The Most Harrowing Song I Ever Heard

[Hobbayne]

I,m still a bit shocked actually! But this evening I was searching Youtube for some 2 Tone Ska stuff by The Specials for some Sir Horace bass content, when I came across this song which I had never heard before. I was familiar with the 2 Tone stuff as a teenager, but a song called 'The Boiler' which I had never heard at all in 30 odd years came up so I thought I would give it a listen.
The singer was Rhoda Dakar who sang lead with The Bodysnatchers.
The song (If You can call it that) is a 12 bar rocksteady feel with Rhoda talking not singing the vocal.
The subject deals with violence against women and rape.
The last 60 seconds of the piece are so disturbing that I needed a large scotch to calm down.
I wont post the link on here but the inquisitive among you will find it.
Sorry to bring down your evening, but I needed to vent.
Hobbayne

[Number6]

Totally agree a very difficult song to listen too in it's entirety but there's a part of me that wishes that more high profile bands had music highlighting subjects as rape ànd domestic violence.

The impact of this particular song is immense.

[timmo]

This topic reminds me of gloomy Sunday by Billie holiday. Ot got banned from several countries as hundreds of people were commuting suicide. Quite an interesting but sad story behind it

[Kirky]

Yes, it's right up there (if that's the right term) with Billy Holiday's "Strange Fruit" for serious, serious issues in music.

[dincz]

Lou Reed's "Berlin" album - with a bit of Jack Bruce as a bonus.

Edited April 18, 2015 by dincz

[Raymondo]

Wow what an amazing song (and performance by Rhoda!) It is indeed disturbing.

I experienced the same kind of shock and despair when I first heard "Sonny's lettah" by Linton Kwesi Johnson....

Being a 50+ year old white male that grew up with two sisters and lived in a working class multi- cultural area of Nottingham I lived in a kind of "bubble of innocence" and never could understand violence to women or the racist attitude of the Police referred to in Sonny's lettah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlrqPweVpnU

Edited April 18, 2015 by Raymondo

[Mykesbass]

That is a very powerful performance, and yes, a harrowing subject, but great that artists did stuff like this.

[Rich]

I always found the Jam's "Down In The Tube Station At Midnight" very powerful. The line 'They took the keys, she'll think it's me' sends a shiver down my spine, and not a nice one.

[Raymondo]

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1429349806' post='2750621']
I always found the Jam's "Down In The Tube Station At Midnight" very powerful. The line 'They took the keys, she'll think it's me' sends a shiver down my spine, and not a nice one.
[/quote]

+1 It is spine chilling!

[bassace]

Most harrowing? We Plough the Fields and Scatter........I suppose.

[HMX]

Frankie Teardrop by Suicide is not one to listen to with headphones in a darkened room.

Made me uneasy.

[Zenitram]

Henrietta Collins and the Wifebeating Childhaters did a few very disturbing numbers. [i]Hey Henry[/i] and [i]Men Are Pigs[/i] in particular.

Not something to listen to in public.

[i]Drive by Shooting[/i] is, er, a bit fluffier.

[alyctes]

Hüsker Dü, 'Diane'. We lost a guitarist to that song; he quit rather than play it.

Though it's more about shock value, I suppose.

[Graham]

Will give that a listen later on, but Daddy by Korn is a hard listen.

[Japhet]

I find Johnny Cash's version of Hurt quite a difficult listen, especially the video version showing how ravaged he had become by the end.

[KingPrawn]

This is my offering
http://youtu.be/LAriDxTeed8

[deepbass5]

Bassace beat me to it - i was going to suggest a Jethro Tull track due to the seed drill connection

[chriswareham]

Diane was in remembrance of a friend of the band who was murdered in the manner the song describes, so I don't think it was written principally to shock.

[Spoombung]

If you really want harrowing try this:

https://youtu.be/l06ozEXOSaY

[spongebob]

Two very hard listens.

Queen Esther Marrow, 'Mama' -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ-t0F1RLvk

James Brown - 'Mama's Dead' -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZw4h1EhsbM

[Truckstop]

Dance with the Devil by Immortal Technique's another hard one to listen to.

Most of you wont be familiar with Immortal Technique; he's a rapper from New York who raps about really tough topics like police brutality, rape, war crimes, drug abuse and other gang related material (I think he used to be in a gang).

Anyway, this song tells the story of a kid who wants to become a gang member. He starts selling weed, then cocaine and then crack. Finally, in order to become a fledged member of the gang he was involved with, he has to go with a few other members to assault a woman they found.

So, it's rather graphic and they assault this woman and end up killing her. In the end, the kid realises that the woman was his own mother and then kills himself out of shame.

It's a good song, the wording is incredible and I'd encourage you to listen to more Immortal Technique!

[bonzodog]

I find My chemical romances 'Cancer' a hard song to listen to because of the subject matter but also a beautiful song too

[Fisheth]

These three I can't listen too or find hard, because of subject matter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgrEwzhBc34

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3pK0x17DAk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu2BNiwhaX8

[alyctes]

[quote name='chriswareham' timestamp='1429457102' post='2751536']
Diane was in remembrance of a friend of the band who was murdered in the manner the song describes, so I don't think it was written principally to shock.
[/quote]

Thank you for the update, I wasn't aware of the personal nature of the song.

[chriswareham]

I love Gloomy Sunday in its original Hungarian version:

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBichAa9NeE"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBichAa9NeE[/url]

The first English version had lyrics that were close in tone and meaning to the original, but the version most people know is a later one that has a much less direct style and a "happy" last verse tacked on to it.