The Saddest Music in the World
My friend Mike made a bet with his friend to see who could make the saddest mix CD. 13 songs total, with a cap of three Hank Williams, Sr. songs. Mike put on a song by Scrawl called "Please Have Everything," which is one of those co-dependend love songs masquerading as a sweet, reassuring song.
Mike claims that he lost the bet because of the Scrawl song. This is disheartening to me. I love Scrawl, and I am of the opinion that they are masterful writers of truly sad songs. I'd have put a Scrawl song on my sad mix CD, though I'd probably have put "Your Mother Wants to Know" and not "Please Have Everything." In any case, I'd have lost, too.
What makes a song sad? I suppose it's the listener. When you are down in the dumps, a lot of songs are sad--like when I was in my early onset of midlife depression, all love songs made me sad because I had been dumped. Even silly love songs, songs like "Da Doo Ron Ron." Which is no longer a sad song to me, thank goodness.
Sad songs don't have to be dramatic; they just have to be sad. Like *sad* sad, a sat down in the gut like an elevartor shooting down a few floors to soon. I've been thinking about my own 13 sad songs, and it's hard. I keep on thinking of the sadness in context--like Joy Division. Ian Curtis offed himself, and their songs are pretty depressing to begin with, so to me that makes Joy Division songs doubly sad. A lot of love songs are sad. "Happy Together" is actually a sad song, in a way, because its longing is so acute and bleary that's it seems desperate and off-center. So maybe that's not actually sad, but scary.
I can't get this sad CD thing out of my head. Mike was going through a divorce at the time he made his CD, and I'm a happy newlywed, so maybe my sad CD would seem disingenuinous. Is that a word? Well, I still want to take the Sad 13 Challenge. As Elton John sang, sad songs say so much.
Mike claims that he lost the bet because of the Scrawl song. This is disheartening to me. I love Scrawl, and I am of the opinion that they are masterful writers of truly sad songs. I'd have put a Scrawl song on my sad mix CD, though I'd probably have put "Your Mother Wants to Know" and not "Please Have Everything." In any case, I'd have lost, too.
What makes a song sad? I suppose it's the listener. When you are down in the dumps, a lot of songs are sad--like when I was in my early onset of midlife depression, all love songs made me sad because I had been dumped. Even silly love songs, songs like "Da Doo Ron Ron." Which is no longer a sad song to me, thank goodness.
Sad songs don't have to be dramatic; they just have to be sad. Like *sad* sad, a sat down in the gut like an elevartor shooting down a few floors to soon. I've been thinking about my own 13 sad songs, and it's hard. I keep on thinking of the sadness in context--like Joy Division. Ian Curtis offed himself, and their songs are pretty depressing to begin with, so to me that makes Joy Division songs doubly sad. A lot of love songs are sad. "Happy Together" is actually a sad song, in a way, because its longing is so acute and bleary that's it seems desperate and off-center. So maybe that's not actually sad, but scary.
I can't get this sad CD thing out of my head. Mike was going through a divorce at the time he made his CD, and I'm a happy newlywed, so maybe my sad CD would seem disingenuinous. Is that a word? Well, I still want to take the Sad 13 Challenge. As Elton John sang, sad songs say so much.
posted by Lefty at 2:59 PM
2 Comments:
i just listedned to a whole bunch of joy division over the weekend. i never checked them out when they were around. can't say as i liked 'em all that well but i know what you mean, very depressing stuff. no surprise that guy decided to check out.
when and if you get a chance post the song listings from the CDs your friends made, please. just curious about their specific tastes in *sad* sounds.
Joy division makes me want to kill myself. I don't know if that is sadness as much as madness. As for sad songs, Colin Haye has this track on The Garden State OST that kills me everytime i hear it.I forget what it's called though. I wasn't aware of how bad his epilipsy, Ian C's, was. I think that was the main factor in his suicide. Not so much him being sad or crazy but more like he had an illness that he couldn't deal with...
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