Too painful to play

Apologies if this has been done before, concept's a bit too abstract to have confidence in the searches I did.

Sometimes, on some days, I can't listen to certain music. I don't mean that I'm not in the mood, I mean that it evokes emotions so intense that part of my brain says "nope, not right now." It could be from memories, it could be from pure artistry, but there's no way I can make it through. At least not right now.

This is doing it for/to me at the moment. I don't think there's been a more intense expression of heartbreak than the chorus. Just the title repeated three times without embellishment, as a seismic orchestral swell cries to The Heavens.

Here. Listen to this so I don't have to:

 

Yeah, that one gets me too. Terry Reid kills it with his cover, as well. But nothing tops this ace original version of that heartbreaker:

 

Joy Division isn't good for a bout of depression

I can't listen to David Bowie's Black Star - two years later

 

... and of course that storyline from "Stay With Me" finds its inevitable conclusion here (sob):

 

I think the only reason that I can listen to Blackstar is that I played it so much in the few days before his death. it was only a few days, but I must've played it 20 times. Such a brilliant record, and such a flawless swan song.

The Winner Takes it All does that for me too. "And I understand you've come to shake my hand" puts a lump in my throat every time. Not a kiss, not even a quick hug. A handshake. Ouch.

 

almost any day this is too much.

 

Sometimes Dionne Warwick is off limits for me.

 

I was a huge Nirvana fan but I don’t think I’ve listened to an entire Nirvana album all the way through in let’s see almost 24 years.

 

This is one of the albums I've bought and resold and bought again and resold. Because it's simply too devastating for me to listen to.

 

Cats in the Cradle is almost always impossible for me to get through. First, as a son from a broken home. Second, as a less than perfect father.

On the other hand, Steely Dan always cheers me up.

 

I'm with you on that one. And I'm not even into Harry Chapin.

 

In for the first "Metal machine Music" post.

I remember Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Along Again Naturally" came out about a month after I lost my dad to cancer. I was 10 and that song was played 3 times an hour on the local Top 40 station. Brutal. Beautiful song that hits me square in the gut 40 years later.

And Jim Croce's "Operator" is the best portrayal of a painful breakup - and the lies we tell ourselves to get over it - ever written.

 

That's for sure

Nothing can touch the original version by Lorraine Ellison.

 

Queen - Bijou
Could not listen to it for many years as I related it somehow sad that happened in my life.
But it's important to relate songs with bad memories to new, good memories.
Otherwise a good song dies for you.

 

Today I add 'One Of Us' by Abba to this list. For the first time ever a song - this song - made me shed a tear. It reminds me of several failed relationships.

 

Oh Yoko - John Lennon

 

Those Walkers really had a way with a ballad...

 

What is interesting is that Chapin and his son had a great relationship by their accounts.

 

I feel you, also a son from a broken home, man of the house at 14.
My eldest son just left home last week, man nothing prepares you for that day, it seems no matter how much time you spent with them when they were kids it never feels like enough the day they leave home.
You're left scratching your head asking yourself all sorts of questions and wondering where the time went and I've spent more time with my kids than most fathers have I'd say and i still felt like that.
That song is a killer.

The stuff i struggle with is my grandfather's stuff that i inherited, mostly country.
I have memories of him listening to some of the more somber stuff and tearing up, i knew how it tugged at his heartstrings because what they are singing abou, he lived.
The sentimental aspect of actually physically handling his records and the memories are sometimes too much and i really have to pick my days to listen to tjat stuff.

 

Oddly, I've never found Joy Division too painful to listen to, no matter my mood. Townes Van Zandt, on the other hand...I love his work to death, but I may well go through the rest of my life without playing another one of his records.

 

Unchanged from this post of mine from 2016: Saddest Songs Not About Break-Ups?

 

"Other Side of the World" by KT Tunstall ... it'll break your heart if you've lived it

 

Any recommendations for mono or stereo?
I'm guessing mono is where it's at!

 

You know, 10 minutes ago I was listening to Vincent by Don Maclean.

Boy does that one get to me.