What's your favorite Torch Song?

[Brian Cronin]

I have been listening a lot to Nanci Griffith's excellent collection of torch songs (Ruby's Torch), and man - torch songs can rock!!

What is your favorite torch song?

In case you don't know what a torch song is, wikipedia defines it as:a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, where one party is either oblivious to the existence of the other, or where one party has moved on.

"Please Call Me Baby" by Tom Waits is one of my faves (it is on the Griffith album).

I am not sure what my FAVORITE is, though...

-Brian

[Reptisaurus!]

Huh.

Mood Indigo (Nina Simone version) or Summertime.

[zuludelta]

I generally enjoy female torch singers more than the male ones (for some reason, unless the guys are rough-cut blues-y types or are above-avergae performers/songwriters, they just come off as whiney wimps).

Of the more recent ones, probably "Tears All Over Town" and "People Used To Dream About The Future" by A Girl Called Eddy.

I guess Rilo Kiley's "Does He Love You" sort of counts as a torch song, even though it's definitely a lot faster-paced than what most would consider a torch song.

Oh, Regina Spektor's "Summer In The City" is an especially disarming and poignant one.

[stealthwise]

That's a pretty broad definition... does it count if the singer likely murdered the other person?

If so, then I'd say Metallica's "Unforgiven II," which gets a bad rap merely for being a sequel song.

[dancj]

From that description I'd guess Bob Dylan's If You See Her Say Hello woud be a torch song. That's one of my favourites

[Brian Cronin]

From that description I'd guess Bob Dylan's If You See Her Say Hello woud be a torch song. That's one of my favourites

Oooh...good pick!!

-Brian

[Brian Cronin]

I generally enjoy female torch singers more than the male ones (for some reason, unless the guys are rough-cut blues-y types or are above-avergae performers/songwriters, they just come off as whiney wimps).

I think that's very accurate.

Tom Waits manages to pull off the rough-cut thing, but yeah, I can see how other guys doing it would just seem wimpy.

-Brian

[Shellhead]

As a comic fan, I would have to say Spiderman '79, by Veruca Salt. That singer wants Spider-man in the worst way.

As a music fan, I would have to say Milk, by Garbage. Such exquisite agony, such yearning.

[Dan Apodaca]

"We're Just Friends" by Wilco is the epitomy of a torch song, and spells out unrequited love in an uncommonly straightforward way that admits the fantasy of it all at the same time.

[Ed Cunard]

The aforementioned Tom Waits song, or "In the Wee Small Hours" as done by Frank Sinatra.

I love torch songs. I'll probably buy this album now.

[Pól Rua]

'Martha' by Tom Waits, is a fave.
I'm also incredibly fond of 'She's Too Good For Me' by Warren Zevon.

However, there are two comedy tracks that I love that kinda fit into this one. One is 'Flying Dream' by Bruce McCulloch and the other is Otis Lee Crenshaw's 'He Almost Looks Like You'.
Both are pretty funny, but have a real sting in that last line.

Dang.

[Ed Cunard]

Another one I really like that just popped into my head--"You Don't Know Me" by Ray Charles.

[Dr. Hfuhruhurr]

Bob Dylan "Tangled Up in Blue" has always been one of my favorites.

[K'Nort]

'Willing to Wait' by Sebadoh strikes me as a torchy song done by a man.

And I like any of them when done by Ute Lemper.

[Shellhead]

My favorite funny torch song is "Liquor, Beer and Wine" by The Reverend Horton Heat. It's a torch song about lost love turned into alcoholism. The tone is sad but also easy-going and humorous.

Best line: "I drink until I can't see, then I wonder where you are."

[Ed Cunard]

Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is another one that gets me.

[thespianphryne]

Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is another one that gets me.

Yes!

And recently, I've discovered Dusty Springfield's version of Anyone Who had A Heart.


-Das

[Santanico]

One of my absolute favorites is Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas" (especially the Nina Simone version). Achingly lovely stuff, as is Simone's version of "Don't Smoke in Bed".

Also, kd lang's version of "My Old Addiction" never, ever fails to make me cry. Though the ultimate torch song has to be the so-called 'Suicide Song', Billie Holiday's interpretation of "Gloomy Sunday". (If you're curious about its reputation, download it, and hey, if you kill yourself, let me know!)

[Crowforge]

this guy's in love with you

[Crowforge]

Specifically
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-XzqcP79vQ

[Merey]

Bob Dylan "Tangled Up in Blue" has always been one of my favorites.

That's the first one that came into my head, too. Except I'm more familiar with the Indigo Girls cover of it.

I'm also pretty fond of Stars' "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead"

[Brian Cronin]

I was debating this with Ed, and I'm not sure if "Tangled" really counts as a torch song.

It could just be how the song is delivered by Dylan (and the Indigo Girls, as well), but it just seems too optimisitc to me to really look at it as a torch song.

A lot of the other songs on Blood on the Tracks, though, I think are definitely torch songs ("If You See Her, Say Hello," or "Simple Twist of Fate").

-Brian

[Puma]

You Don't Know How Much I Hate Everything About You by Rodney Crowell

and The End of my Pirate Days by Mary Chapin Carpenter

The night is soft and silent, new moon at my door
There's nothing near as quiet as the light I'm looking for
And last time that it appeared he was lying next to me
Last time I felt this near to whispered ecstacy

And those who need adventure, they can sail the seven seas
And those who search for treasure, they must live on grander dreams

We rose and fell just like the tides, he filled my heart and soul and I
Buried all my dreams for someone else to find in my pirate days

This world is kinder to the kind that won't look back
They are the chosen few, among us now, unbowed somehow
And one day he turned to me, and before I took one breath
I knew I would only see his shadow in what light was left

And those who need adventure, they can sail the seven seas
And those who search for treasure, they must live on grander dreams

And if I've seen his face since then, it's only been in dreams my friend
Since I came to the end of my pirate days
And if I've called his name since then, it's only been in dreams my friend
So I came to the end of my pirate days

[Santanico]

Ooh. I'll have to download that one.

Er, I mean, purchase it through completely legal channels. (Hi there, FBI guys!)

[dancj]

How about Alison by Elvis Costello (which Costello insists is not about him wanting to kill her)

[Dan Apodaca]

How about Alison by Elvis Costello (which Costello insists is not about him wanting to kill her)

Of course it's not. It's about him wanting to kill her free will and sense of identity, so she can fit the fantasy idea of her that he's in love with.

[dancj]

Of course it's not. It's about him wanting to kill her free will and sense of identity, so she can fit the fantasy idea of her that he's in love with.
It is? When I listen I get the impression of him watching someone he loves (or did/could love) taking the wrong path in life and having their life turn to shit.

Looking at the lyrics (http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=RI1dy2biDh8%3D) I can't quite see your interpretation - although the "I think somebody better put out the big light" is a bit open to enterpretation

[dan bailey]

A couple of covers immediately come to mind -- the Mekons' version of the Band's "Makes No Difference" & the Meat Purveyors' exquisitely bittersweet take on one of my least favorite Elvis songs (it was all over the radio for months when I was a kid), "Burning Love."

Devastating , both of them.

I guess Bauhaus' "Crowds" counts, too. Not a cover, of course.

[will_butler]

It's not in the first person, but Johnny Cash's cover of "He Stopped Loving Her Today" is magnificent.

Better Than Ezra's "Porcelain"

Nick Cave's "Watching Alice"

Nancy Sinatra's "Bang Bang"

Elliott Smith's "Waltz #2"

And also Johnny Cash's cover of "When I Stop Dreaming"

Will

[Chris Heide]

"School Night" by Ani DiFranco...

[Loren]

Two novelty torch song favorites of mine:

Title of the Song (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Zc1Js9P3urw), by Da Vinci's Notebook

I Hold Your Hand in Mine (http://youtube.com/watch?v=O-y0_J-t9f4), by Tom Lehrer

[Reptisaurus!]

One of my absolute favorites is Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas" (especially the Nina Simone version). Achingly lovely stuff, as is Simone's version of "Don't Smoke in Bed".


Ha! Someone agrees with me. Ms. Simone is almost uniquely like, EVOLVED for singin' torch songs. She can sound really sad and at the same time her voice has this POWER to it, like it fills up all available space.