Soul crushing songs

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

Another handful of tracks from Moon Pix
― Froyo On My Slacks (Old Lunch)

otm about No Surprises, the first line of that song pops up in my head fairly frequently

Blank Page - The Smashing Pumpkins

the latest Sufjan is as bleak as advertised, yeesh. love it, though.

hmm, "Dark Globe" by Syd Barrett

"No Sense" ftw
― attention vampire (MatthewK), miércoles 21 de diciembre de 2016 3:08 (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^

Silver jews – trains across the sea
bark psychosis – a street scene
hank williams – alone and forsaken
bruce springsteen – racing in the street
geeshie wiley – last kind words
thin lizzy – honesty is no excuse

Johnny Cash - "Hurt"
Crack the Sky - "Long Nights"
The Kinks - "See My Friends"
Tim Hardin - "Don't Make Promises"
Blink-182 - "Adam's Song"
Phenomenal Handclap Band - "15 to 20"
Nick Drake - "Time Has Told Me"
Beulah - "A Man Like Me"
Stone Sour - "Bother"
Sam Cooke - "A Change is Gonna Come"
Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
Ben E. King - "I (Who Have Nothing)"

the wrens - 13 months in 6 minutes

― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Monday, December 19, 2016 9:56 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That song fucking crushes me

Cat Power - Color and the Kids
Smog - To Be of Use
Waxahatchee - Bathtub
Tom Waits - Time
Joni Mitchell - A Case of You
Rihanna - Higher

Yup, Colours and the Kids is the track for me off Moon Pix.

How could I forget Boulder to Birmingham? That utterly crushes me.

God, I forgot the emotional shotgun that is Nick Drake's "Place to Be". Also Radiohead's "Pyramid Song" but that's amplified by a personal experience for me.

a fair few songs have broken my heart but I don't think I'd say any have crushed my soul. it sounds unpleasant

xp re Cat Power - "Colors and the Kids" -- love this song, even learned to play it on piano, but I can't listen to it anymore bc it reminds me TOO much of (already mentioned upthread) Sandy Denny's solo piano demo of "No End"

I listened to a bunch of songs when I was still a bag of hormones with a newborn baby and they all turn me into a blubbering mess now.

Tori Amos's voice in particular, can't even listen to a cover of Take on Me without going wibbly

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