# Raw songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492 "2011-03-13T02:54:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/41 "2011-03-15T13:14:22Z")
> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#): > > **O.K., I should have asked this before my earlier posting when I made a wild guess, but what does “raw” mean in the context of music and this thread? I’ve never heard it so used before.** Raw as in “raw nerves”. Exposed. Vulnerable. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/42 "2011-03-15T13:52:51Z")
Marty Brown is a little known country/hillbilly-type singer who can really wrench it. One of his album cuts, “She’s Gone” is a haunting death ballad beyond text description. I don’t think it’s on You Tube so you’ll have to trust me on this. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/43 "2011-03-15T14:18:27Z")
Got another one popping up on the shuffle this morning - Broke, Lovesick, and Drifting by Hank Williams III. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/44 "2011-03-15T15:22:12Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > That one doesn’t grab me, but “[Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow75NkJHJFg)” does. And that one doesn’t grab me, but [Something Vague](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NSMAmiMOBM) and especially [No Lies, Just Love](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM_hIwvI7uU) both do. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/45 "2011-03-15T15:28:45Z")
Lou Reed- _Heroin_ [Part 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP0GR0fuxMw) and [Part 2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpjhLf12odk&feature=related) (live version, from Rock n Roll Animal). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/46 "2011-03-15T15:37:24Z")
[Tom Waits: Blue Valentines.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu_C4qQcJKU) > [@](#): > > She sends me my blue valentines > To remind me of my cardinal sin > I can never wash the guilt > Or get these bloodstains off my hands > And it takes a lot of whiskey > To take these nightmares go away > And I cut my bleedin heart out every nite ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/47 "2011-03-15T15:56:14Z")
Sinéad O’Connor, [“Troy”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-zHwkPnr3c) ---
**Author:** ![dawson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@dawson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dawson)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/48 "2011-03-15T16:02:35Z")
Caruso by Pavarotti, Bocelli, or even Dalla. Even if your not a fan of the genre or you don’t speak the language, it can move you to tears, male and female alike. ---
**Author:** ![dawson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@dawson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dawson)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/49 "2011-03-15T17:04:37Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Buddy Guy’s [Baby Please don’t Leave Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6tdlmx_GO4) from _Sweet Tea_. IMO it’s his best album, partly due to the intentionally raw sound he sought during recording. The whole album is raw, but this track is just fucking _on fire_. No doubt about it. That is some raw shiiiit! ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/50 "2011-03-15T17:16:29Z")
Thought of another: The Pogues - [The Old Main Drag](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98EWBKCHsd4) ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/51 "2011-03-15T17:24:26Z")
Two from the world of classic country (no You-tube at work, no links): _He Stopped Loving Her Today_, George Jones and _I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry_, Hank Williams (the original). A person would have to have a heart of stone not to respond to either of these songs. ---
**Author:** ![dawson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@dawson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dawson)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/52 "2011-03-15T17:29:21Z")
Thought of another. Led Zeppelin [Babe I`m Gonna Leave You](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8A61eY1Efg) ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/53 "2011-03-15T17:36:11Z")
> [@Bumbershoot](#): > > Warren Zevon > > [Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKHFWpaTUmY) > > [My Shit’s Fucked Up](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHDdqubE7zQ&feature=related) And [Carmelita](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9L8jLPE84g). ---
**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:** [March 15, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/54 "2011-03-15T21:54:55Z")
Wonderful thread with many great suggestions. Makes for a very intensive play list. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/55 "2011-03-16T00:54:20Z")
Notting Hillbillies’ “Feel Like Going Home” [performed by Tom Jones and Mark Knopfler](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANQW7V6OCPc) ---
**Author:** ![Gomi5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8491ac/32.png) [@Gomi5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gomi5)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/56 "2011-03-16T01:35:56Z")
Red House Painters [Medicine Bottle](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BMZ7wfLyno) Want to luxuriate in depression or melancholy? Look no further. > [@](#): > > It’s all in your head, she said > Morning after nightmare > You’re building a wall, she said > Higher than the both of us > So try living life > Instead of hiding in the bedroom > Show me a smile > And I’ll promise not to leave you ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/57 "2011-03-16T14:48:01Z")
> [@Ichbin\_Dubist](#): > > The Replacements, [Unsatisfied.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_NzPt8YyD8). I can’t think of anything pithy to say, this song is just what I think of when someone says “raw.” Lots of Replacements songs would qualify; I’ll nominate [Can’t Hardly Wait](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M7q5Mn3-oM) (the Tim version, featuring some great raw guitar work by Bob Stinson). ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/58 "2011-03-16T14:50:15Z")
They probably don’t come much rawer than this > [@](#): > > Though the song became a staple of her live performances, Holiday’s accompanist Bobby Tucker recalled that Holiday would break down every time after she sang it https://www.youtube.com/embed/h4ZyuULy9zs?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492/59 "2011-03-16T15:48:44Z")
[Chelsea](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp2AboPGSv8) by Counting Crows. I’ve said before that Adam Duritz is the most depressing son of a bitch on the face of the earth. The emotion in his voice when he sings “there’s something about an angel that kills me…I keep hoping something will” just lays me open. Similarly, [Goodnight, Elisabeth](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYEsEOijyTw) by the same band. The story I heard (I have no idea if it’s true or not, but, as someone said, “if it ain’t, it oughta be”) is that Adam Duritz was dating a girl named Elisabeth when they recorded their first CD, _August and Everything After_. He had to go on tour to support the CD, and she didn’t want him to, afraid of the temptations of the road (I heard she had a job or school that kept her from travelling with him). He kept insisting that he would be faithful, but she didn’t believe him. When the tour finished, he returned to find Elisabeth had moved on, and had gotten married. He’s mentioned her in several albums, and in several songs. The heartbreak in his voice in _Goodnight, Elisabeth_ when he sings “I’m all alone…you ain’t coming home” almost brings me to tears. I’ve heard that he’s tried repeatedly to apologize for the situation happening in the first place, but that she refuses to believe that he didn’t give in to the temptations while he was on tour. In fact, there’s another song (called _I Wish I Was a Girl_) where he essentially says that if he were female, she’d believe him when he said nothing ever happened. How true that story is, I have no idea. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-songs/574492.md?page=2)