# What's your favorite "haunting" song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741 "2016-04-09T23:48:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/1 "2016-04-09T23:48:12Z")
For me, it’s a tie between Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” or Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. Define haunting however you please. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/2 "2016-04-10T00:38:45Z")
Haunting is the adjective that comes to mind when I hear Melanie’s\*\*[Lay Down Candles in the Rain.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwagBwYQ63w)\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/3 "2016-04-10T00:53:56Z")
Well, arguably, "[Rosie, Sweet Rosabel,"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOnBmuaKWw0) but that’s probably not what you meant. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/4 "2016-04-10T01:16:52Z")
_Ailein Duinn_ by Méav Ní Mhaolchatha. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/5 "2016-04-10T01:23:18Z")
How about The Doors ‘ **Riders on the Storm** ’. I was alone one evening as a kid when this song came on the radio. Creeped me the hell out. mmm ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/6 "2016-04-10T01:25:09Z")
[Bosnia by The Cranberries](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asywK5J7LiU) was first to come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/7 "2016-04-10T01:27:29Z")
Loreena McKennitt singing “She Moved Through The Fair”: [Loreena McKennitt - She Moved Through the Fair [Lyrics][Letras] - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTa8NA7Ei84) ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/8 "2016-04-10T01:30:41Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. Second this one. Others high on my list are Bread’s “If” and the vocal version of “Suicide is Painless” (from the film _MASH_). ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/9 "2016-04-10T01:31:10Z")
“Sally Go Round the Roses,” by the Jaynetts. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uc9KB9JAD-4/hqdefault.jpg "Sally Go Round The Roses by The Jaynetts") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc9KB9JAD-4) Spooky as hell. Is it about suicide, insanity, or an illicit (1963) lesbian love affair? You tell me… ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/10 "2016-04-10T01:32:38Z")
“Sally Go Round the Roses,” by the Jaynetts. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uc9KB9JAD-4/hqdefault.jpg "Sally Go Round The Roses by The Jaynetts") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc9KB9JAD-4) Spooky as hell. Is it about suicide, insanity, or an illicit (1963) lesbian love affair? You tell me… ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/11 "2016-04-10T01:38:35Z")
Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/12 "2016-04-10T02:46:25Z")
Massive Attack, [Sly](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsv21Qq3hOc). And **Julia** by the Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/13 "2016-04-10T02:57:53Z")
I don’t know why but the first thing that came to mind is the Piña Colada song. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/14 "2016-04-10T03:23:24Z")
A lot of Bruce Springsteen’s 9/11-themed album _The Rising_ is very haunting. In “Paradise”, spare music and strained vocals describe different perspectives of paradise, including from a suicide bomber getting ready to detonate a backpack full of explosives, and from a mourning lover who relives his loss in his dreams every night. In “Nothing Man”, a first responder struggles to live with the aftermath of the attack and to accept that everyone “acts like nothing’s changed”. The song ends with him contemplating the “pearl and silver” on his nightstand and praying for strength. It’s unclear whether he wants the strength to go on or the strength to pull the trigger. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/15 "2016-04-10T03:27:54Z")
“Blue Velvet” I always thought the song had a bit of weirdness going on, and then David Lynch apparently agreed, because he made it central to a really disturbing movie. Now I can’t hear the song without it stirring up all the movie bizarreness. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/16 "2016-04-10T03:35:41Z")
99 Tears ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/17 "2016-04-10T05:36:59Z")
‘Sounds of Silence’ - and- ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, Simon and Garfunkle. ‘Wicked Game’, Chris Isaak ‘Mad World’, by anyone Oh, and ‘West End Girls’ by Pet Shop Boys. Our little family of three bought iTunes cards to make CDs and were surprised Mom, Dad, and Daughter all each independently picked ‘West End Girls’ . When David Cook was a contestant on American Idol, every song he did pierced me right through the heart. ‘Billie Jean’, in particular. I hope his career is going well. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/18 "2016-04-10T05:48:46Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > 99 Tears That was supposed to be [96 Tears](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeolH-kzx4c). ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/19 "2016-04-10T06:02:25Z")
“Since I Fell For You” - Lenny Welch ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741/20 "2016-04-10T06:04:14Z")
“Sleight of Hand” by Pearl Jam. It’s about a man contemplating his routine life - “something he hadn’t imagined being” “he was okay, but wondering about wandering”. Haunting melody, haunting lyrics. One of my favorite songs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-haunting-song/751741.md?page=2)