I played this track by the Mutton Birds for first time in many a year and was reminded what a subtly terrifying song it is. On the surface the narrative feels somewhat detached and very ordinary but with an insidious undercurrent that builds to the throwaway final lines (I wont give it away). The music compliments it perfectly. Cracking the band the Mutton Birds whatever happened to them – something about them reminds me of the Decemberists ?
The other song that I thought of that gives me the shivers is John Wayne Gacy Jnr by Sufjan Stevens. The music is beautiful and yet the lyrics are just devastatingly awful (in the real sense of the word) and makes me think of Joseph Conrad “The horror! The horror!”.
Nirvana’s ‘Polly’ is a great example of this. A really excellent disturbing lyric. The mention of the “blow torch” sends shivers down the spine.
Let’s get Frankie Teardrop by Suicide and The Boiler by The Special AKA out the way now.
Done.
Carry on.
‘Me and a Gun’, Tori Amos. Incredibly powerful and disturbing.
Don’t be fooled by the fluffy sounding title. This one gets very dark.
Scott Walker – Clara
Properly nightmare-inducing…
“The mood soon changed
in the clear morning air
A man came up towards the body
and poked it with a stick
It rocked stiffly
and twisted around at the end of the rope”
And, of course, Down In The Tube Station At Midnight (“Cos they took the keys and she’ll think it’s me”).
The casual tone by Willie makes it even tougher than the original version.
Pointed out in the old place but bears repeating…
“And I’m gonna make you sweat, sweat till you can’t sweat no more
And if you cry, I’m gonna push it, push it, push it some more.”
YIKES
Usher – Love In This Club
“Might as well give me a kiss, if we keep touching like this
I know you’re scared, baby, they don’t know what we’re doing.
Let’s both get undressed right here, keep it up girl, and, I swear.
I’m gonna give it to you non-stop.
And I don’t care who’s watching.”
Seriously: has there ever been a more alarming profession of romantic intent than “I’m gonna give it to you non stop, and I don’t care who’s watching”?
Brrrrr…..
“Gog” by Peter Hammill or VDGG….
Some call me SATAN others have me GOD
Some name me NEMO…I am unborn.
Some speak of me in anagrams,
Some grieve upon my wrath…
To the ones who give me service
I grant my scorn.
My words are
‘Too late’, ‘Never’, ‘Impossible’, and ‘Gone’;
My home is in the sunset and the dawn.
My Name is locked in silence,
Sometimes it’s whispered out of spite.
All gates are locked,
All doors are barred and bolted,
There is no place for flight.
Will you not come to me
And love me for one more night?
All set to an evil tune….
The bit at the end of Strawberry Fields Forever after the fade out made me nearly shit myself the first time I heard it. Now it just makes me go a bit cold. Thinking about it now in fact. Brrrrr
This, and that bit at the end of Flying, where the mellotron starts wobbling all over the place before fading out, sounded quite unsettlingly spooky to my childish ears.
The Killing Jar; bleak, even by Richard Thompson’s high standards.
I first heard this on 6 Music some years ago. I had to stop the car, the temperature had dropped that low.
Bonnie – Prince – Billy & Matt Sweeney – Blood Embrace: https://youtu.be/8JDaBRVy4ek
Don’t know if the song itself is more chilling, or the fact that it was one I can remember we took great relish in singing when we were kids growing up in Ireland, & our parents deemed it okay for us to sing it! It’s a spooky little song anyhow. The Dubliners – Weila Waile
My wee sister used to laugh like a drain when our dad sung that one!
Can’t post a clip but one of the most unsettling things I’ve ever heard was “Candlelight Song” by the Violent Femmes.
This was a wonderfully eery quality. Best listened to at 3am, by candle light, as a branch taps at the window in the wind.
You know what? I heard a really brilliant song on Radio 2 a couple of weeks ago (sadly don’t know the title though…) & guess who it was? The Incredible String Band!
The String Band on Radio 2 ?! REALLY ? The stars are in alignment. It has begun!
Here’s a chiller. Incest and murder…
Here’s Diamanda Galás’ version of Shel Silverstein’s “25 Minutes To Go”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6183sfEDMU
And then there’s Diane Izzo’s rendition of “Oh Death”, which I think is actually superior to the classic Ralph Stanley version.
Incidentally, that album “The Executioner’s Last Songs” is a real cracker.
No “Psycho” yet?
Alasdair Roberts – Dighty Burn