The Greatest Gloomy Hits… Ever! Part Three

BLUE ON BLUE

It's a pretty hard task trying to single out a favourite wistful Carpenters song - they were the first pop band I ever heard pretty much, thanks to my dad constantly blaring them out through his record player!

'For All We Know' is one of their lesser known songs but it strikes a real chord. It sums up that phase when lovers grow apart over time but still cling on to the hope that one day their love may grow again. The chorus is just the repeated word 'why?' which makes it all the more heartwrenching.

There is something so nostalgic and tragic in songs of gloom from yesteryear. Perhaps it's because their moment in time has passed and we know now the tragic end of some of these singers who still sing to us from beyond the grave. It makes their songs of human fragility even more poignant. This is a nugget of Carpenters gold; full of heartache but also a glimmer of hope.

JOHNNY FOREIGNER

My favourite melancholy song, if that even makes sense, is 'Faking The Books' by Lali Puna.

I'm sure I know Low or Casiotone For the Painfully Alone songs that are sadder, but there's something perfect and resigned about this song, like a world-weary father explaining to his son how we're all going to die.

It definitely works its magic best when you're cold, miserable and feel like you're going to be alone forever. After, try listening to the dntel remix and see if your sobbing is in time with the cut up guitars. Until everybody knows, this ain't heaven.

LALI PUNA / FAKING THE BOOKS

MY SAD CAPTAIN

Ed Wallis: Usually I'm wary of overt displays of emotion in music. Those 'sad' signifiers - maudlin strings, heartfelt lyrics - always seem like a trick, like they're trying to impose a feeling on you, rather than bring out something you might be feeling already yourself.

It's the one's that creep up on you that you've got to watch out for, that don't announce themselves as sad but allow you to find it out for yourself. This is why I love 'Don't Worry Baby' by The Beach Boys. It's a song that I used to listen to a lot as a kid and it's probably been my favourite song ever since, for its bittersweet melancholy. i

There's something about the high melody and harmonies that has that ache which sits at the heart of melancholic music. Plus I always liked the fact that it was Brian Wilson's attempt to do 'Be My Baby' - only he did something... better.