Because I’m in a funk and feeling sleepy, I present my
Favorite Sad/Mellow Songs (song:artist):
- Teardrop: Massive Attack
- Weather Storm: Massive Attack
- Wish: Mephisto Odyssey
- In Spite of Me: Morphine
- The Night: Morphine
- Take Me With You: Morphine (sensing a Morphine theme here?)
- Gone for Good: Morphine
- Is Jesus Your Pal?: GusGus
- Anthem: GusGus
- Jayme Lynn: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
- Nothingness: Living Colour (only good song off their last album)
- She’s Already Made Up Her Mind: Lyle Lovett
- North Dakota: Lyle Lovett
- Family Reserve: Lyle Lovett (all off of Joshua Judges Ruth – what an excellent album)
There are more. I forgot a lot of people, like Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman and Jeff Buckley. Leonard Cohen for writing Hallelujah and Jeff Buckley for singing it, and The Last Goodbye. Randy Newman for several songs, but mostly for one he played on Session at West 54th that he said hadn’t been recorded yet called, I Miss You. That song tore me up. And actually, it’s the last song on his new Best Of CD. I know what’s going in my stocking this year…
There’s something about real sad songs, and movies, that I can’t shake. They can’t be stupid or fake. They can’t be Hallmark sappy. There has to be genuine, or at least the appearance of genuine pain behind it in order for it to work. Sad songs, like the Blues, make me happy. Sadness is life-affirming. Sadness means that you’re still kicking and will most likely be happy again. I don’t like constantly morose songs, or Goth depression. Real sadness in a song though is refreshing. You should try it.