"No Face, No Name, and No Number" ~ Traffic Here the music is quiet and determined, and the lyrics capture one of the band's persistent themes. It's not their greatest, but so many of their songs are about personal loss, about people who are no longer present physically or emotionally. If "Moonlight Mile" encapsulates one type of early '70s melancholy, then "All I Want Is You" does the same for the late '80s. … which U2 echoes perfectly-down to the strings!-for the close of their underrated album Rattle and Hum. A brilliant six minutes … "All I Want Is You" ~ U2 Yet those sweeping violins at the end provide a note of resolve and hope. One of the greatest finishes to an album in all of rock, this song communicates weariness better than almost any other song I know. "God Only Knows" sneaks up on you in a way that the other does not.) "Moonlight Mile" ~ The Rolling Stones
(Yes, "In My Room" is melancholy … but it's also too obviously melancholy. And the music? Brian Wilson has never been more lovely … or catchy. The first line, after all, is "I may not always love you …", and it goes from there, wondering, hoping, promising only that he can't promise anything. "God Only Knows" ~ The Beach Boysīefore you laugh, go listen to the lyrics again. Coupled with a spare yet resonant arrangment, this is a beautiful, aching song. His voice can be whiny sometimes, but here's it's perfect.
#Good melancholy love songs mac
"Landslide" ~ Smashing PumpkinsĪ fantastic remake of a Fleetwood Mac song. But underlying it all is melancholy, directed at the self as much as the one he sings about. Perhaps a bit too menacing to be truly melancholy, and perhaps a touch too bitter as well. "Sweet Old World" ~ Lucinda WilliamsĪn elegy for a friend who committed suicide, detailing all the good things in life that he left behind: "The breath from your own lips, the touch of fingertips, A sweet and tender kiss, The sound of a midnight train, wearing someone's ring, Someone calling your name, Somebody so warm cradled in your arm, Didn't you think you were worth anything?" "In Spite of Me" ~ Morphine The interplay between instruments in the middle-saxophone, strings, french horn, and then organ-is moving, one of a kind. She's the Queen of Soul, but here, in a song written by her sister, Aretha's voice hits high notes of longing and desire as she sings of getting older, looking for someone to love … and never succeeding.
Perfect for dark nights driving on back country roads.
#Good melancholy love songs series
"Houses on the Hill" ~ WhiskeytownĪ series of images, about war, death, and lost love-and in less than three minutes.
Growing old, thinking of past loves, wishing you could turn back the clock and knowing you can't. And something like Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" isn't just sentimental, it's bathetic. For instance, Chet Atkin's "I Still Can't Say Goodbye" is a great song, but it's sentimental, not melancholy. Notice I've chosen songs that are melancholy without being sentimental, a key difference. Each of these songs embodies that feeling in some way. John Keats defines melancholy in his famous Ode as "the wakeful anguish of the soul".
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