# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/61 "2010-08-18T06:57:11Z")
Eric Merrill’s version of “Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still,” from _The Western Star_; my favorite version of a 140-year-old song. It’s not online. Here’s a fine, but lesser, [version by Peter Cooper and Eric Brace](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMmpeDoVhzA), if you don’t know the song. Merrill fills it out with his Irish-Appalachian backing band (fiddle, viola, banjo, bass, uillean pipes, and harmony vocal in addition to the guitars and lead vocal), but with a lightness that doesn’t overwhelm a delicate song. ---
**Author:** ![equinoxi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@equinoxi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/equinoxi)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/62 "2010-08-18T06:57:42Z")
> [@equinoxi](#): > > [Bird Gerhl](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40Br07CF0qk) - Antony and the Johnsons > > [The Lake](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uuY4fbN_jA) : Antony and the Johnsons > > anything from [Sigur Ros](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqJ8hFgYwVg&feature=av2e) > > [play dead](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MU2VEAxUdY&feature=related) : Bjork > > [ask the mountain](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4lAwVP8meY&feature=related) : Stina Nordenstam > > [Murder In Mairyland Park](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf3IyIFTXxA&feature=related) : Stina Nodenstam > > [Hairnet Paradise](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ANDfMGdHgs&feature=related) : Cocorosie > > [Tekno Love Song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlTG2CI9BU4&feature=related) : Cocorosie I forgot to add [Cucurrucucu Paloma](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuYKOx834Pw) - Caetano Veloso [Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-xUpdO3g44&feature=related) - Joanna Newsom [troy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu7n0ccyywY&feature=related) - Sinead O’Connor [Twist in my sobriety](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXSTe9YMCKo) - Tanita Tikaram [Wonderful Life](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyfu_mU-dmo) - Black [Fumbling Towards Ecstacy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHasG0y158Q&feature=related) - Sarah McLachlan [The Promise](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crTc1V34m8g&feature=related) -Tracy Chapman [hey Jupiter](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK_qRHoEkJU) - tori amos ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/63 "2010-08-18T06:58:20Z")
As long as people are posting instrumentals: [I’m Coming Virginia](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knU-r_6DylM) by Frank Trumbauer and His Orchestra, featuring Bix Beiderbecke and Eddie Lang. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/64 "2010-08-18T07:03:38Z")
Waters of Babylon- a [Don McLean song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTnspbSjKVc), though I loved the version from Mad Men ([begins around 3:06](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt09cAWROgA)) as well Here’s where my hillbilly heritage comes out: [Idumea](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU_QFvkPJvw&feature=related)done by the Sacred Harp Singers [Conversation With Death](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWTEwlygpkM) (will NOT appeal to everybody, but it moves me) [Wayfarin’ Stranger](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnaANP3cxDg)- lots of versions, but here’s Maria McKee’s And for the gay showtune loving side: [They Live in You/He Lives in You](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KBV_Y16yC4&feature=related) from The Lion King ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/65 "2010-08-18T07:15:30Z")
[Skye Boat Song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OnhtqnLSeU)- two [versions,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1CTxa-FuKc)both of them far from my favorites (which aren’t on youtube) ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/66 "2010-08-18T07:28:51Z")
Brahms, Op. 118 no 6 (the Dies Irae intermezzo) Ray Charles piano solo on “Worried Mind” ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/67 "2010-08-18T07:50:17Z")
I know its lyrics, I know it comes from a movie, but the Production, Piano, Melody, Mixing, Layering, and Lyrics breaks my heart. It’s a whole of heart and Kidneys . [Auf Herz und Nieren](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQyeausrcPk) ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/68 "2010-08-18T08:28:48Z")
The most beautifully sad love song: [Expecting To Fly](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TIg16XS8S0) by Buffalo Springfield (well, Neil Young really). ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/69 "2010-08-18T08:51:00Z")
[Vincent](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dipFMJckZOM) by Don McLean ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/70 "2010-08-18T08:56:16Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > [Conversation With Death](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWTEwlygpkM) (will NOT appeal to everybody, but it moves me) Did you hear this [Mongol version.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWz9gx188mo&feature=related)… Voce. Quite an interesting mix, I like it… ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/71 "2010-08-18T08:58:42Z")
Unforgettable - Nat King Cole I Only Have Eyes for You- Art Garfunkel Sway - Bic Runga One Day - Op Shop Boy with the Sad Hands - Jay Clarkson Guilty - Annie Crummer ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/72 "2010-08-18T09:16:06Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > And of course, the “[most beautiful song in the English language](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_Sunset#Legacy_and_accolades),” [Waterloo Sunset](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvDoDaCYrEY)" by The Kinks. Seconded. Most beautiful pop song ever. > [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > [Velvet Underground - What Goes On](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtntDoDoEbQ) What about [Pale Blue Eyes](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nir4BnNIFmg)? ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/73 "2010-08-18T09:28:23Z")
Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2 (Nino Gvetadze - Beautiful pianist plays beautiful music, part 1 🙂 ) [1st](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh1xj9TZXgg&p=D255305C0944681D&playnext=1&index=28) [2nd](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvbjimFCruU&feature=related) [3rd](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd74HSvWxWM&feature=related) Beethoven “Moonlight” Sonata op 27 # 2 (Valentina Lisitsa - Beautiful pianist plays beautiful music, part 2) [mvt 1,2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHd8jwXBzXE&feature=fvst) [mvt 3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zucBfXpCA6s&feature=channel) [C.P.E. Bach - Cello Concerto in A major Wq. 172 - II Largo con sordini](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlC4AIZ2CA0) [Beethoven Symphony #7 mvt II](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs5pH4GKYkI) [Rachmaninoff Piano Conc. No2 in C minor, Op.18 - II Adagio sostenuto](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AfCU7_ROBM) ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/74 "2010-08-18T12:07:10Z")
Oooh - good call on ‘Heart of the Matter’ by Don Henley. I’d add: Alison - Everything but the Girls version Macy’s Day Parade - Green Day ‘Moonlight’ sonata - Beethoven More Than Words - Extreme Love of My Life - Queen Nocturnes, Op 9 - Chopin Into the Mystic - Van Morrison Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day I am always shocked to see Extreme and Green Day on lists like this. Who’d think that punk/funk metal bands would have such beautiful songs? ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/75 "2010-08-18T12:25:58Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Having more or less forgotten about the premise of the thread: > [Rolling Stones - Love in Vain](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjVRkOGlr9I) > [Chicken Shack - I’d Rather go Blind](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohx9Ve7-GS0&playnext=1&videos=vnqHJ-JXWJQ) > [The Doors - Touch Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PECk9A-07Pw) \<\< I think I might possibly have been as stoned as this > [Thirteenth Floor Elevators - Slip Inside This House](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwSA0Tckwbk) or idly, and oddly [Primal Scream - Slip Inside This House](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW0d6mFqrpM) > > I’ve never been a stoned a this ^^^^ Good show, you manky Scots git! ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/76 "2010-08-18T12:31:59Z")
> [@Roland\_Orzabal](#): > > And, while it may not be some people’s cup of tea, I can’t appear in a music thread without plugging: > > [Standing on the Corner of the Third World - Tears For Fears](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP11EuHh7vs) +1 for Messrs Orzabal and Smith and their _oeuvre_. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/77 "2010-08-18T12:37:30Z")
“Beloved Wife” - Natalie Merchant ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/78 "2010-08-18T12:39:02Z")
Oh, boy, I get to be the first to post _Ashokan Farewell_? Add another for _Stardust_, plus _Clair de Lune_ and _Minstrel Boy_. ---
**Author:** ![jinty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/79 "2010-08-18T12:39:15Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Allegri. [Miserere mei, deus](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZL3POaATn8&playnext=1&videos=4R46nau91uw) Dammit! Beaten to the punch. I don’t have a religious atom in my body, but Miserere makes me well up every time. Interesting [story behind it](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miserere_%28Allegri%29) too. (Might even be true :D) [QUOTE=Wikipedia] According to the popular story (backed up by family letters), the fourteen-year-old Mozart was visiting Rome, when he first heard the piece during the Wednesday service. Later that day, he wrote it down entirely from memory, returning to the Chapel that Friday to make minor corrections. [/QUOTE] And here’s my own favourite: bluesman Robert Nighthawk’s [Black Angel Blues](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5F3GLm4Zjk). ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584/80 "2010-08-18T12:40:17Z")
So, I’ve tried to avoid another Youtube marathon. But give a listen to Richard & Linda Thompson’s[A Heart Needs A Home](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqViJyweNV0). He remains an excellent songwriter, guitarist & singer–but he did his most beautiful work with Linda. Maddy Prior & June Tabor with [The Agincourt Carol](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK16e-Emrms&feature=related). The old ones are the best. Or [Heart Like a Wheel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDrkUmxrxpQ&feature=related)–performed by Linda Ronstadt & the McGarrigle sisters. (I’ve read this was the first song the late Kate ever wrote.) Also from that first great album with her sister Anna, [Talk to me of Mendocino](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fcBEGjK3cM). [Hard Times Come Again No More](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YrfLnlrquo) by the McGarrigles, friends & family. Darn, I’d better move to a thread where I can be all snarky & sarcastic… (OK. One more. [Song For Ireland](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz_dHcduUTU). Maybe the The Dubliners’ version won’t do that aching thing. Or maybe it will.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-achingly-beautiful-songs-ever/550584.md?page=5)