His singing voice oozes melancholy and the lyrics break my heart every single time I listen to it.
The chorus is the killer.
Andy Irvine’s version of Woody Guthrie - The Ballad Of Tom Joad
I’d never heard of that band before. I thought, “He sounds like the guy from Red House Painters.” Turns out, he is that guy. I have one of the Red House Painters’ CDs. Very melancholy stuff all the way through.
Whenever I feel the need to tamp down the joy in my heart, I turn to Springsteen. For small outbreaks of happiness, “The River” might be enough. For more serious episodes, it might take “Paradise” or “Nothing Man”. Those will usually defeat even my most stubborn bouts of happiness.
Springsteen’s Terry’s Song off the last album is a killer too.
Mark Kozelek. In early 2000, he realized that no one really gave a shit about the Red House Painters anymore, and decided to change the name. It worked, Ghosts of the Great Highway was one of the best albums of 2003, and people only paid attention cause they thought “new band!” But it’s mostly just RHP.
I still maintain the most heartbreaking song, ever, is easily the Elliott Smith cover of “Trouble”, originally recorded by Cat Stevens and used at the end of Harold and Maude. Most say it was the last song Smith recorded before, well, you know. Kinda hard to beat that.
For me, my heartbreakers are:
“Better Be Home Soon”-Crowded House. Especially the bridge.
“The Dance”-Garth Brooks, because it reminds me way too much of my dad. I still can’t listen to it.
A man called **An Gadai **will surely know Luke Kelley. I’ve been listening to him a lot since Ronnie Drew passed on, he has the most emotive, passionate voice I have ever heard.
Raglan Road is a heartbreaking song - one of the best examples of a world class poet (Patrick Kavanagh) writing the lyrics for a world class singer. A great, great, heartbreaking song.
Ah yeah I loved Luke Kelly’s singing. There’s a new Ronnie Drew album out now, the last sessions he did.
‘Faraway In Australia’ is another heartbreaking song IMHO.
The Ballad of Lucy Jordan by Marianne Faithfull