Soul crushing songs

Smog - River Guard

Fake Plastic Trees

Oh god yes @ 'I See a Darkness'
I swear to god I didn't even see that the Skaggs version of 'We're All Alone' had been posted when I posted about Coolidge's.
― Froyo On My Slacks (Old Lunch), Monday, December 19, 2016 1:02 PM (twenty-nine minutes ago)

"I See a Darkness" completely! ^^

seasons in the sun

Beach Boys - 'Til I Die'

― Froyo On My Slacks (Old Lunch)

i think "a day in the life of a tree" is even sadder/more crushing!

All good BB songs have an undercurrent of melancholy

*great

townes van zandt--marie

"Lungs" or "waiting around to die" - Townes

Hell, any song by TVZ

Flyin Shoes
Not Needed Now
Live is to Fly

They're all elegies

Even "columbine" is sad as fuck

"Didn't we" by Jimmy Webb

(I credit Webb cos it could be anybody's performance of the song really, Sinatra's, Harris's ,etc). like literally an elder gentleman almost sang that at karaoke the other night and I was happy as hell he aborted midway through. too much baggage tied to that one.

Sufjan Stevens - Casimir Pulaski Day
Gillian Welch - I'm Not Afraid to Die

also even tho you obv ain't supposed to root for the guy, always found poor Jud's "Lonely Room" from Oklahoma misery inducing

Folkal Point - Sweet Sir Galahad
Softies - Hello Rain
Poppy Family - Which Way You Goin' Billy?
Kathy & Carol - Just a Hand to Hold
Hope Sandoval - Down the Steps
Kristin Hersh - The Letter
Marianne Faithfull - Late Victorian Holocaust
Lhasa - I'm Going In
Stina Nordenstam - Soon After Christmas (live version)
Brian Wilson - Still I Dream of It
Nina Nastasia - Bird of Cuzco
Curth Boettcher - Another Time (demo)

and that one Sol Seppy song and all of those TVZ songs

so many fragile souls on ilx it can't be healthy

Violeta Parra - Gracias a la Vida
Radka Toneff - The Moon's a Harsh Mistress

chappaquiddick skyline - leave me alone
elliott smith - needle in the hay et al
red house painters - silly love songs

joy division - dead souls

paul simon--american tune

Eels - Medication is Wearing Off/Electro-Shock Blues

morphine - funeral for miles davis

rachels - wally, egon, and models in the studio

no other - gene clark

kind of too many to name, you know?

any gram parsons track

hickory wind and hot burrito #2 to start with

liz phair - shane / nashville

combination Taco Bell Pizza Hut

Junior senior - boy meets girl

David Ruffin - "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)"

The Who - "Empty Glass"

land of talk - all my friends

Vickie Carr - It Must Be Him
Bonnie Raitt Too Long at the Fair

liz phair - shane / nashville

― calstars, Monday, December 19, 2016 8:42 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Uuuuuuuuuugh, if we get into songs from that era with a similar level of aural melancholy about them and which prompted me to pull a comforter over my head and listen to them on repeat as the autumn sun went down and I meditated on the existential crisis of being fifteen, I will be here literally all day long.

A handful of tracks from Horse Stories
Another handful of tracks from Moon Pix

just gonna list a bunch of Elliott Smith songs in descending order of abyssal depression

Pitseleh
Strung Out Again
Everything Reminds Me of Her
I'm Doing OK, Pretty Good
Between the Bars
The Biggest Lie
Twilight

oh fuck how could I forget

In This Hole - Cat Power

the song I'm listening to right now:
Silver Jews, "Death of an Heir of Sorrows"

Sandy Denny - No End (especially the home-recorded solo piano version)

songs that, while perhaps too enervated to actually crush a soul, are just perfect for listening to with a crushed soul:

- Crooked Fingers, "Sleep All Summer"
- Songs Ohia, "Being In Love"

Charlie Rich - Feel Like Going Home (especially the demo version with him on solo piano)

John Cale "I Keep a Close Watch" and basically every other track off Music for a New Society, to some degree

the wrens - 13 months in 6 minutes

Randy Newman - I Think It's Going To Rain Today.

I feel like I woke up with this in my head every day through November.

Death Cab for Cutie - Photobooth

They pretty much bank on doing soul crushing pop so almost every song by them applies. This Julien Baker cover is specially heartbreaking:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SIqyp3GLd0

Reposting from the Lhasa de Sela thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO0wh5Zc6fA&

Radiohead - No Surprises

Alice In Chains - 'Nutshell'
Amy Winehouse - 'Wake Up Alone'
Beach Boys - 'All I Wanna Do'
Beck - 'Steal My Body Home'
Blur - 'Sing'
Buffalo Springfield - 'Expecting to Fly'
Cocteau Twins/Harold Budd - 'Why Do You Love Me'
Corinne Bailey Rae - 'I Would Like To Call It Beauty'
Cynthia Dall - 'Wastebasket Kid II'
Drag City Supersession - 'Nothing Rises to Meet Me'
Gil Scott-Heron - 'Pieces of a Man'
Joe Jackson - 'Breaking Us In Two'
Juliana Hatfield - 'The Lights'
Kermit the Frog - 'Bein' Green'
Laura Nyro - 'You Don't Love Me When I Cry'
Lisa Germano - 'Around the World'
Marit Larsen - 'Under the Surface'
Prince - 'Sometimes it Snows in April'
Rilo Kiley - 'A Better Son/Daughter'
Sade - 'It's Only Love That Gets You Through'
Simon & Garfunkel - 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'
Smog - 'Back In School'
Spinanes - 'Hawaiian Baby'
Syd Barrett - 'Last Night'

Can't have American Music Club suggestions without "Kathleen"

Soul Coughing - "Maybe I'll Come Down" always gets to me, especially knowing how close M. Doughty was to death at that point

and oh yeah. "The Silent Boatman" by Parliament. WROOOONK

More American Music Club: "Why Won't You Stay" and "Sick Of Food"

OHHHHH I almost posted 'The Silent Boatman', good call.

Three favorites I forgot -
Kate Bush - This Woman's Work (Sadly or not, will always associate this with its "She's Having a Baby" use)
Paul Kelly - How to Make Gravy
The Weakerthans - Plea from a Cat Named Virtute ("I know you're strong.")

I like "wibbly" as a description. If iPod listening to these at work, have to make sure it's not pre-meeting, to avoid watery eyes.

80% of all Hank Williams songs, even some of the happy ones

Rickie Lee Jones - On Saturday Afternoons in 1963. (The part that gets me is when the orchestra comes in - "Years go by...years go by...")
Melanie - Some Say (I Got Devil)
Marianne Faithfull - Who Will Take My Dreams Away
Thinking Plague - Fountain Of All Tears
Tindersticks - Walking

Take it to the limit

Lee Hazlewood - My Autumn's Done Come

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW6YQYlftCE

i know people here don't like the guy who sings this but:

i know i'm not supposed to say i'm sorry
i know you've had more loves than mata hari
but you're the star of my life story
and i'm so sorry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjZ7x4mkaxE

That's the way things go
All people's changes they grow
I hide in this room
Let's hope it's not wasted
Oh, it's such a shame

this one though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzWYUomBpwg

Surely don't stay long I'm missing you now.
It's like I told you I'm over you somehow
Before I close the door
I need to hear you say goodbye
Baby won't you change your mind?

this one isn't fair because it's one of the best songs ever

Terry Callier - Dancing Girl
For Against - Daylight
Joy Division - Twenty Four Hours
Christian Death - The Drowning
Ceremony - I Heard You Call My Name
Comsat Angels - On the Beach

If I'm reaching for the crushing Mazzy Star, I'm reaching for "Into Dust".

That reminds me ...

Jackson C. Frank - Milk and Honey

I messed up someone's day after recommending that one.

Started a playlist of this thread last night. Looked at it this morning and thought "Oh god, what have I done," as putting all these depressing songs together in one place is possibly not the best idea anyone has ever had. But still.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUh3oHWXrJrRKOH5MrGVHmbNqiU5gyJdT

yes, Pheel! i need this right now, these can be soothing when you're in distress...

Nillson / Don't Forget Me (or Marianne Faithful's version)

"Alien Observer" - Grouper

Look into the night sky
Looking towards the big lights
Looking towards the freeway
Morning subway passes by my window

I feel it in the darkness
I need to feel it sometimes
I need to fall asleep
Morning never is too far behind

Gonna take a spaceship
Fly back to the stars
Alien observer
In a world that isn't mine

The Associates - Party Fears Two

Kate Wolf singing Sandy Denny's 'Who Knows Where the Time Goes?':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgauX0bnN-0

my soul:

https://i.imgur.com/jb9Hmh9.gif

reminded me of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD1UY6KK-bc

But that cover does nothing to my soul compared to the original. Sandy Denny's voice is the ultimate soul crusher:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oBMDcLf6WA