If you feel yourself possessed by an overabundance of good spirits, Renaissance’s “Cold Is Being” will drain them right off:
*
behold the feeling lonely
the living part is done
the dying has begun
the world is spinning slow
so tired slow*
Beautifully sung by Annie Haslam, but damn, that is one stone cold downer.
If I was a DJ playing music from that scene on the radio, I’d segue right into “Love Train”.
Speaking of segues, one I used to do on-air involved “Harold The Barrel” by Genesis (a cheery song about a guy who mutilates himself and then jumps off a building), fading out eerily with Harold’s rapidly diminishing cries and on into the disembodied voices of the opening of Supertramp’s “A Soapbox Opera”:
“We must not stand still,
For the night is coming,
Every man, every woman and child,
Everybody help me”
A large portion of the repertoire of Melanie. It’s what she does.
nominees:
I Really Loved Harold
Detroit or Buffalo
Imaginary Heroes
Leftover Wine
Stop I Don’t Wanna Hear it
The Good Guys
Uptown Down
Summer Weaving
Stoneground Words
I am Not a Poet
The song the tv show Bones used in the first season at the end of the episode “The Superhero in the Alley”. According to IMDB, it’s “Feel It Now” by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It’s beautiful and sad and despairing but also a bit at peace. I imagine that if I were to commit suicide, my feelings would be similar - some combination of sorrow and peace.
If I could change your mind - Alan Parson Project
Almost every song on the album “E”, by E
Almost every song on Magic and Loss, by Lou Reed
Forever Autumn - Justin Hayward
Goodbye Cruel World - Pink Floyd
Time - Pink Floyd
Seventeen - Janice Ian
Bright Eyes(any song)
Not really music to kill yourself to, more the stuff you listen to first to get sad enough. I remember one song from Letting off the Happiness about a little brother that drowned in the bathtub…
For actually kill yourself (or someone else ) to, I’d recommend the Murder Ballads album from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
Tomorrow Wendy by Andy Prieboy, probably better known is the inferior Concrete Blonde version:
*It is complete now the two ends of time are neatly tied
A one-way street, she’s walking to end of the line
And there she meets the faces she keeps in her heart and mind
They say ‘good bye’ Tomorrow, Wendy, is going to die,
They say ‘good bye’ Tomorrow, Wendy, is going to die,
*
How to Make Gravy by Paul Kelly Three Babies by Sinead O’Connor Ballad of Lou the Welterweight by the Felice Brothers
“Crucifixion Lane” by Procol Harum, which has always seemed to me to be Jesus’ suicide note. Last verse:
Youd better listen anybody, 'cause its me and you – that’s it
And in case you find your maker perhaps you’ll plead for us a bit
All my sick is in my stomach, all my sweat is clearly fear
And if you could see inside me I don’t think you’d have me here
Tell the helmsman veer to starboard, bring this ship around to port
And if the sea was not so salty I could sink instead of walk
And in case of passing strangers who are standing where I fell
Tell the truth: you never knew me, and in truth its just as well
It’s from Robin Trower’s days with the group - he sings the song and plays amazing guitar as well.
Jeff Buckley- Lover, You Should Have Come Over
Kurt Cobain’s version of Leadbelly’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
Radiohead- Creep
Elliott Smith- Sweet Adeline
Elvis Costello- Heart Shaped Bruise
Tom McCrae- You Cut Her Hair
Nina Simone or Billie Holliday- Don’t Explain
Etta James- I Would Rather Go Blind
And finally…
The Moody Blues- Nights in White Satin
Oh yes, that’s on “Long Black Veil”… the eponymous track (featuring Mick Jagger) may also fit the OP. Another of the Chieftains co-operative albums, “Tears of Stone” has Joni Mitchell’s “The Magdalene Laundries”; quite a haunting piece.
Marianne Faithfull already got a mention for the “Ballad of Lucy Jordan”, but quite a lot of that album “Broken English” would qualify.
My wife claims that Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” and “The Final Cut” are wrist slashing music… but I listen to them to cheer me up.
…
) to, I’d recommend the Murder Ballads album from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.