Most haunting melodies?

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 01 Oct 24 - 10:55 AM

That last one was mine.

Here's another version, from 2966. Farantouri, barely twenty at the time, giving it her all:

Asma Asmaton 1966

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Jim Knowledge
Date: 01 Oct 24 - 11:28 AM

I `ad that spiritualist, Sean Ceramus in my cab the other day. `e looked as white as a sheet and `ad the trembles. I thought `es was suffering an `angover.
I said, " Morning Brandy, What`s up with you then. `air of the dog and all that?"
`e said , "No Jim. I was at a seance and we were trying to make contact with John Lennon and the room was filled with this most beguiling, `aunting melody. It gave you goose pimples, I tell you. `ave you ever `eard a song which give you the jitters?"
I said, " Yeah. When I was a kid. Scared the living daylights out of me".
`e said, "What one was that then?"
I said, "With `er `ead Tucked Underneath `er Arm"!!


Whaddam I Like??

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Oct 24 - 12:06 PM

Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus. I had it played at both my parents' funerals and I'm having it at mine (you'll have a while to wait...)

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: The Og
Date: 02 Oct 24 - 12:06 PM

Ditto on Casey's Last Ride...!

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Oct 24 - 08:09 AM

"A Cossack Rode Beyond the Danube" (Americans may know it as "Minka")
"Ghost of John" (traditional)
"Shady Grove" (traditional)

Tons of medieval songs are super haunting, especially when you learn their background!

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 03 Oct 24 - 08:17 AM

Highland Cathedral

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 03 Oct 24 - 09:27 AM

Jean Ritchie sang a version of "Barb'ry Ellen"
that had a melody unlike any I have ever heard;
she recorded this version for the Argo label,
on an album of songs with dulcimer and guitar.
She played the dulcimer for "Barb'ry Ellen."
It haunts me still.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Oct 24 - 09:45 AM

... and here is Jean Ritchie singing the melody a cappella.
"Barbary Allen"

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Tom Patterson
Date: 03 Oct 24 - 10:07 AM

A song I have only come across today - Lady Katharina by Robin Laing - A really haunting melody.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Oct 24 - 10:39 AM

Steve Shaw, I have sung the Mozart "Ave Verum Corpus" more often than I care to remember, always on Good Friday and at way too many funerals. I hope you have a competent church choir on tap for your own obsequies.

I first heard "Lagan Love" on an elderly Decca recording by Kenneth MacKellar. I was maybe eight years old. It riveted my attention then and fascinates me still. When I learned to sing it myself, I realized what a challenge it is; its long phrases demand the illusion of effortless ease achievable only with the best technique. Kenneth MacKellar, that prince of tenors, set that bar high (at least for me). The tune is the good part; the English words are rather silly. I wish I could sing it in Irish.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: David C. Carter
Date: 03 Oct 24 - 11:03 AM

La Route est Dure et La Vie est Mort.

Georgia Brown.

Theme tune to:Roads to Freedom;BBC TV.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: David C. Carter
Date: 03 Oct 24 - 11:07 AM

Whispering Pines:The Band.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Greum
Date: 05 Oct 24 - 09:52 AM

I find the tune of Fare Thee Well, My Dearest Dear rather haunting...

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Lighter
Date: 05 Oct 24 - 01:19 PM

Is it the melody or the instrument or the setting or all three?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTqUy_CrTG4

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Oct 24 - 02:56 PM

Jock o' Hazeldean,even without the words.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 08 Oct 24 - 05:19 AM

A couple of lullabies, written for different sorts of bagpipes (yes!)
The Sleeping Tune by Gordon Duncan
Anada pa Gael by Jose Manuel Tejedor

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 08 Oct 24 - 06:00 AM

https://youtu.be/tuzKOX1YQno?si=_bTdvEBgWCNMV3bP Another of my haunting favourites.......

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: gillymor
Date: 08 Oct 24 - 08:18 AM

Far Away (aka The Canadian) by Peter Jung

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 08 Oct 24 - 07:57 PM

Another one from Shetland: Leaving Lerwick Harbour by Willie Hunter

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST,Lang Johnnie Mor
Date: 11 Oct 24 - 03:21 AM

"Port na bPucai" :
https://youtu.be/5QskJoxYApo?si=GdohUQHxbeEzEa0u

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: gillymor
Date: 11 Oct 24 - 08:25 AM

Tjonneblomen

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 11 Oct 24 - 12:56 PM

Davy Spillane...The master of the Uillean pipes.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Oct 24 - 04:29 AM

Acker Bilk's Stranger on the Shore and Mark Knopfler's Going Home from the movie Local Hero would be my two standouts in hauntingness. Surprising for a dyed in the wool folkie like me, so I won't sign this post to avoid embarrassment. That said, there are many, many tunes in the folk lexicon which would qualify, and I especially find some of Peter Bellamy's melodies featured in The Transports as haunting.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: gillymor
Date: 15 Oct 24 - 06:25 AM

Wade in the Water, the Staple Singers.

Subject: RE: Most haunting melodies?
From: gillymor
Date: 15 Oct 24 - 08:28 AM

Dirk Powell's Waterbound, performed by Michael McGoldrick. The melody bears some resemblance to the equally haunting Little Sadie.