Most haunting melodies?

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Firecat
Date: 20 May 05 - 06:31 PM

I think that "Hine e Hine" and "Pokarekare Ana" when sung by Hayley Westenra are beautiful, and the opening "Scene Of The Swans" from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

From more modern songs, "Hello" and "My Immortal" by Evanescence, from their "Fallen" album are very haunting, and Amy Lee's voice adds to the effect.

Haunting show tunes, as far as I'm concerned, include "On My Own", "Bring Him Home" and "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Miserables (I've only just learnt how to stop myself crying when I hear them), "Where Is Love" and "As Long As He Needs Me" from Oliver!, "Superheroes" from Rocky Horror, "Lament" from Evita, "Memory" from Cats, and "Last Night Of The World", "Movie In My Mind" and "Bui Doi" from Miss Saigon.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: ranger1
Date: 16 Jun 05 - 10:36 PM

Two that immediately come to mind for me are:
"The Crossing" by Johnny Clegg
"Smile in Your Sleep," sung by just about anyone (but written by Jim McLean!)

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: number 6
Date: 16 Jun 05 - 10:55 PM

The theme to the 1971 movie (penned by the outstanding playright Harold Pinter) ... the Go Between.

that is one haunting melody.

sIx

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Kaleea
Date: 17 Jun 05 - 12:45 AM

There was a tune on Cherish The Ladies "Out & About" called "If Ever You Were Mine" which has always been haunting to me. A few years ago when I was playing in a Ceili band in Oklahoma, we were listening to the (then) new CD, & the tune wouldn't let me go. I told the boys in the band that I knew it was a SONG--with lyrics. Of course, at the time there was no way to find out. Not too many years later, after I was online, I emailed Joanie & she told me I was correct, & sent me the lyrics.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Highlandman
Date: 17 Jun 05 - 04:24 PM

Oh, lots and lots... hauntingness is one of the things that attracts me to tunes to begin with. Lesseee....
Dittos on "Ashokan Farewell" and "Smile In Your Sleep." If someone asks me to play a haunting melody on short notice, they'll probably get one of those.
I also think of the slow tune I know to "Green Linnet," (not the one in the DT), and "Are Ye Sleeping, Maggie." And O'Carolan's "Hewlitt."
One I discovered by accident was the pipe tune "Donald McLean of Lewis" slowed WAY down (one discovers such things when one can't play them up to tempo) played on guitar in an open tuning.
But for sheer earwormish-ness, how about "Storybook Love" from "The Princess Bride"? -grin-
-HM

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Ian Nottingham
Date: 17 Jun 05 - 05:13 PM

Brilliant thread!

Hurt

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Ian Nottingham
Date: 17 Jun 05 - 05:17 PM

Hurt. Johnny Cash
Loch Lomand. Runrig
Who Knows Where The Time Goes? Sandy Denny
Samba pa ti. Santana
Time has Told me. Nick Drake

Ian

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 17 Jun 05 - 11:42 PM

The church hymn Be Thou My Vision trad Gaelic.

Sincerely,

Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: thespionage
Date: 18 Jun 05 - 12:44 AM

Joan Baez's version of Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall."

Russ

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Matt_R
Date: 18 Jun 05 - 01:01 AM

"Little Ben" - Donovan

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Jun 05 - 12:33 PM

a Liz Carroll fiddle tune from way back, whose name escapes me (unhelpfully)

Ave Maria

Kol Nidre

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: DavidHannam
Date: 18 Jun 05 - 01:16 PM

Anthem By Leonard Cohen. A Masterpiece.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 16 Jul 05 - 10:56 AM

Bluz Kna'ani (Canaanite Blues) by Ehud Banai. He's a Persian Israeli roots musician. Excelent lyrics and melodies.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Arkie
Date: 16 Jul 05 - 01:10 PM

I do like threads such as this as I discover so much good music.   Ashokan Farewell, Loch Tay, Kilkelly, Sheebeg Sheemore, and Star of the County Down, are also on my list as well as these which I did not see mentioned above:

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Arkie
Date: 16 Jul 05 - 01:14 PM

I must have pushed the wrong button. I definitly pushed the wrong button. Sorry. Now the list.
Rose of my Heart
Sisters of Mercy
Suzzane
In My Life (the way Judy Collins sings it)
Largo from the New World Symphony
Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts
Every Bush and Tree
Cornflower Blue
The King of the Faries
Tam Lane
Widdicombe Fair
Sunday Morning Coming Down

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Jonathan
Date: 24 Aug 05 - 01:23 AM

Mozart's Requiem

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Domnull
Date: 24 Aug 05 - 04:16 AM

Lady Grinning Soul (on Aladdin Sane)

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Lighter at work
Date: 24 Aug 05 - 12:03 PM

There's just something about Jay Ungar's "Ashokan Farewell" that gets me right here (points to heart). Maybe it's the association with Ken Burns's Civil War series. I agree that it's one of the grandest sad melodies ever.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: number 6
Date: 24 Aug 05 - 12:14 PM

Lighter ... it is a beautiful tune. was one of my slections for this thread also. I heard someone play that last Monday night on a fiddle ... always moves me when I hear it.

sIx

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: JennyO
Date: 24 Aug 05 - 12:25 PM

Te Deum by Berlioz.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 24 Aug 05 - 12:45 PM

Brahms 'Ein Deutesches Requiem', especially the opening.

Various slow Gaelic pieces I will not even try and spell, but are mostly laments of some kind.

Halleleugh and The Night Comes on. Various Leonard Cohen really.
Coal Not Dole- Kay Sutcliffe
The band played Waltzing Matilda

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Genie
Date: 29 Aug 05 - 08:59 PM

Firecat, one of the most haunting melodies ever, I think, is Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Bali Hai," from South Pacific.

Then there's the old Celtic ballad, "Silkie" (The Great Silkie Of Sule Skerry), which was also adapated for lament for the victims of the Hiroshima bombing.

I'd also nominate "The Water Is Wide" (O, Waly Waly).

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Genie
Date: 29 Aug 05 - 08:59 PM

Firecat, one of the most haunting melodies ever, I think, is Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Bali Hai," from South Pacific.

Then there's the old Celtic ballad, "Silkie" (The Great Silkie Of Sule Skerry), which was also adapated for lament for the victims of the Hiroshima bombing.

I'd also nominate "The Water Is Wide" (O, Waly Waly).

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Sandra
Date: 30 Aug 05 - 02:06 PM

Harlem Nocturne

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Tootler
Date: 30 Aug 05 - 06:26 PM

Two very old ones;

Mille Regretz composed by Josqin Després about 1520
Pavan Lachrymae composed by John Dowland about 1590

plus (among others)

Brigg Fair
Rothbury Hills - Jack Armstrong
Sounds of Silence - Paul Simon

I can post or point to midis if anyone is interested

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: darkriver
Date: 31 Aug 05 - 02:02 AM

well, I've always found "O little town of Bethelhem" to be haunting.
Not to mention "O Tannenbaum". Very wistful tunes, those.

A couple of people mentioned "A Soldier's Story," Ennio Morricone's tune for The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly. There was another haunting tune in that movie. You first hear it when Clint and Eli Wallach are made prisoners of war by the northern army, as they march into the camp--played as (of course) a march. Immediately afterward, when the dying fort commander struggles to the window, you hear the same melody again, but played as a dirge.

Doug

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Aug 05 - 03:16 PM

Soul of a Wanderer

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: PoohBear
Date: 31 Aug 05 - 03:50 PM

Rainbow Connection (Kermit)
Parting Glass
Star of the County Down
Calypso (yes, I know it's John Denver!)
Nautical Wheeler (Jimmy Buffett)
Waltzing with Bears (I'd forgotten about that one!)
Fragile Magic (also Jimmy Buffett)
and I'm sure many more my brain can't find right now. . .
PB

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: PoohBear
Date: 31 Aug 05 - 03:51 PM

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch (LOL - don't deny it, it will get stuck in your head and haunt you. . . )

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 31 Aug 05 - 03:56 PM

"Santa Lucia" and "Funiculi, Funicula" ( Yeah, I know. ) "Funiculi" may not be "haunting," strictly speaking, but it's got to be one of the catchiest.

Also beautiful is the Irish "The Wild Geese." Can't remember which Tradition LP I heard it on or who which fiddlers were playing it.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: 8_Pints
Date: 01 Sep 05 - 08:50 PM

"Lament for Ian Dickson" Anthony Robb: arranged by Carole Robb
"Mist Covered Mountains" Junior Crehan
"Wild Hills O'Wannies" Traditional
"Bonny at Morn" Traditional
"Blackwaterside" Traditional
"Miner's Wife's Lament" Ewan MacColl
"The Wild Rover" collected by Dónal Maguire from Pat Ushant

plus most of those already mentioned .......

Bob vG

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: 8_Pints
Date: 01 Sep 05 - 08:52 PM

Oops!

Don't quite know why Donal's "o" has been mangled?

Bob vG

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: ranger1
Date: 01 Sep 05 - 08:59 PM

Chickahominy River - Jed Marum
Nor'land Wind - Battlefield Band

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Zandor
Date: 28 Oct 05 - 01:22 PM

The "Lake Isle of Innisfree" by Kiltartan Road

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Jimmy C
Date: 29 Oct 05 - 12:31 AM

Hard to select just one, but I like


Mise Eire - Sean O'Riada
Ashokan Farewell
The Coolin
The Dark Island
Lorena
Boolavogue
Ave Maria
Farewell to Tarwaithe
She Moved Through the Fair
Danny Boy
Maid on the Mountain

my favourite being " The Coolin"

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 29 Oct 05 - 11:58 AM

For me, some of the most haunting melodies are among the simplest, such as "Malbrouck s'en va-t-en guerre / For he's a jolly good fellow / The bear went over the mountain". One might suspect that that was just because I have known them so long; but I feel the same about Bok's "Dillan Bay". Among the more grown-up tunes, I go for sentimentality -- "Hatikvah" & "Greensleeves", say.

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: The decadence of the bourgeoisie coincides with that of the human species. :||

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 12:07 AM

Breathe me by sia
Just breathe (mitsubishi commercial)
True colors (cindy lauper)

and the indisputed haunting song

Somewhere over the rainbow by Isreal Kamakawiwo

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Obie
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 11:16 AM

Susan-Marie puts forth "Neil Gows Lament For His Second Wife".
I agree! A sample can be found here:
         http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000003M4M/202-0188466-0021471

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 11:17 AM

The Grey Funnel Line as sung by The Silly Sisters, The Drunken Piper, Natalie MacMaster and Cookie Rankin, Agincourt Carol, Barbara Allan.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: mooman
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 12:08 PM

Here are a few more I like and play (in no particular order):

Inisheer
The Little Heathy Hill (played as a medley with:
The Lark in the Clear Air)
Lord Mayo (the lament version)
The Resting Chair
Margaret's Waltz
Farewell to Govan
Loftus Jones (played slowly)
Lord Inciquin
Gaudete

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Franz S.
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 02:26 PM

Most of the above, plus "Strange Fruit" and "Beloved Comrade".

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 02:48 PM

Starry,starry night, Don Maclean. Will Ye go to Flanders, especially the version by Ossian. Willie O Winsbury,The Picketts Lament, Bonnie Portmore as sung by Loreena MacKennitt.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Stewie
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 07:07 PM

O'Carolin's 'Eleanor Plunkett' as performed by Colum Sands on concertina.

'The march of Anton The Younger'

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: patriot1314
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 08:45 PM

I have to agree with quite a few, but for me it's Stan Rogers "Tiny Fish For Japan" it always strikes a chord with me

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Dilligaf
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 04:50 PM

Peggy Gordon sung by my old man (brings back memories of a perfect summer day in Broadstairs when he sang it with Brixton Bert and Pete Chopin in a pub garden) and Come by the Hills by the Dubliners

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 10:08 PM

Stan Rogers' "Giant" and Tom Paxton's "Dance In The Shadows" have haunted me for years.

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Madeleine
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 10:25 PM

hello from chapel hill, north carolina.

i wish i could join you in person but i'd have to swim since i hate planes.

i may be incorrect in suggesting this song in this forum since, techniquely, it's bluegrass, which i don't care for. but, it's a heartbreaker by laurie lewis sung a cappella with 4 men. the title is "who will watch the old place."

we all know here that our folk music traveled from the british isles, though this may not be one.

regards

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Amos
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 10:56 PM

Welcome to the Mudcat, Madeleine.

I recently started learning a song by Al Grierson, "'Til the Circle Is Complete", which is one of the finest collection of lyrics in honor of another person Ihave heard in a long time; its thoughts linger long after the song ends.

It was recently entered in a Lyrics Add: thread for anyone to peruse.

A

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Peace
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 10:59 PM

"The Three Bells" by the Browns.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 05 Jan 06 - 04:20 AM

200 by Motorhead.