most beautiful haunting melodies you ever heard?

[grooverider]

geoff85,
Here's Bette Midler, lyrics that are hard to forget..."they called you a mistake", she sings this from the "Bathhouse Betty" cd, "Lullaby In Blue":



(there's also a Youtube clip of her singing this song on David Lettermen)

[Hank]

Ennio Morricone has been mentioned already. I think he’s the king of beautiful, haunting melodies (in the movies at least). My favorites are:

Giu La Testa:
- gotta love a waltz with major 7th chords....

and Once Upon a Time in the West:

[geoff85]

geoff85,
Here's Bette Midler, lyrics that are hard to forget..."they called you a mistake", she sings this from the "Bathhouse Betty" cd, "Lullaby In Blue":



(there's also a Youtube clip of her singing this song on David Lettermen)

Never heard this before. The combination of lyrics and melody make this incredibly beautiful. This song placed in the right part of the right film can really add alot of depth to the picture. If I were to attempt to arrange this song I wiould have added alot of strings to the end to create a big crescendo. Having said that amazing song.

[danlindroos]

Well, Geoff !:))

Maybe you are right ( the tune consists
of so many completely different parts
making it difficult to categorize) !
Okay, I bring you another one I just
wrote called "Friendship" to
honor all good friends all over
the world !:))

http://app.box.com/s/a1o0tfwv42k2wvfgta0v


Cheers
Dani

[nowmedical]

Absolutely no contest: Bacharach/David/O'Hara

[Blair N. Cummings]

I`ve always said (maybe not here) that I would happily listen to Jill O`Hara sing every song ever written. I`d like to have heard her do "Be Aware", maybe my favorite B/D song.

[geoff85]

Absolutely no contest: Bacharach/David/O'Hara

Good one!!!! However the Dionne version is the one i would have used.

[geoff85]

Def think this is a very haunting song from undoubtedly the best vocalist ever recorded. The movie was a flop and caused her to almost go crazy but I think this is one of her great forgotten songs. At 2:46 bone chilling note.



I had my first summer job when this song came out and sadly september 11th happened at the end of that summer so all those feelings are wrapped up in this song for me.

WARNING: MODERN MUSIC POSTED

[geoff85]

The last song i posted was of the greatest vocalist ever recorded this next song is from the most beautiful vocalist/actress ever recorded or captured on film. I think anytime someone dies young it makes a beautiful song ever more haunting. The pianos sound like they are shedding tears as well. Sometimes the most beautiful thing about someones voice is the tone and the texture and for me she was one of the greatest in that area.




warning: modern music posted above.

She died minutes after this video wrapped. That makes it pretty haunting in the traditional sense for me.




Just a little modern music history for all the brontosaurus on here.

[geoff85]

This song is insanely beautiful and deep. It shows the mixtures of the cultures that influenced her the deep grit of soul music and the sophistication of the romantic era composers(namely Chopin). This song was written and composed by her when she was only 17. I present Alicia Keys Butterflyz. Old timers on here take the time to learn a modern gem.

[Blair N. Cummings]

From a Brontosaurus:
I`ve listened to the clips goeff85 posted (I`m guessing that `85 was the year of his birth) and I have to say, bluntly, they suck. They are the product of performers with no knowledge of popular music history, no discernible talent for any but the most banal re-cyclings of "melody", and whose idea of lyrics is greeting card or high-school love- note drivel.
I know that this has been the norm for decades now and it will not improve. Those steeped in this stuff from the cradle will continue to be moved by it. So be it.
I know this is harsh and I genuinely wish the evidence could have moved me to be kinder, but - kids - you have been robbed, gutted, and totally fu..ed.

[Ken Miller]

While I strongly disagree with Blair's assessment of the Beatles and Brian Wilson in previous posts, I have to say I agree wholeheartedly with Blair on this one, and not because I'm old. These songs, like most songs today, have little direction. The "chord progressions" do not progress. They merely sit there, going back and forth between two chords. Sure, the chords are pretty but they don't go anywhere. It's not a chord progression, it's a "groove." Bacharach songs often flow seamlessly through many keys. Most of today's pop music drones on and on in one key. Listening is a frustrating game of waiting for something to happen, harmonically. The "melody" likewise, is very formulaic and has very little contrast, usually repeating the same simple motif three times with an embellishment on the fourth time to give the appearance that a phrase has happened. They cover barely a fifth in range (compared to Bacharach's melodies that usually span well beyond the octave). Rhythmically, also no surprises. All phrases predictably symmetrical. Metronomic. The songs as a whole have no form, the chorus usually being a variation on the verse, using the same chord "progression" (again, groove) making the whole thing really boring. Songs used to have distinct verses, choruses, and bridges, each having new musical ideas and building the tension. After the first 15 seconds of most of today's pop songs there are really no new musical ideas. These are not songs but empty vehicles for the expression of the ego of the performer. Mariah Carey was the pioneer of this genre of musical blasphemy. No distinguishable melody, no chord progression, no song form, just vocal acrobatics. How I long for a revival of the well crafted popular song.

[geoff85]

There are certain arguments you just wont ever win. Mariah Careys sales at the record stores in the 90s has the final say. Keep in mind i grew up on music of my parents generation as well as being somewhat proficient in music theory and appreciation as well as piano playing. Some people are so wrapped up in the songs of their youth it is impossible for them to find appreciation in anything else. While i agree that todays song often dont have the complexity of the songs of yesterday there are many that can still be appreciated for what they are. Truth is songs have gotten simpler. Would anyone here want to write lyrics to a Chopin melody as beautiful and complex as it is? Also keep in mind that very few songwriters of the past were as complex as Bacharach there were many songwriters whose songs revolved around 2 or 3 chord progressions which I find painful to listen to. I wasnt comparing these artists to Bacharach i was just offering up what I like from my generations songs. Mariahs voice is the instrument and her phrasings and vocal melodies are often complex enough that a complex track could even be counterintuitive. I would love someone to honestly name one singer better than Mariah. I will say right now Whitney had similar power but not the depth in texture and surely not the range. Dionne had control but surely not the range or the power. Alicia Keys piano playing alone trumps the majority of the Brill Building writers except for maybe Bacharach. Keep in mind I offered just one song.

Music can be analyzed from top to bottom but at the end of the day its felt in the heart more so than between the ears. I for one dont get country music in fact it almost annoys me but i understand it does something for the country bumpkins that listen to it and thats fine. I would be curious to know what the OG's on the blog think are good songs made by young artist and songwriters?

[geoff85]

I think the epitome of beautiful haunting melodies of this generation is Coldplay. Every one of their songs are melancholy euphoria especially the Choruses. I would say if you cant appreciate these songs then it is safe to say you have lost your musical appreciation plasticity.

yellow

fix you

clocks

the scientist

violet hill

trouble

every teardrop is a waterfall

I honestly think the 60s had better composers but todays vocalist make alot more interesting and unique choices with the way they interpret songs.

[Jan R.]

Burt Bacharach (and even more the combination Bacharach/David) is such an exception of songwriting talent that nearly all other songwriters look pale in comparison. Lennon/McCartney, Brian Wilson (sometimes, not always), Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joni Mitchell - they come close, but that's more or less all that comes to my mind. There are some songwriters who are great in one area (like John Fogerty, to name one), but Bacharach is superior. And had he decided to go into classical composition, I'm quite sure we would know him even then.

I have to admit I don't know a songwriter of this quality in today's young generation. But that does not neccessarily mean that there are no cherries on the charts cake, sometimes. Today's music is based much more on sound, on studio electronics and on using several sampled elements in a rhythmic way, and I'm sure there are virtuosi in this direction - I just don't know them, and I don't know where to hear them. Todya's music scene is differentiated and categorized in a way that makes it nearly impossible to get the hang of it, because you don't know where to start and what to follow anymore.

But somehow I have the feeling that's nothing really new ...