The Air that I breathe… The Hollies…
Tell me you still care… SOS Band…
Lovely day… Bill Withers…
Wouldn’t it be nice… Beach Boys…
Never my Love… The Association or the Fifth Dimension cover…
Too Shy… Kajaagoogoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKWbMJOIkUk&feature=av2n
Wow i forgot about Oh Father… yeah what an incredible song and video…
How about a little Glenn Miller, Moonlight Serenade.
Also, Miracles by Jefferson Starship
Another vote for Eva Cassidy, but when I see the phrase ‘achingly beautiful’ I think of her rendition of Autumn Leaves, made all the more haunting 'cuz she died so young.
Saint Cad, there are some quotes from Sting about Eva Cassidy’s version of “Fields of Gold” on this page, about two-thirds of the way down:
http://evacassidy.blogspot.com/
I don’t know what primary evidence would be, unless you actually spoke directly to Sting.
I’m happy to see other people have already mentioned “Coming Up Close” by Til Tuesday.
Here are a few of my favorite beautiful songs:
“Here Comes the Flood” - Peter Gabriel
“Deborah’s Theme” - Ennio Morricone
“Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” - U2
My nominations:
“Red Rain” - Peter Gabriel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAecdC3W3Yg
“King of Pain” - the Police http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGEJcizQEXk
“Cuts You Up” - Peter Murphy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpz2AWu4PZg
Someone already beat me to Ultravox’s “Vienna.”
Love Under Will- Fields of the Fallen Heavenly Giants/Titans.
I love these threads, I always read them withGrooveshark or Spotify open in the background.
Three others, as yet absent.
Kate Bush - this woman’s work
Always puts a lump in my throat
Massive Attack -teardrops
Whenever I put this on in the car when my kids were tiny they would stare in silence at the speakers.
Carpenters-superstar
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.
I can’t find it online, but the Audra McDonald/Brian Stokes Mitchell duet of Sarah Brown Eyes from **Ragtime **is breathtaking. As is pretty much anything she sings.
Am I really the one who get’s to post The Beatles - Yesterday? Seems like it should have been on the first page. (Gonna feel dumb when someone points out that it was and I missed it.)
In that same vein, John Lennon - Imagine.
Ach was… for nostalgia, Tausendmal Du '86
Meh. I’m a huge Beatles fan, and I can take or leave that song.
A much, much more beautiful Beatles tune, IME, would be either “Blackbird”, “Mother Nature’s Son”, “Here, There, and Everywhere”, “For No One”, or “Julia”.
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a bad version of Wuthering Heights. Even the Icelandic version.
Ditto for Bonny Portmore.
Though, really, I think I lose my “hauntingly beautiful” cred if I don’t nominate “Che Soave Zefiretto” from The Marriage of Figaro.
My two nominations for hauntingly beautiful are Chinese songs. The fact I can’t understand the lyrics may be much of what makes them haunting! 
(1) The Teresa Teng song Tian Mi Mi. It was the theme song in a 1996 Hong Kong movie of the same name, a bittersweet love story which I’d seen. While Googling, I found an English version of Tian Mi Mi.
(2) Another Chinese song haunts me even more, becasue I don’t know the name and therefore can’t find it on YouTube, etc. (Though it’s now played regularly on Thai TV in a commercial for MK Restaurants! :eek: )
Can anyone help me identify this song? The beginning notes of the melody are approximately
CCDECAG CCDECAG CCDE EG’A’ A’G’A’G’ED CCAD DDCE CCA’G’ECAGC
(Some of the A’s and G’s are higher than C – I’ve marked this with a mark: ’ )
Ah, you can keep your nocturnes (well, Op. 48 No. 1 is rather nice), mazurkas, polonaises, ballades and such…give me a good Étude series and I’m happy.
Glad to see someone else who can appreciate a good etude (musical study) as potentially “achingly beautiful.” Here are Chopin’s first set of Études (Op. 10), which he composed at age 23 and dedicated to his friend, Franz Liszt—performed by the lovely and supremely talented, Valentina Lisitsa.
Chopin Etude Op10
No.1
No.2
No.3
No.4
No.5
No.6
No.7
No.8
No.9
No.10
No.11
No.12
Then, of course, there are Chopin’s second set of etudes (Op. 25), which he dedicated to his mistress (those naughty 18th century composer/virtuosos just couldn’t keep their pants zippered!). Here’s No. 12, you can search for the first 11 on your own, if you’re interested.
Etude Op 25 No.12
I had the privilege to see Valentina perform at a small, intimate venue last year and introduce my daughters (ages 7 and 9) to her after the show. “Girls”, said I, “Get that lady Gaga person out of your system and learn to play half as well as Ms. Lisitsa someday, then your old man won’t die bitter and disappointed" (sometimes you have to play the guilt card with your kids to get results). Here’s a 10 minute interview of Valentina that I found enlightening and maybe you will too:
Valentina
I’m more a fan of Liszt than Chopin, however, and his Transcendental Etudes never fail to blow me away, though you may not find them as “achingly beautiful” as I do. Here’s No. 4 (Mazeppa) from that series, admirably played by Boris Berezovsky…(I believe you need strong man-hands to give justice to the Liszt etudes):
Mazeppa
On the pop/rock side, if we wish to call that "real" music ;), I always found the Rolling Stone’s [Ruby Tuesday](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUKz2fvb6jY&feature=related) to be hauntingly beautiful, and of course, much of the Beatles body of work is quite nice.
“Traces” (Dennis Yost/Classics IV)
“Keep Me From Blowing Away” (as performed by Linda Ronstadt)
“Don’t Worry, Baby” (Brian Wilson)
“Can’t Help Falling” (Elvis)
Me too for:
“Ashokan Farewell”
“For No One” (McCartney)
“Julia” (Lennon)
The melody for Can’t Help Falling is based on an old French song called Plaisir d’Amour, which is also quite beautiful. My favorite version is by Jean Redpath, who sang it as part of a medley on the CD Love Is Teasin’. Unfortunately, I can’t find this performance on line. Nana Mouskouri did a good version of it.