Enjoy these laconic pop masterpieces. BTW, they're in no specific order. Comments, as always, are welcome!
For more sad but true tales of melancholia in pop music, we "heartily" recommend this astute tome, available in all fine book stores everywhere.
Adam Houghtaling's easy-to-read tribute to the saddest songs in pop (and classical, too) makes for a fun read-through. Easy to understand, elegantly written and devoid of critical "I know more than you do" psychobabble, it's a refreshing portrait of a diverse array of sad sack artistes, from Morrissey to This Mortal Coil, The Cure to The Smiths, Johnny Cash to Scott Walker, Jacques Brel to Edith Piaf. There are themed sections (disasters, suicides, heartbreaks), playlists (referred to as "Miserable Lists") and artist profiles (tied in, naturally to the book's central themes). Reading the book made me come up with an awesome iPod Playlist I called "A Sad Song Or 50" and it's a playlist I simply cannot get enough of. I'd be real curious to see what y'all out there would put on your "miserable lists"...
1. Nick Drake – “Riverman”
- Drake’s real skill lay in deeply personal songs buffeted by visual images rooted in a pastoral setting. The simplicity of gazing out a window on a town square at midday or the Northern Sky at night. Here, Drake talks of meeting the “riverman” to find out what things (life, himself, love?) are all about. In the hands of a lesser balladeer, this one would reek of colonialism. Yet here, Drake’s elegant acoustic guitar plucking is underscored by Harry Robinson’s truly magical string arrangements. They give this moody ballad a cinematic feel; we can almost see Drake walking laconically along a dirt road beside a river. And we’re swept away by it all. (Album: Five Leaves Left/Island-Universal; 1970)
- Drake’s real skill lay in deeply personal songs buffeted by visual images rooted in a pastoral setting. The simplicity of gazing out a window on a town square at midday or the Northern Sky at night. Here, Drake talks of meeting the “riverman” to find out what things (life, himself, love?) are all about. In the hands of a lesser balladeer, this one would reek of colonialism. Yet here, Drake’s elegant acoustic guitar plucking is underscored by Harry Robinson’s truly magical string arrangements. They give this moody ballad a cinematic feel; we can almost see Drake walking laconically along a dirt road beside a river. And we’re swept away by it all. (Album: Five Leaves Left/Island-Universal; 1970)
2. Beck – “Round The Bend”
- Listening to this song after the Nick Drake tune just goes to prove how much Beck was influenced by Drake on Sea Change. This quiet, pastoral, undulating ballad crawls along in determined slowness. It’s set at a deliberate pace and it underscores Beck’s emotional state in remarkable fashion (he’d just undergone the end of a long-term relationship). The frailness of his voice, the languor of the wonky string section, the images of people shoving you around…all paint a vivid, moving portrait of alienation worth coming back to again and again. (Album: Sea Change/DGC-Universal; 2003)
- Listening to this song after the Nick Drake tune just goes to prove how much Beck was influenced by Drake on Sea Change. This quiet, pastoral, undulating ballad crawls along in determined slowness. It’s set at a deliberate pace and it underscores Beck’s emotional state in remarkable fashion (he’d just undergone the end of a long-term relationship). The frailness of his voice, the languor of the wonky string section, the images of people shoving you around…all paint a vivid, moving portrait of alienation worth coming back to again and again. (Album: Sea Change/DGC-Universal; 2003)
3. Lou Reed – “Sad Song”
- “Staring at a picture book/She looks like Mary Queen of Scots…” sings Reed after gentle flutes get the show going. Before long though, he’s plunging us deep into an overwrought, emotional hell-hole where strings see saw back and forth, electric guitars wail, horns blare and drums thunder and crash. But what attracts me most about this song is the “sad song” chorus and its cantilevering strings, the way Reed repeats the words “sad song” like he’s chanting a mantra of some sort. The album this cut’s from ain’t no bed of roses, seeing as how it documents the demise of drug addicts in the seedy underground of mid-seventies Berlin. But I love its passion and I totally dig those strings. (Album: Berlin/RCA-Sony; 1973)
- “Staring at a picture book/She looks like Mary Queen of Scots…” sings Reed after gentle flutes get the show going. Before long though, he’s plunging us deep into an overwrought, emotional hell-hole where strings see saw back and forth, electric guitars wail, horns blare and drums thunder and crash. But what attracts me most about this song is the “sad song” chorus and its cantilevering strings, the way Reed repeats the words “sad song” like he’s chanting a mantra of some sort. The album this cut’s from ain’t no bed of roses, seeing as how it documents the demise of drug addicts in the seedy underground of mid-seventies Berlin. But I love its passion and I totally dig those strings. (Album: Berlin/RCA-Sony; 1973)
4. Jacques Brel – “Ne Me Quitte Pas”
- Rod McKuen translated (“If You Go Away”). Terry Jacks had a Canadian hit with it in 1974. It regularly appears on “most overblown ballad” lists. But here’s where the money is, kids. Belgian-born Brel became the icon of French song on the strength of ballads like “Quand on a que l’amour” and vitriolic, anti-upper class life tropes like “Jacky” and “Les bourgeois”. Yet “Ne me quitte pas” is the sad clown ballad to end all sad clown ballads. The song’s narrator pleads and begs, bribes and boasts the love interest about how he’ll give her everything, all she’s gotta do is stay. But the sheer despair in Brel’s voice makes the listener painfully aware that this love ain’t gonna happen. And, befittingly, the song dies with the soft plink of a lone piano note. Again, we can almost see Brel crying in his Beck beer. (Album: La valse a mille temps/Barclay; 1959)
- Rod McKuen translated (“If You Go Away”). Terry Jacks had a Canadian hit with it in 1974. It regularly appears on “most overblown ballad” lists. But here’s where the money is, kids. Belgian-born Brel became the icon of French song on the strength of ballads like “Quand on a que l’amour” and vitriolic, anti-upper class life tropes like “Jacky” and “Les bourgeois”. Yet “Ne me quitte pas” is the sad clown ballad to end all sad clown ballads. The song’s narrator pleads and begs, bribes and boasts the love interest about how he’ll give her everything, all she’s gotta do is stay. But the sheer despair in Brel’s voice makes the listener painfully aware that this love ain’t gonna happen. And, befittingly, the song dies with the soft plink of a lone piano note. Again, we can almost see Brel crying in his Beck beer. (Album: La valse a mille temps/Barclay; 1959)
5. Bee Gees – “You’ll Never See My Face Again”
- The album this cut’s taken from ain’t no picnic. Believe me. It’s a 2 LP mess with too many ballads, not enough mellotron and the Brothers Gibb warbling away like they’re in dire need of psychiatry to help ‘em get over the shit in their lives. Yet this song is a keeper thanks to gentle acoustic guitar strums, sweeping strings and our boys trying to escape their fate with an atypical, steely determination in their eyes. “It took a thousand years to find out why/You’ll never see my face again” sings the hero of the tale, empowering himself in his departure from love gone wrong. Making this song one of the big highlights on an album that requires at least two whole Kleenex boxes to sit through. (Album: Odessa/Polydor-Universal; 1969)
- The album this cut’s taken from ain’t no picnic. Believe me. It’s a 2 LP mess with too many ballads, not enough mellotron and the Brothers Gibb warbling away like they’re in dire need of psychiatry to help ‘em get over the shit in their lives. Yet this song is a keeper thanks to gentle acoustic guitar strums, sweeping strings and our boys trying to escape their fate with an atypical, steely determination in their eyes. “It took a thousand years to find out why/You’ll never see my face again” sings the hero of the tale, empowering himself in his departure from love gone wrong. Making this song one of the big highlights on an album that requires at least two whole Kleenex boxes to sit through. (Album: Odessa/Polydor-Universal; 1969)
6. Alice Cooper – “Only Women Bleed”
- Shock rocker Cooper stunned the world with this deeply moving #12 hit nod to the perils of being female back in 1975. There’s real sincerity at work here and the powerful bridge section just reinforces the song’s imagery. There’s talk of mental and physical abuse, of putting up with the pains of a loveless marriage, of wanting to break the cycle of violence the song’s heroine seems to be trapped in. This is NOT the stuff of simple love songs. It’s to the Coop’s credit that we never feel this is parody. His honesty and devotion to the subject at hand makes this song a genuine wonder. (Album: Welcome To My Nightmare/Atlantic-WEA; 1975)
- Shock rocker Cooper stunned the world with this deeply moving #12 hit nod to the perils of being female back in 1975. There’s real sincerity at work here and the powerful bridge section just reinforces the song’s imagery. There’s talk of mental and physical abuse, of putting up with the pains of a loveless marriage, of wanting to break the cycle of violence the song’s heroine seems to be trapped in. This is NOT the stuff of simple love songs. It’s to the Coop’s credit that we never feel this is parody. His honesty and devotion to the subject at hand makes this song a genuine wonder. (Album: Welcome To My Nightmare/Atlantic-WEA; 1975)
7. Scott Walker – “Such A Small Love”
- You approach Scott Walker’s solo stuff with caution, with kid gloves. His overblown, deep, mellifluous voice so over-the-top that you wonder how this guy could get away with such bombast while The Beatles and The Stones ruled the charts. As a member of The Walker Brothers, Scott was no stranger to sad ballads being big hits (“The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Any More”, #13, 1966). But this one is pure cheese of the Tom Jones variety. Horns blare away, strings saw sadly, an organ plonks down the mood and Walker sings of pine trees and memories and rotted teeth. That’s when you give up and you give in, swept away by it all. Interestingly, you also get the feeling that maybe Beck heard a whole lot of Walker along with his Drake. Hmmm … (Album: Boy Child 1967-1970/Universal; 2005)
- You approach Scott Walker’s solo stuff with caution, with kid gloves. His overblown, deep, mellifluous voice so over-the-top that you wonder how this guy could get away with such bombast while The Beatles and The Stones ruled the charts. As a member of The Walker Brothers, Scott was no stranger to sad ballads being big hits (“The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Any More”, #13, 1966). But this one is pure cheese of the Tom Jones variety. Horns blare away, strings saw sadly, an organ plonks down the mood and Walker sings of pine trees and memories and rotted teeth. That’s when you give up and you give in, swept away by it all. Interestingly, you also get the feeling that maybe Beck heard a whole lot of Walker along with his Drake. Hmmm … (Album: Boy Child 1967-1970/Universal; 2005)
8. Peter Gabriel – “Humdrum”
- Peter Gabriel’s first solo album (1977, now known as Peter Gabriel 1 [Car]) benefitted from a typically Genesis-like sense of songwriting. To these ears it took us back to Selling England By The Pound (1973). Yet Gabriel tried to put as much distance between him and the band as he could, so some of the album’s better defined moments don’t sound quite like the band he was in while he wore bat costumes and swung from wires. Side Two of the album started off with this slow-burn ballad about…well, I’ve never been quite sure what it’s about, honestly. Yet the overall impression I’ve always gotten is of someone waiting endlessly at an airport - in this case, JFK in NYC - to go somewhere, anywhere. And after all, trying to escape the drudgery of everyday life is some form of sadness, too. No? (Album: Peter Gabriel 1 [Car]/Atco; 1977)
- Peter Gabriel’s first solo album (1977, now known as Peter Gabriel 1 [Car]) benefitted from a typically Genesis-like sense of songwriting. To these ears it took us back to Selling England By The Pound (1973). Yet Gabriel tried to put as much distance between him and the band as he could, so some of the album’s better defined moments don’t sound quite like the band he was in while he wore bat costumes and swung from wires. Side Two of the album started off with this slow-burn ballad about…well, I’ve never been quite sure what it’s about, honestly. Yet the overall impression I’ve always gotten is of someone waiting endlessly at an airport - in this case, JFK in NYC - to go somewhere, anywhere. And after all, trying to escape the drudgery of everyday life is some form of sadness, too. No? (Album: Peter Gabriel 1 [Car]/Atco; 1977)
9. 10CC – “I’m Not In Love”
- As many people love this classic hit single (#2, 1975) as hate it. As many people think it’s the real thing (ie, a touching and sad ballad to someone pining their life away for a love that can never be) as think it’s actually a parody of a love song. And, to some degree, I guess it depends on your mood. I’ve sometimes thought it’s a really twinkling, bizarre, ethereal ballad, gliding across speakers endlessly thanks to buffeted vocal trickery and that scary “Be quiet/Big boys don’t cry” bridge. And, sometimes, I’ve guffawed aloud, thinking they (10CC) were priggy little prog-rock dipshits for poking fun at pop ballads this way. Beauty is, as they say, in the eye [or ear in this case] of the beholder. (Album: Original Soundtrack/Phillips; 1975)
- As many people love this classic hit single (#2, 1975) as hate it. As many people think it’s the real thing (ie, a touching and sad ballad to someone pining their life away for a love that can never be) as think it’s actually a parody of a love song. And, to some degree, I guess it depends on your mood. I’ve sometimes thought it’s a really twinkling, bizarre, ethereal ballad, gliding across speakers endlessly thanks to buffeted vocal trickery and that scary “Be quiet/Big boys don’t cry” bridge. And, sometimes, I’ve guffawed aloud, thinking they (10CC) were priggy little prog-rock dipshits for poking fun at pop ballads this way. Beauty is, as they say, in the eye [or ear in this case] of the beholder. (Album: Original Soundtrack/Phillips; 1975)
10. Richard Hawley – “Coles Corner”
- This one is, no word of a lie, a grand ballad. Sent aloft on lachrymose wings by sweeping strings, a sophisticated piano line and Hawley’s Sinatra-esque delivery to his old stomping grounds. The eternal loner walking the eternal night-time streets looking for an impossible love. “I’m going downtown where there’s people/My loneliness hangs in the air/With no one real waiting there for me/No smile, no flowers, nowhere” sings Hawley towards the song’s end. He may be alone, but he’s a realist. All he’s missing is the rain and some bird poop on his shoulder. Still, a simply larger-than-life ballad that shoulda hit it big. (Album: Cole’s Corner/Mute; 2004)
- This one is, no word of a lie, a grand ballad. Sent aloft on lachrymose wings by sweeping strings, a sophisticated piano line and Hawley’s Sinatra-esque delivery to his old stomping grounds. The eternal loner walking the eternal night-time streets looking for an impossible love. “I’m going downtown where there’s people/My loneliness hangs in the air/With no one real waiting there for me/No smile, no flowers, nowhere” sings Hawley towards the song’s end. He may be alone, but he’s a realist. All he’s missing is the rain and some bird poop on his shoulder. Still, a simply larger-than-life ballad that shoulda hit it big. (Album: Cole’s Corner/Mute; 2004)
The Next Ten...
11. Fleetwood Mac – “Landslide”
- From the band’s breakthrough self-titled album came this Stevie Nicks-sung ballad. Lindsey Buckingham strums the guitar, Christine McVie adds soft electric piano, Stevie sings about “getting older” and being afraid of changes. Others have attempted this song, yet no one’s captured the song’s frailty and magic quite like Stevie Nicks. Superbly touching. (Album: Fleetwood Mac/Reprise-WEA; 1975)
12. George Benson – “This Masquerade”
- So here strolls Benson into the room and starts by swaying soulfully about how he can’t handle “this masquerade”. It’s a sad, doleful lament and it tugs at our hearts until Benson cuts into his guitar solo and scats to the plucking, In his best Stevie Wonder voice he carries us aloft on wings of jazzy love where faces disappear in mirages, where he tries tounderstand the relationship he’s in but can’t. Then, the vamp out picks him up and skitters him across the downtown landscape in true lover-man, silhouette-outlined-by-streetlights fashion. Slow fade, cue credits, stop movie. The end result? A sweet, soulful & sad Top 10 hit single. (Album: Breezin’/Warner Bros-WEA; 1976)
13. Gram Parsons (w/Emmylou Harris) – “Love Hurts”
- At their best, country ballads are touching, personal, sincere and raw; capturing pure emotion in simple musical gestures that transcend the genre’s “twang” inefficiencies to paint vivid portraits of hearts rent asunder. Here, GP’s frail (yet never wavering) voice is richly accompanied by Emmylou’s plaintive sweetness, giving new life to Felice and Boudleaux Bryant’s legendary trope about love gone bad (ask The Everly Bros. and Nazareth, they’ve explained it to us, too) . We feel how much “love hurts” here and we believe it. (Album: GP + Grievous Angel/Reprise-WEA; 1974)
14. Steve Miller Band – “Winter Time”
- After a series of high-flying guitar-laden pop hits, this atypical Miller ballad came as a breath of fresh Arctic air. Very simple, very classy, definitely understated. Miller’s voice equates the pining of his loveinterest with the onset of winter. The “birds have all gone for the summer” (were they eagles?) Steve bemoans while his guitar stings skyward and soon, he’s all alone. (Album: Book Of Dreams/Capitol-EMI; 1977)
15. The Strawbs – “Hanging In The Gallery”
- “Who’s the real star?” asks singer Dave Cousins. “The painter or the portrait?” The “sculptor or the sculpture?” The “actor or the drama?” So for once we don’t have a song about a girl, a mistress or a broken marriage. We have this quietly evocative song about who the real star is. Halfway through Dave Lambert delivers one of his stinging guitar solos, reminding us this is – after all – a rock ballad. But Cousins’ restraint delivery truly touches us on this soft-hued track. (Album: Nomadness/A&M-Universal; 1975)
16. The Verve – “Sonnet”
- Vocalist Richard Ashcroft’s voice was made for melancholy. Like the finest Britpop singers, he coos and purrs at the start only to pour out his heart totally on his sleeve by the bridge and make it soar over the moon by the fade out. “Sonnet” is a superb ballad: richly constructed, larger-than-life and grandiose. It talks of finding love (eventually), of surviving the end of the affair (eventually) and of hitting the top once again (also, eventually). Throughout, violins give the song lift while Nick McCabe’s guitar solo gives it heft and altitude. “Yes, there’s love if you want it…” sings Ashcroft beautifully. But does he believe this is so? Listen and find out. (Album: Urban Hymns/Virgin; 1997)
17. Sandy Denny – “At The End Of The Day”
- Denny’s beautiful, elegant, rich voice was capable of true power, genuine passion and refined subtlety (when needed). There is a sweet, sad glow to this simple elegy to singing one’s song when the day is done that somehow makes us think things aren’t what they appear to be. That said, there’s no denying this sweeping song’s majesty and heart. (Album: Like An Old-Fashioned Waltz/Island-Universal; 1974)
18. Shelby Lynne – “Leaving”
- This genuinely soulful song channels Aretha and Dusty, Dionne and Petula to paint a truly heartfelt vision of departure and despair. “I’m leavin’/But you can’t make me stay” sings Lynne in a breathy yet earthy voice. A female chorus punctuates the song like everyone’s in a Greek tragedy and a guitar wails in the background while strings caress Lynne’s cheek. It’s 3:12 of pure pathos, beautifully rendered. (Album: I Am Shelby Lynne/Island-Universal; 2000)
19. Jeff Buckley – “Hallelujah”
- Lenny Cohen’s mythopoetic masterpiece has acquired a life of its own thanks to multiple versions and excessive over use by contestants wanting to impress the judges on American Idol, The X Factor, The Voice or the millions of talent shows regularly held across the world at any given moment. Some love k.d. lang’s version, others Rufus Wainwright’s cover. Naw…this one easily trounces ‘em all. Why? Because you put your heart and soul into your reading of the thing. Your voice pleads and cajoles, laments and flies high, soaring into rarified air, leaving the rest of humanity far behind and beneath you. Then you jump in the mighty Mississipp’ for a midnight swim and disappear forever. That’s taking sadness to the nth degree, kiddies. (Album: Grace/Sony-BMG; 1993)
20. Hot Chocolate – “Emma”
- Ethereal dance number (and a #8 hit single in’75) that was totally hook-laden thanks to a low-rumbling guitar line and a heartfelt vocal about a groupie, or a hooker, or a girlfriend (take yer pick, really) and how the hero’s gonna make a big star out of her. It’s a haunting, sobering tribute to perseverance that somehow carries a truly ominous undertone to it. (Album: Every 1’s Winner – The Best Of Hot Chocolate/EMI; 1987)
(Qex13)
- From the band’s breakthrough self-titled album came this Stevie Nicks-sung ballad. Lindsey Buckingham strums the guitar, Christine McVie adds soft electric piano, Stevie sings about “getting older” and being afraid of changes. Others have attempted this song, yet no one’s captured the song’s frailty and magic quite like Stevie Nicks. Superbly touching. (Album: Fleetwood Mac/Reprise-WEA; 1975)
12. George Benson – “This Masquerade”
- So here strolls Benson into the room and starts by swaying soulfully about how he can’t handle “this masquerade”. It’s a sad, doleful lament and it tugs at our hearts until Benson cuts into his guitar solo and scats to the plucking, In his best Stevie Wonder voice he carries us aloft on wings of jazzy love where faces disappear in mirages, where he tries tounderstand the relationship he’s in but can’t. Then, the vamp out picks him up and skitters him across the downtown landscape in true lover-man, silhouette-outlined-by-streetlights fashion. Slow fade, cue credits, stop movie. The end result? A sweet, soulful & sad Top 10 hit single. (Album: Breezin’/Warner Bros-WEA; 1976)
13. Gram Parsons (w/Emmylou Harris) – “Love Hurts”
- At their best, country ballads are touching, personal, sincere and raw; capturing pure emotion in simple musical gestures that transcend the genre’s “twang” inefficiencies to paint vivid portraits of hearts rent asunder. Here, GP’s frail (yet never wavering) voice is richly accompanied by Emmylou’s plaintive sweetness, giving new life to Felice and Boudleaux Bryant’s legendary trope about love gone bad (ask The Everly Bros. and Nazareth, they’ve explained it to us, too) . We feel how much “love hurts” here and we believe it. (Album: GP + Grievous Angel/Reprise-WEA; 1974)
14. Steve Miller Band – “Winter Time”
- After a series of high-flying guitar-laden pop hits, this atypical Miller ballad came as a breath of fresh Arctic air. Very simple, very classy, definitely understated. Miller’s voice equates the pining of his loveinterest with the onset of winter. The “birds have all gone for the summer” (were they eagles?) Steve bemoans while his guitar stings skyward and soon, he’s all alone. (Album: Book Of Dreams/Capitol-EMI; 1977)
15. The Strawbs – “Hanging In The Gallery”
- “Who’s the real star?” asks singer Dave Cousins. “The painter or the portrait?” The “sculptor or the sculpture?” The “actor or the drama?” So for once we don’t have a song about a girl, a mistress or a broken marriage. We have this quietly evocative song about who the real star is. Halfway through Dave Lambert delivers one of his stinging guitar solos, reminding us this is – after all – a rock ballad. But Cousins’ restraint delivery truly touches us on this soft-hued track. (Album: Nomadness/A&M-Universal; 1975)
16. The Verve – “Sonnet”
- Vocalist Richard Ashcroft’s voice was made for melancholy. Like the finest Britpop singers, he coos and purrs at the start only to pour out his heart totally on his sleeve by the bridge and make it soar over the moon by the fade out. “Sonnet” is a superb ballad: richly constructed, larger-than-life and grandiose. It talks of finding love (eventually), of surviving the end of the affair (eventually) and of hitting the top once again (also, eventually). Throughout, violins give the song lift while Nick McCabe’s guitar solo gives it heft and altitude. “Yes, there’s love if you want it…” sings Ashcroft beautifully. But does he believe this is so? Listen and find out. (Album: Urban Hymns/Virgin; 1997)
17. Sandy Denny – “At The End Of The Day”
- Denny’s beautiful, elegant, rich voice was capable of true power, genuine passion and refined subtlety (when needed). There is a sweet, sad glow to this simple elegy to singing one’s song when the day is done that somehow makes us think things aren’t what they appear to be. That said, there’s no denying this sweeping song’s majesty and heart. (Album: Like An Old-Fashioned Waltz/Island-Universal; 1974)
18. Shelby Lynne – “Leaving”
- This genuinely soulful song channels Aretha and Dusty, Dionne and Petula to paint a truly heartfelt vision of departure and despair. “I’m leavin’/But you can’t make me stay” sings Lynne in a breathy yet earthy voice. A female chorus punctuates the song like everyone’s in a Greek tragedy and a guitar wails in the background while strings caress Lynne’s cheek. It’s 3:12 of pure pathos, beautifully rendered. (Album: I Am Shelby Lynne/Island-Universal; 2000)
19. Jeff Buckley – “Hallelujah”
- Lenny Cohen’s mythopoetic masterpiece has acquired a life of its own thanks to multiple versions and excessive over use by contestants wanting to impress the judges on American Idol, The X Factor, The Voice or the millions of talent shows regularly held across the world at any given moment. Some love k.d. lang’s version, others Rufus Wainwright’s cover. Naw…this one easily trounces ‘em all. Why? Because you put your heart and soul into your reading of the thing. Your voice pleads and cajoles, laments and flies high, soaring into rarified air, leaving the rest of humanity far behind and beneath you. Then you jump in the mighty Mississipp’ for a midnight swim and disappear forever. That’s taking sadness to the nth degree, kiddies. (Album: Grace/Sony-BMG; 1993)
20. Hot Chocolate – “Emma”
- Ethereal dance number (and a #8 hit single in’75) that was totally hook-laden thanks to a low-rumbling guitar line and a heartfelt vocal about a groupie, or a hooker, or a girlfriend (take yer pick, really) and how the hero’s gonna make a big star out of her. It’s a haunting, sobering tribute to perseverance that somehow carries a truly ominous undertone to it. (Album: Every 1’s Winner – The Best Of Hot Chocolate/EMI; 1987)
(Qex13)