# Most achingly beautiful songs ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584 "2010-08-17T23:15:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/361 "2010-09-14T19:21:36Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Sinead O’Connor probably has a few candidates but I’ll go with [This Is A Rebel Song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBFf44V5fmI) and [In This Heart](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w09mDTbQoIU). [“Sacrifice”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWa-aMiqQKE). ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/362 "2010-09-14T23:43:28Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > > > Into a pool? > > Nope, roof of an adjacent building. My turn! Was there a pool on the adjacent building?😃 At any rate, I just remembered another one. “A Token of Faith” by the Armenian Choir of Sofia. Wow. No youtube link, sorry. However, I do have another one by Mountain “Nantucket Sleighride.” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqWqCuHR0Og](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqWqCuHR0Og) Mountain, pioneers of metal, have a good handful of hauntingly beautiful songs. I shan’t carry on about them, tho. Find out for yourselves! Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/363 "2010-09-14T23:58:52Z")
The piano thing is pretty, but _Danny Boy_ is first a poem. I like [this version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BheHGqKVWAw) by **Sinead O’Connor.** A friend once spoke Danny Boy to us at a small gathering. It was beautiful. He formed it as a farewell from a mother to her son, who was going off to The Troubles in modern times. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/364 "2010-09-19T22:16:55Z")
[Always on My Mind](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7f189Z0v0Y&ob=av2e). “Tell me that your sweet love hasn’t died”. Hopeful. It sounds real when Willie sings it. I’m still perusing this thread, chasing links I haven’t followed yet. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/365 "2010-09-19T23:57:05Z")
[“Love Theme from The Godfather”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hQAO8QTnG8) of course. ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/366 "2010-09-20T05:16:04Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I love these threads, I always read them with[Grooveshark](http://listen.grooveshark.com/#) or [Spotify](http://www.spotify.com/uk/new-user/) open in the background. > > Carpenters-[superstar](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9Nm_0pC4FM) > Well this is cheating, it is Karen Carpenter after all. She could sing out the contents of the phone book and break your heart. And, as dreadful as it may be, she more ill she looks the more achingly, beautifully, desperate it sounds. Yep. I’ve been hooked on [Only Yesterday](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQmbHGwMcCo) for a while now (and Goodbye to Love before that). She was only 19-20 when they started recording their smash albums. This is a cool duet/medley she did with John Denver, another great pop voice: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJUIWYX8HlI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJUIWYX8HlI) ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/367 "2013-06-23T13:30:23Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > [For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7aUNZQVpQ) - Simon & Garfunkel Oh indeed! Practically anything that the astounding Jackie Evanco covers. Her version of Nessun Dorma, Dark Waltz and Angel all are better than the originals. She brings tears to my eyes (_The Evancho Effect_) Cowboy Junkies [One](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScZjneRNz08) Cowboy Junkies [This Street, That Man, This Life](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIZ_yUEGux4) Cowboy Junkies [Bea’s Song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d1jzT24E8Q). Saw them perform this live recently and the cost of admission was worth it for this alone. Cowboy Junkies [Ring On The Sill](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzD3xJRRyGA) This Mortal Coil [I Come And Stand At Every Door](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vZ0KgLifjI) Vanessa Mae/Vangelis [Roxanne’s Veil](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTui4w67XTc) Eleftheria Arvanitaki [Tzivaeri](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0WaNsKro-0) (very long intro) First heard this at an Athena Andreadis concert and was in tears despite not understanding a word. Athena has no representative version online. Tip of the iceberg. As mentioned above, Sting’s “They Dance Alone” ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/368 "2013-06-23T17:15:47Z")
Van Morrison [These Are The Days](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lyve_egY8o). [Have I Told You Lately](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFF1wJN75Z0) [Days Like This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BteIwbKU_iQ) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/369 "2013-06-23T17:21:05Z")
This thread is a bit of a zombie (but that’s not a problem for threads like these), so I may have already mentioned this in this very thread…but I’ll add the version of “I’ll Fly Away” sung by Allison Krause and Gillian Welch, included in the soundtrack for the film _O Brother, Where Art Thou?_. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/370 "2013-06-23T18:23:27Z")
Even Zombies should tear up a bit listening to: “The Sea”- Sandy Denny “The Carnival is Over” - Dead Can Dance “The Lark Ascending” - Ralph Vaughn Williams “Flames” -Mark Isham (‘Crash’ soundtrack) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/371 "2013-06-23T18:40:11Z")
The Dead’s _Brokedown Palace_ ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/372 "2013-06-25T03:11:37Z")
[Ooh Child](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ahGQqArNFc) covered by Beth Orton. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/373 "2013-06-25T03:17:17Z")
> [@Moonchild](#): > > Jem’s cover of [Maybe I’m Amazed](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rGZkAkOm1Y) > > Really, it’s achingly beautiful without the O.C. tainting it. 😃 I had to check to see if somebody had already posted this song… but somebody did: me!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/374 "2013-06-25T03:30:31Z")
Another: [One](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE9hubGnqQM). ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/375 "2013-06-25T07:01:39Z")
“We’re All Alone” by Rita Coolidge. “Ebb Tide,” artist unknown. “Tammy,” by Debbie Reynolds. “Lovin’ You,” by Minnie Riperton. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/376 "2013-06-25T07:57:49Z")
Bach’s Air on G string Pachelbel’s Canon Debussy’s Claire de Lune Tarrega’s Recuerdos De La Alhambra Joplin’s Weeping Willow Night and Day Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered All the things you are Both Sides Now (men’s version) If you could read my mind Empty Chairs Fool on a Hill I will Hey Jude The way she looked House at Pooh Corner Turn, Turn, Turn Let’s Hang On Music of the Night On my own ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/377 "2013-06-25T14:32:26Z")
Didn’t read the whole thread… This one, [Graceful Ghost Rag by William Bolcom](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YufmYPb2zZE), is heartbreakingly beautiful, sad, emotional… holy cow, when I hear it I erupt in goosebumps all over and tears come to my eyes. It’s full of longing, wandering, yearning… and the gentle rhythm makes you want to move as you listen to it. The bridge is a little bit hopeful and happy, and you think maybe things will be okay. But no, the sad, \*bereft \*theme returns. A masterpiece. There are a lot of versions on YouTube, but this piano performance by Barron Ryan is my favorite. There are some with violin and piano, and they’re also good, but the syncopation comes across really well on the piano. And it MUST have the syncopation. There are some versions played in straight 4/4-- not the same feeling. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/378 "2013-06-25T15:28:28Z")
My take on “achingly beautiful” may be somewhat eccentric (or not), but here’s some I’ve not seen linked to on reading the thread. [The Dubliners - Night Visiting Song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMGvQ2v-ZRM). The last recorded performance by Luke Kelly, probably the finest folk singer ever to have lived. It’s a beautiful song anyway, but the circumstances make it even more so. [Clint Mansell - Lux Aeterna.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jdqUCCnF5U) From the “Requiem For A Dream” soundtrack, and simply the most beautiful, devastating piece of music ever written. [Bruce Springsteen - Across The Border](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVoRn60r6t4). There’s not a chance I’d do a music list without at least one Springsteen song, and although he’s not exactly known for aching beauty, this song has it in spades. Wistful lyrics and a gorgeous, building tune that starts simple and adds more and more instruments into an amazing, yet still quiet, ending. Also, probably the only of his songs that’s better in the studio version. [Willie Nelson - Across The Borderline](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVoRn60r6t4). There’s hundreds of his songs I could have picked, here’s one of them. [Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris - Gulf Coast Highway](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T_uM3A13W4). If these two duetted on “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini”, it would still be achingly beautiful. This cover of the Nanci Griffith song is simply amazing. [Emmylou Harris, Mary Black, and Dolores Keane - Sonny](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBFAFk8Ui7A). More Emmylou, singing with two well known Irish singers in a lovely sad song. Also contains the most beautiful nagpipe solo, by Liam O’Flynn. [Emmylou Harris - Boulder To Birmingham](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xX5XY49dSU). That’s probably enough Emmylou for now, but if you want achingly beautiful, she’s pretty much the definition of it. [June Tabor and Oysterband - Love Will Tear Us Apart](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-pWSHTQOFs). An absolutely amazing cover, that transforms the original in the same way Johnny Cash did with “Hurt”. Speaking of Cash, here’s a song that came out just after his death. The honesty here is what makes it beautiful. [If I Gave My Soul](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1qsVE_74xQ) Someone earlier mentioned [Anathema’s One Last Goodbye](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GubL5yhp_Bk), but didn’t link to it. These started off as an extreme metal band, albeit one with a deep emotional component, but fairly quickly moved to this sort of beautiful, dark rock. Lastly, [Tom Waits with Tom Traubert’s Blues.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkOMiA_uGso) I have a soft spot for rough, even ruined voices, and find this sort of singing extremely beautiful. The poetry of the lyrics, as with so many of his songs, has an uncompromising beauty. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/379 "2013-06-26T04:02:24Z")
“Je crois entendre encore” Nadir’s aria from Act I of the opera Les Pêcheurs de Perles by Bizet. Alain Vanzo, tenor. He’s the only tenor I’ve heard who does the high B perfectly. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5MjnIcxCz8c/hqdefault.jpg "Bizet - Je crois entendre encore - Alain Vanzo") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MjnIcxCz8c) ---
**Author:** ![Satellite\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Satellite\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satellite_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/380 "2013-06-26T04:20:16Z")
One of my current favorite songs at the moment is [damien rice -volcano](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZduDvIBu3EU). Also, a few years ago, I was on a bit of a kick where I was listening to covers done by undiscovered talent, on Soundclick. The one singer that stuck from that was a young man by the name Adam Barrett. He did a cover of Everybody Wants to Rule the World, which he did wonderfully, and is how I discovered him in the first place, but I love the other songs on his page, which he wrote (there are four). Here’s his [music page](http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=923229&content=music). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584.md?page=20)