Whether waiting for love or revelling in lust, the steps you walk to bridge the two are often the most brutal.
On Ivan Milat, stranger danger and the complicated nature of recollection
With Ivan Milat appearing in a Sydney hospital, I’m reminded of my youth, one of “stranger danger”, 90’s earworms and pre-Internet innocence. But was life really better back then?
200 Sad Songs: Ron Sexsmith – Maybe This Christmas (2002)
With Christmas lunch upon us, we’re reminded how easy it is to lose touch with those we know. Ron Sexsmith’s song articulates it beautifully. Sandy, I’m sorry.
200 Sad Songs: #139 Alice in Chains – Down in a Hole (1992)
‘Down in a hole’ sans the brutal context, is anything but a sad song. However, tied up with the narrative of the man who sung it, the neg vibes flood in.
200 Sad Songs #140 Ben Folds – Cigarette (1997)
Sometimes less is absolutely more. Ben Folds death drags his opus ‘Cigarette’ in 90 seconds, as the rest of us splutter as the emotional detritus remains lodged in our throats.
200 Sad Songs: #141 Paul Kelly – When I first met your ma (1992)
Paul Kelly is a gifted writer, especially when charting what he no longer has. When I First Met Your Ma, is a superb example of love lived, love lost and lessons learned.
200 Sad Songs: #142 Don Henley – The heart of the matter (1989)
Don Henley is an astute student of loss. Be it driving the streets pursuing his love, and the summer they shared, or in this instance, the precise moment when you discover your ex has found someone new. Get out of my head, Henley.
200 Sad Songs: #143 Rilo Kiley – Does he love you? (2004)
Rilo Kiley boldly brings empathetic light to the hopes of the mistress, with the song’s protagonist believing that once the divorce comes to be, they’d both be free in California. Not so much.
200 Sad Songs: #154 Tupac Shakur – Dear Mama (1995)
A mother’s love is a mother’s love. Even if she dismisses you in favour of her addictions. Tupac has lived this, and he’s been good enough to share.
200 Sad Songs: #155 David Bowie – Letter to Hermione (1966)
A rare treat this week, as we delve into the vulnerability of David Bowie. It seems that coke sniffing pansexual aliens have feelings too. That’s pretty freaky.
200 Sad Songs: #156 Everclear – Heroin Girl (1995)
‘Heroin Girl’ is a song about exactly that. To the artist who wrote the track, she was his everything; to everyone else, she was just another overdose.
200 Sad Songs: #157 Joshua Kadison – Jessie (1993)
Jessie is a problem we’ve all had. The grating drunk phone call from the ex we never tamed, one that promises all and delivers nothing. But still we believe.
200 Sad Songs: #158 Drake – You & the 6 (2015)
Drake, the man who started from the lowest wrung before reaching his current station, features this week, adding a symphony to his parental issues. Not bad for a reformed child actor.
200 Sad Songs: #159 Little Birdy – Relapse (2003)
Despite the author being a teenager, ‘Relapse’ is far deeper than the standard diary fare. The visceral feeling of love amputated bleeds off the page.
200 Sad Songs: #160 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Nobody’s baby now (1994)
In the next instalment of 200 Sad Songs, we are dragged into the darkest corner of Nick Cave’s ‘Murder Ballads’, documenting the split of a pair, and the emotional hell that rides in soon after it.
200 Sad Songs: #162 Willie Nelson – You were always on my mind (1982)
The benefit of age is seeing the people you’ve ruined. Willie Nelson knows this, and up next in 200 Sad Songs he’ll explain the autumnal years regret he walks through. Love is fun.
200 Sad Songs: #162 The Zombies – A rose for Emily (1968)
There are many odes to dead women, but The Zombies’ effort grows like decay. Consider it Rigor mortis of the heart.
200 Sad Songs: #163 Queen – Somebody to Love (1976)
Freddy Mercury’s saccharine mash note to the absence of love is our next stop on the Sad Songs train. He earnestly believes that true love will save him, but will it?
200 Sad Songs: #165 Gonzo – I’m going to go back there someday (1979)
We tend to slight Gonzo, some Muppets being created more equal than others, though we should take his song seriously. His ode to missed opportunities is up next in 200 Sad Songs.
200 Sad Songs: #166 Holly Throsby – When? (2011)
Holly Throsby’s “When?” is a song is about an important aspect of love: looking forward to when you’re over the ex, and the landscape is bright once more.
200 Sad Songs: #167 Neutral Milk Hotel – The king of carrot flowers Pt 1 (1998)
I have no idea what the title of this song means, or indeed the point of it, but I know how it feels. Claustrophobic. Disquieting. Brilliant.
200 Sad Songs: #168 Cold Chisel – Four walls (1980)
This week we’re sent to the big house with Cold Chisel’s Four Walls, a song that starts tongue in cheek, and ends head in hands. Time to pack your sharpened toothbrush, its 200 Sad Songs time.
