(13) Depeche Mode, "Blasphemous Rumours"
So here’s another obvious band inclusion but a surprisingly difficult song choice. Darkness is everywhere in their discography, but it's maybe darkest here. “Blasphemous Rumours” begins with a 16-year old attempting suicide, and only gets blacker from there, as the song suspects that “God’s got a sick sense of humor / that when I die I expect to find him laughing.” Most of DM’s songs (“Black Celebration,” for instance) revel in the darkness they find themselves in, but not this one. Later they’ll find religion, of a sort, but not here: this song makes its case for the unfairness of the godless world: “girl of 18 / fell in love with everything / found new life / in Jesus Christ / Hit by a car / Ended up / on a life support machine.” There is no condolence or joy in this song—nor, perhaps, in the world, for those of us who pay attention. Matching up with Jules below (a song written in 1982, two years before this song, though Jules recorded much later) is a song with a weirdly similar message. One difference, perhaps, is that Depeche Mode's angle of attack feels a lot less passive, so we have Jules on upset alert.
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(4) Gary Jules, "Mad World"
If you’re looking for reasons to pick against Jules, here are two: first, it’s a cover (as at least two other songs in the bracket are), and second, it was evidently released in 2001, recorded for the movie Donnie Darko, so it’s the latest song in the bracket, and the reason the ending date is 2001. But listening to it, perhaps because the Tears For Fears version is from 1982, so the song almost bookends the entire era, it feels like it’s been with us forever. I guess I was aware of the original, though it was never a favorite or a big single in America, but, man, it was brilliant in Donnie Darko, wasn't it? Your memories of that film may affect your fondness for this song. But it really struck a cultural chord: check the Wikipedia page for the Jules version to see how many times it’s been used in television shows since it came out (lotsssss). From that it seems clear that it’s indispensable for describing a particular kind of emptiness. It’s unadorned, unshowy. This isn’t a song that’s going to overwhelm you with sadness, but the dark heart's there if you’re ready for it. The Michel Gondry-directed video may offer it a bit of an unfair advantage in this matchup versus the videoless "Blasphemous Rumours," but that and the use of it in the film is why it's the 4 seed.
Which is saddest? Vote by 3/8 at 9am
I won't question the committee on "Mad World"'s release date and though I'm hesitant to vote for a song that *feels* too recent, two things swayed me. 1) This song makes me sad that I'll never go to bed with Jake Gyllenhaal. 2) I have always found Depeche Mode vaguely embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteGoogle won't let me post a Peter Gabriel "Don't Give Up" gif re: Jake, so just imagine one in your head.
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DeleteI'm interested in the argument that cover songs are automatically less sad because they are covers. That was my initial reaction as well but I'm not convinced it's the right one. I suppose there is the argument a cover is less raw, more removed from the original sadness. But isn't there also an argument that a cover signals that a song's sadness has a certain resonance?
ReplyDeleteThe committee doesn't necessarily agree with that argument either (after all, it's not like most songs—or works of literature—are much more than recombinations of previously existing materials), but we're interested in it too. I think it's the default response for a lot of listeners (on account of the American ken for authenticity and the myth of the artist as the individual genius), so the performance of the song sort of has to overcome it, I suspect, for it to move on. We have several covers here aside from this one in the bracket: "Song to the Siren," "Romeo and Juliet," "Henry Lee" (sorta), "Hallelujah." It seems like one good way to evaluate them is to consider other versions of the song to see what this version—or another—reveals (like how the Johnny Cash version of "Hurt" clearly influenced people's voting for the Nine Inch Nails version). We'll see how much that matters with Jeff Buckley or the This Mortal Coil of his father's song.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad this topic is part of the conversation. In the case of This Moral Coil, cover songs are automatically MORE sad because they are covers. All of what TMC accomplished, especially on the album Blood, is a treasure. Though they are covers, the songs stand on their own as stylized versions crafted within the unique constraints of the 4AD project. How they strip a song to its essence! The pregnant space between notes! Ah, the strings, keys, and harmony! “Mr. Somewhere” & “With Tomorrow” forever & always.
DeleteTim Buckley's “Song to the Siren,” performed lovingly by Cocteau Twins’ Frasier & Guthrie as This Mortal Coil is an all-timer for me. Please vote it to the finals or I will DDoS this website. ;-)
“Mad World” never struck me—to my ear it sounds vapid, medicated, passionless. Maybe it's Jules' voice? Maybe if Julee Cruise sang it? In any case, I am a proponent for the Donald Drako OST. Lots of good cuts from the likes of others in this fair tournament. Among my favorites: Tears for Fears, The Church, Echo & the Bunnymen. It was a soundtrack of discovery for me, one that introduced me to several artists whom I now hold dear, much like the Lost in Translation OST (e.g., JAMC, Phoenix, Death in Vegas). Also, Michael Andrews’ score can't be trifled with—“Gretchen Ross” is one of the singular most beautiful instrumentals under one minute.
ReplyDeleteThis round appears to be a runaway in favor of Gary Jules, but I voted for DM. Clearly, “Blasphemous Rumours” deals with sad subject matter, lyrically. But more than that, I feel like I am voting on account of my familiarly with the artist’s work in general, my propensity for their aesthetic, as opposed to directly addressing the question, “Which is saddest?” I'm an ardent fan of “It Doesn't Matter,” another track from the DM album, Some Great Reward, so that is what I'm really voting for here.