Sad Bastard Mix
May. 8th, 2006 03:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerInspired by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fishymcb's classic Sad Bastard mix, a mix of the most depressing songs imaginable, I've decided to whip together one of my own to send to bloo_mountain, along with a SUPERHAPPYFUNTIME mix to balance things out. I'm rather proud of this mix, 3 CDs worth of depressing, devastating, soul-crushing music.
Take a look for yourself. Full track lists, plus commentary, behind the cut. And if you have any songs you'd want to have on your own Sad Bastard mix, I'd love to hear 'em!
Disc 1
1.) Peter Gabriel- “Here Comes the Flood.” Originally, this was a more upbeat and gung-ho song when it appeared at the end of Peej’s first album.
2.) The 6ths w/Momus- “As You Turn to Go.” The 6ths is Stephen Merritt’s (of the Magnetic Fields) second band, where he writes songs to have various singers of various levels of fame sing. These first three tracks are, I firmly believe, meant to be heard as a trilogy, as I have done here.
3.) The 6ths w/Sally Timms- “Give Me Back my Dreams.”
4.) The 6ths w/Bob Mould- “He Didn’t.” Sung by Bob Mould of Husker Du fame. The only sad, quiet, tender piece he’s ever done, as far as I know.
5.) Damien Rice, “The Blower’s Daughter.”
6.) Rebecka Del Rio, “Llorando (Crying).” I adore Roy Orbison and his original version, as well as his duet with K.D. Lang, but the solo version here from Mulholland Drive is a bit more on the devastating side of things.
7.) Lou Reed, “Vanishing Act.” One of several of the songs used in the soundtrack for our production of Vigil.
8.) The Cottars, “The Briar and the Rose.” The Cottars are a band from Nova Scotia that generally performs Celtic-themed folk type music. Here, they cover a Tom Waits classic, and even Dave, that stubborn Tom Waits fanatic snob, thought this version might even be superior.
9.) The Cure, “To Wish Impossible Things.” I still have a hard time listening to this.
10.) Craig Armstrong, “This Love.” From the composer of Love, Actually.
11.) E.S. Posthumous, “Nara.” This band/person does incidental music for movie trailers and such. I was not alone in watching the trailer for the generally uninteresting Richard Gere epic Unfaithful, watching those scenes as this music played, and thinking, “Wow… that actually looks really cool!” Of course, the movie blew, but that trailer! The music was also used in the Vanity Fair trailer. Chances are, you know it well.
12.) Michael Nyman, “The Piano Theme.” The greatest musical depiction of pure obsession ever.
13.) Danny Elfman, “The Grand Finale” from Edward Scissorhands.
14.) Mark Snow, “Millennium Theme.” Mark Snow of X-Files fame did a similarly-excellent work composing the music for the show Millennium, fitting well with the show’s tone of “like the X-Files, only darker and more soul-crushingly sad.”
15.) Enya, “Exile.” Probably very cheesy unless you’ve seen L.A. Story.
16.) Emm Gryner, “Half Sorry.”
17.) Harry Nilsson, “Without You.” Used to great effect in Rules of Attraction. From the man who brought you “You Put The Lime in the Coconut.”
18.) Meat Loaf, “For Crying Out Loud.” Meat Loaf rules, man.
Disc 2
1.) Johnny Cash, “Hurt.” Chances are your soul is already dying a little just reading that. I was thinking of also putting his duet with Fiona Apple doing “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” but then you really would want to kill yourself.
2.) Joseph Arthur, “A Smile That Explodes.”
3.) Leonard Cohen, “Chelsea Hotel No. 2.” Leonard Cohen is the man.
4.) Michael Ball, “Send in the Clowns.” Before I played this for Dave, he was bitching as he usually does about how it couldn’t possibly top Sinatra’s version. Then I played it for him. Dave was weeping within the first three sung lines.
5.) Michael Nyman, “GATTACA- The Departure.”
6.) Moby, “When It’s Cold I’d Like To Die.” The title says it all.
7.) Queen, “Who Wants to Live Forever.”
8.) Randy Newman, “I Want You To Hurt Like I Do.”
9.) Ray Charles and Elton John, “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word.”
10.) Red House Painters, “I’m Sorry.” A John Denver classic, with all the warmth of Denver replaced by utter misery. Hooray!
11.) Loudon Wainwright III & Shawn Colvin, “A Heart Needs a Home.” Two modern folkie legends covering the Richard and Linda Thompson classic.
12.) Samuel Barber, “Adagio for Strings.” Platoon, man. Plattoon.
13.) Harry Connick Jr, “But Not For Me.” When you want your sorrow with a hint of Noir.
14.) Peter Gabriel, “I Grieve.” Smallville, a show which notoriously inserts the latest pop crap from some flavor of the week musician to sell records, actually used this track during the funeral of a major character recently. The only other time they’ve really done anything like that was when they used Johnny Cash’s “Hurt.” That should say something about the quality of the song, I hope.
15.) Warren Zevon, “Mutineer.”
16.) Cecilia Noel, “Mi Unicornio Azul.” I first heard this in the BMW Films
short, “The Follow,” starring Clive Owen, Forrest Whittaker, and Mickey Rourke. All great films, Google ‘em if you get the chance.
17.) Hefner, “Tactile.” How could I resist a band with this name? And they’re actually good, too.
18.) Emm Gryner, “Breathless.” Leave it to Emm to take the peppy, perky pop song and turn it into… this.
Disc 3
1.) Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, “I Miss You.”
2.) Leonard Cohen, “If It Be Your Will.” Leonard. Cohen. Is. The. Fucking. MAN.
3.) Ennio Morricone and Henry Mancini, “Cinema Paradiso Theme.” I think I made Molly cry with this one.
4.) Mandy Patinkin, “Taxi.” Mandy Patinkin (Indigo Montoya from The Princess Bride) doing his version of the Harry Chapin classic.
5.) Doves, “Ambition.” I first heard this on the finale episode of Queer as Folk and have loved it ever since.
6.) Sonic Youth, “Superstar.” I discovered this on the European trailer for High Tension (known then and there as Haute Tension). Sonic Youth’s version of this Carpenters classic is haunting and more than a bit disturbing. The movie itself was generally excellent, crap ending aside, but it certainly could have benefited from the inclusion of this song somewhere.
7.) DJ Redlight, “Final Doom- Memoriam.” From ocremix.org, a website entirely dedicated to video game music remixes, comes a cover of the credits music from the game FINAL DOOM. One of my very favorite video game tracks, redone here as a powerful, haunting dirge.
8.) Marianne Faithful, “Trouble in Mind.”
9.) Rufus Wainwright, “Hallelujah.” There’s an awful lot of discussion over which version of this Leonard Cohen classic is the best. A handful of sticklers prefer the original Cohen version, a version I myself still enjoy, while most vastly prefer Jeff Buckley’s version (Dave and Misty highly favored it, calling it “angelic”). Personally, I think Jeff Buckley is horridly overrated (or I just don’t get the appeal) and while I think his version is the best thing he ever did, I still think it sounds too wobbly and weak, less tender and “angelic” and more anemic and fragile. I myself favor Rufus Wainwright’s version from the Shrek soundtrack (even though it was John Cale’s version that actually played in the movie… and no one cares about John Cale’s version, it seems). I think he carries the heavy weight of sadness behind it that really drives it home. Plus, it’s also the song that introduced me to Rufus.
10.) Tom Waits, “Tom Traubert’s Blues.” While I generally tend to avoid Tom Waits these days because of how closely he’s tied to the other two parts of that wa-ha-hacky love triangle I was part of last year, I cannot deny the power of this song. I couldn’t stand to listen to even 30 seconds of Rod Stewart’s crappy and more famous version.
11.) Frank Sinatra, “Auld Lang Syne.” The original “Oh god, I need to go kill myself after listening to this” song. A soul-crusher of the highest caliber, perhaps the most devastating in this whole album.
12.) Loudon Wainwright & John Hiatt, “My Girl.” Starting with this, I finally start to liven the mood a bit with a few bittersweet love songs.
13.) Mitch and Mickey, “A Kiss At The End of the Rainbow.” Even if you haven’t seen A Mighty Wind, there’s no denying the tenderness and sweetness because or in spite of the knowing corniness of this song. Written by Michael McKean and his wife Annette O’Toole and performed in character by Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy, this totally should have won the Oscar for best song (curse you Howard Shore and Annie Lennox for your Oscar-baiting and excellent song!)
14.) Lou Reed, “Perfect Day.” One of my exes told me how she would lock herself in a room after she broke up with her first boyfriend and play this song over and over again and cry. Me, I discovered this thanks to the Vigil soundtrack. For most everybody else, it’ll make people think of Trainspotting.
15.) Peter Gabriel, “Book of Love.” Peter Gabriel takes the twangy Magnetic Fields song and utterly masters it. A simply beautiful song. I have made no less than three people cry with it.
16.) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Straight to You.”
17.) Kevin Spacey, “The Curtain Falls.” I was wrestling between using this or the original Bobby Darin version. I’m still not sure I made the right decision to go with Spacey’s cover. The original song was one that Darin performed at the end of one of his Las Vegas shows, the show he was planning to be his last for a long time, maybe for ever. See, Bobby Darin spent every day as if it were his last, because it might have been, thanks to a lifetime of sickness. So for all intents and purposes, as Darin was wrapping up what might have been his very last live show ever, this song is Bobby Darin’s tender farewell to the audience. For the many faults of Beyond the Sea, Spacey absolutely did the music justice, as he does here.
fishymcb's classic Sad Bastard mix, a mix of the most depressing songs imaginable, I've decided to whip together one of my own to send to bloo_mountain, along with a SUPERHAPPYFUNTIME mix to balance things out. I'm rather proud of this mix, 3 CDs worth of depressing, devastating, soul-crushing music. Take a look for yourself. Full track lists, plus commentary, behind the cut. And if you have any songs you'd want to have on your own Sad Bastard mix, I'd love to hear 'em!
Disc 1
1.) Peter Gabriel- “Here Comes the Flood.” Originally, this was a more upbeat and gung-ho song when it appeared at the end of Peej’s first album.
2.) The 6ths w/Momus- “As You Turn to Go.” The 6ths is Stephen Merritt’s (of the Magnetic Fields) second band, where he writes songs to have various singers of various levels of fame sing. These first three tracks are, I firmly believe, meant to be heard as a trilogy, as I have done here.
3.) The 6ths w/Sally Timms- “Give Me Back my Dreams.”
4.) The 6ths w/Bob Mould- “He Didn’t.” Sung by Bob Mould of Husker Du fame. The only sad, quiet, tender piece he’s ever done, as far as I know.
5.) Damien Rice, “The Blower’s Daughter.”
6.) Rebecka Del Rio, “Llorando (Crying).” I adore Roy Orbison and his original version, as well as his duet with K.D. Lang, but the solo version here from Mulholland Drive is a bit more on the devastating side of things.
7.) Lou Reed, “Vanishing Act.” One of several of the songs used in the soundtrack for our production of Vigil.
8.) The Cottars, “The Briar and the Rose.” The Cottars are a band from Nova Scotia that generally performs Celtic-themed folk type music. Here, they cover a Tom Waits classic, and even Dave, that stubborn Tom Waits fanatic snob, thought this version might even be superior.
9.) The Cure, “To Wish Impossible Things.” I still have a hard time listening to this.
10.) Craig Armstrong, “This Love.” From the composer of Love, Actually.
11.) E.S. Posthumous, “Nara.” This band/person does incidental music for movie trailers and such. I was not alone in watching the trailer for the generally uninteresting Richard Gere epic Unfaithful, watching those scenes as this music played, and thinking, “Wow… that actually looks really cool!” Of course, the movie blew, but that trailer! The music was also used in the Vanity Fair trailer. Chances are, you know it well.
12.) Michael Nyman, “The Piano Theme.” The greatest musical depiction of pure obsession ever.
13.) Danny Elfman, “The Grand Finale” from Edward Scissorhands.
14.) Mark Snow, “Millennium Theme.” Mark Snow of X-Files fame did a similarly-excellent work composing the music for the show Millennium, fitting well with the show’s tone of “like the X-Files, only darker and more soul-crushingly sad.”
15.) Enya, “Exile.” Probably very cheesy unless you’ve seen L.A. Story.
16.) Emm Gryner, “Half Sorry.”
17.) Harry Nilsson, “Without You.” Used to great effect in Rules of Attraction. From the man who brought you “You Put The Lime in the Coconut.”
18.) Meat Loaf, “For Crying Out Loud.” Meat Loaf rules, man.
Disc 2
1.) Johnny Cash, “Hurt.” Chances are your soul is already dying a little just reading that. I was thinking of also putting his duet with Fiona Apple doing “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” but then you really would want to kill yourself.
2.) Joseph Arthur, “A Smile That Explodes.”
3.) Leonard Cohen, “Chelsea Hotel No. 2.” Leonard Cohen is the man.
4.) Michael Ball, “Send in the Clowns.” Before I played this for Dave, he was bitching as he usually does about how it couldn’t possibly top Sinatra’s version. Then I played it for him. Dave was weeping within the first three sung lines.
5.) Michael Nyman, “GATTACA- The Departure.”
6.) Moby, “When It’s Cold I’d Like To Die.” The title says it all.
7.) Queen, “Who Wants to Live Forever.”
8.) Randy Newman, “I Want You To Hurt Like I Do.”
9.) Ray Charles and Elton John, “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word.”
10.) Red House Painters, “I’m Sorry.” A John Denver classic, with all the warmth of Denver replaced by utter misery. Hooray!
11.) Loudon Wainwright III & Shawn Colvin, “A Heart Needs a Home.” Two modern folkie legends covering the Richard and Linda Thompson classic.
12.) Samuel Barber, “Adagio for Strings.” Platoon, man. Plattoon.
13.) Harry Connick Jr, “But Not For Me.” When you want your sorrow with a hint of Noir.
14.) Peter Gabriel, “I Grieve.” Smallville, a show which notoriously inserts the latest pop crap from some flavor of the week musician to sell records, actually used this track during the funeral of a major character recently. The only other time they’ve really done anything like that was when they used Johnny Cash’s “Hurt.” That should say something about the quality of the song, I hope.
15.) Warren Zevon, “Mutineer.”
16.) Cecilia Noel, “Mi Unicornio Azul.” I first heard this in the BMW Films
short, “The Follow,” starring Clive Owen, Forrest Whittaker, and Mickey Rourke. All great films, Google ‘em if you get the chance.
17.) Hefner, “Tactile.” How could I resist a band with this name? And they’re actually good, too.
18.) Emm Gryner, “Breathless.” Leave it to Emm to take the peppy, perky pop song and turn it into… this.
Disc 3
1.) Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, “I Miss You.”
2.) Leonard Cohen, “If It Be Your Will.” Leonard. Cohen. Is. The. Fucking. MAN.
3.) Ennio Morricone and Henry Mancini, “Cinema Paradiso Theme.” I think I made Molly cry with this one.
4.) Mandy Patinkin, “Taxi.” Mandy Patinkin (Indigo Montoya from The Princess Bride) doing his version of the Harry Chapin classic.
5.) Doves, “Ambition.” I first heard this on the finale episode of Queer as Folk and have loved it ever since.
6.) Sonic Youth, “Superstar.” I discovered this on the European trailer for High Tension (known then and there as Haute Tension). Sonic Youth’s version of this Carpenters classic is haunting and more than a bit disturbing. The movie itself was generally excellent, crap ending aside, but it certainly could have benefited from the inclusion of this song somewhere.
7.) DJ Redlight, “Final Doom- Memoriam.” From ocremix.org, a website entirely dedicated to video game music remixes, comes a cover of the credits music from the game FINAL DOOM. One of my very favorite video game tracks, redone here as a powerful, haunting dirge.
8.) Marianne Faithful, “Trouble in Mind.”
9.) Rufus Wainwright, “Hallelujah.” There’s an awful lot of discussion over which version of this Leonard Cohen classic is the best. A handful of sticklers prefer the original Cohen version, a version I myself still enjoy, while most vastly prefer Jeff Buckley’s version (Dave and Misty highly favored it, calling it “angelic”). Personally, I think Jeff Buckley is horridly overrated (or I just don’t get the appeal) and while I think his version is the best thing he ever did, I still think it sounds too wobbly and weak, less tender and “angelic” and more anemic and fragile. I myself favor Rufus Wainwright’s version from the Shrek soundtrack (even though it was John Cale’s version that actually played in the movie… and no one cares about John Cale’s version, it seems). I think he carries the heavy weight of sadness behind it that really drives it home. Plus, it’s also the song that introduced me to Rufus.
10.) Tom Waits, “Tom Traubert’s Blues.” While I generally tend to avoid Tom Waits these days because of how closely he’s tied to the other two parts of that wa-ha-hacky love triangle I was part of last year, I cannot deny the power of this song. I couldn’t stand to listen to even 30 seconds of Rod Stewart’s crappy and more famous version.
11.) Frank Sinatra, “Auld Lang Syne.” The original “Oh god, I need to go kill myself after listening to this” song. A soul-crusher of the highest caliber, perhaps the most devastating in this whole album.
12.) Loudon Wainwright & John Hiatt, “My Girl.” Starting with this, I finally start to liven the mood a bit with a few bittersweet love songs.
13.) Mitch and Mickey, “A Kiss At The End of the Rainbow.” Even if you haven’t seen A Mighty Wind, there’s no denying the tenderness and sweetness because or in spite of the knowing corniness of this song. Written by Michael McKean and his wife Annette O’Toole and performed in character by Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy, this totally should have won the Oscar for best song (curse you Howard Shore and Annie Lennox for your Oscar-baiting and excellent song!)
14.) Lou Reed, “Perfect Day.” One of my exes told me how she would lock herself in a room after she broke up with her first boyfriend and play this song over and over again and cry. Me, I discovered this thanks to the Vigil soundtrack. For most everybody else, it’ll make people think of Trainspotting.
15.) Peter Gabriel, “Book of Love.” Peter Gabriel takes the twangy Magnetic Fields song and utterly masters it. A simply beautiful song. I have made no less than three people cry with it.
16.) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Straight to You.”
17.) Kevin Spacey, “The Curtain Falls.” I was wrestling between using this or the original Bobby Darin version. I’m still not sure I made the right decision to go with Spacey’s cover. The original song was one that Darin performed at the end of one of his Las Vegas shows, the show he was planning to be his last for a long time, maybe for ever. See, Bobby Darin spent every day as if it were his last, because it might have been, thanks to a lifetime of sickness. So for all intents and purposes, as Darin was wrapping up what might have been his very last live show ever, this song is Bobby Darin’s tender farewell to the audience. For the many faults of Beyond the Sea, Spacey absolutely did the music justice, as he does here.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 09:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 08:34 pm (UTC)"3 Libras" by A Perfect Circle - the violin piece alone chokes me up
"Nocturne for Violin and Piano" by Chopin - I have a soft spot for quieter classical music and Chopin is by far my favorite composer. This particular piece is like listening to the most tragic love story you've ever heard.
"Absolutely Zero" by Jason Mraz - certainly a pop ballad and not as artistic as the others, but it tells a story with which I am far to familiar and his voice really carries the emotion.
"Mad World" by Michael Andrews - the song from "Donnie Darko" - enough said
"Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot - because it's the song playing in "A Walk to Remember" when the guy finds out his girl is dying and he cries in the car and I'm a such a girl about that movie.
"Execution by Christmas Lights" by Flickerstick - rather self-explanatory. I drew a picture inspired by this song once (of a girl who hangs herself with a rop of christmas lights) for an art class. The professor asked me if I needed someone to talk to.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 09:04 pm (UTC)And of course, in my mind no sad sack mix is complete without "Green Plastic Trees" by Radiohead. Wonderful song, one that I didn't quite get just how sad it really was until I really listened to it. Great stuff.
All in all...I don't seem to have that many ultra depressing songs on my comp. Huh. Some of the songs on your mix sounds really good though, though I haven't actually heard most of them. (but are you sure that the Rufus Wainwright cover wasn't used in one of the Shrek movies? Cause I swear I've heard it before, and I don't have any Rufus cds or anything. Weird)
no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 09:42 pm (UTC)Oh I'm sure you have heard it, it was a very popular song after Shrek came out, but I promise you, even though he's on the CD soundtrack it's John Cale's version in the movie.
I wholeheartedly recommend checking out Rufus' first self-titled album and his follow-up, "Poses." I also recommend his father, Loudon Wainwright III.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 09:49 pm (UTC)I agree with you about Hallelujah, also. The Rufus version has always been my favorite--his voice is just haunting and lovely and it gives me chills.
Do you have any of this on your computer? I'd loove to have a copy of Send in the Clowns if you could email or IM it. Michael Ball is completely my homeboy.
Anyway, glad to see you yesterday! ::snugS::
no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 10:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 12:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 12:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 03:59 pm (UTC)