"Tony" (about a school classmate's suicide)

 

[Tambourine]

Elliott Smith is great for this. Melancholic voice, haunting guitar melodies, poetic lyrics full of pain.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

Are there any similarly melancholic and bleak songs that people could suggest?

Plenty. These are all well-known songs and sad stories easily found on You Tube.

Black Peter:

All of my friends come to see me last night
I was laying in my bed and dying
Annie Beauneau from saint angel
Say "the weather down here so fine"
Just then the wind
Came squalling through the door
But who can
The weather command?
Just want to have
A little peace to die
And a friend or two
I love at hand
Fever roll up to a hundred and five
Roll on up
Gonna roll back down
One more day
I find myself alive
Tomorrow
Maybe go
Beneath the ground

The Ode To Billie Joe

I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge
Today, Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
A year has come and gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
And brother married Becky Thompson; they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going 'round; papa caught it, and he died last spring
And now mama doesn't seem to want to do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge

El Paso

Off to my right I see five mounted cowboys
Off to my left ride a dozen or more
Shouting and shooting, I can't let them catch me
I have to make it to Rosa's back door
Something is dreadfully wrong for I feel
A deep burning pain in my side
Though I am trying to stay in the saddle
I'm getting weary, unable to ride
But my love for Feleena is strong and I rise where I've fallen
Though I am weary, I can't stop to rest
I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle
I feel the bullet go deep in my chest
From out of nowhere Feleena has found me
Kissing my cheek as she kneels by my side
Cradled by two loving arms that I'll die for
One little kiss, and Feleena, goodbye
(spoiler: Feleena's not really there)

Green Green Grass of Home

Then I awake and look around me
At four grey walls that surround me
And I realize, yes, I was only dreaming
For there's a guard and there's a sad old padre
Arm in arm, we'll walk at daybreak
Again I touch the green, green grass of home
Yes, they'll all come to see me
In the shade of that old oak tree
As they lay me 'neath the green, green grass of home

Sister Morphine

Well it just goes to show
Things are not what they seem
Please, sister Morphine, turn my nightmares into dreams
Oh, can't you see I'm fading fast?
And that this shot will be my last
Sweet cousin Cocaine, lay your cool cool hand on my head
Ah, come on, sister Morphine, you better make up my bed
'Cause you know and I know in the morning I'll be dead
Yeah, and you can sit around, yeah and you can watch all
The clean white sheets stained red

Eleanor Rigby

Eleanor Rigby
Died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie
Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved
All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all belong?

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Back with my wife in Tennessee
And one day she said to me
"Virgil, quick! Come see
There goes Robert E. Lee"
Now I don't mind, I'm chopping wood
And I don't care if the money's no good
Just take what you need and leave the rest
But they should never have taken the very best
Like my father before me, I'm a working man
And like my brother before me, I took a rebel stand
Well, he was just eighteen, proud and brave
But a yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the blood below my feet
You can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat

Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Mama, take this badge off of me
I can't use it anymore
It's gettin' dark, too dark to see
I feel I'm knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Mama, put my guns in the ground
I can't shoot them anymore
That long black cloud is comin' down
I feel I'm knockin' on heaven's door

He Stopped Loving Her Today

You know, she came to see him one last time
Aww, 'n' we all wondered if she would
And it kept runnin' through my mind "this time he's over her for good"
He stopped loving her today
They placed a wreath upon his door
And soon they'll carry him away
He stopped loving her today

 

[Daemon Sophic]

Only click these if you have a box of tissues on hand.

You have been warned.

#1. Hello, by Evanescence, is a song about a young mother in denial that her little girl is dead, with an imaginary friend (probably her daughter) speaking to her in her imagination, in an effort to comfort the woman.

#2. Pearls, by Sade, is about the disconnect between us enjoying life on a sunny summer day, while in destitute Africa some woman is stumbling and burned by the scorching sun, searching for seeds or crumbs of food along a roadside, to bring back to her starving little girl; screaming her thanks to God for each little “pearl” that she finds.

#3. Of course there’s Tears in Heaven, by Eric Clapton. One must understand that he wrote this song shortly after his own 4 year old boy fell several stories from a window to his death.

and #4. Beloved Wife, by Natalie Merchant, is an old man, married 50 years to a loving wife; and now she has suffered and died. He is debating to himself if it wouldn’t be wrong to give up and die this same day.

 

[Jedster]

No Surfin' today by The Four Seasons

 

[Shadow Wolf]

 

[Flame]

 

[Twilight Hue]

Book of Love's , Miss Melancholy.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Steal My Sunshine - Len Tops the pop charts. One hit wonder.
Psychosocial - Slipknot Yelling, angry, talking about feeling like an unseen martyr, like someone persecuted or paranoid.
Amnesiac (the entire album) - Radiohead Its intended to be listened to as an album rather than by individual songs. I don't know why.
Terra Nova - From the game Civilization V. Its so nice. Its melancholic but positive. They're singing in Latin.
Sadeness - Enigma Has some Latin and French in it. I've no idea what they're singing about.
Where is the Love? -- Olivia Ong
Wintersong - Sarah McLachlan this artist has a lot of good melancholy ones. Wintersong is about a widow remembering Christmas past.
Rudie Can't Fail - The Clash Comedy and melancholy clash together. These guys like to ham it up even with sad stuff.
Riders on the Storm - The Doors. Don't even try to understand the lyrics.
Dreams Last so Long - Jewel Jewel almost always sounds like she's crying the song.
Siempre en Mi Corazon - various artists like Stanley Black. Its got a salsa sound and is about as melancholy as salsa can be - not very.
Forever Young -- Bob Dylan Its like a prayer with folk music sound.
May It Be - Enya used in the LOTR movies. Has some Gaelic in it.
Lullaby - Billy Joel song about accepting and dealing with death
Amber Waves Goodbye - Lost Dogs song about how young American men were sent to die as soldiers.
Lost Boy - Ruth B.