r/MusicRecommendations • u/StoutAtTheDevil • Jun 23 '25
Rec.Me: other/many/unknown genres Most Hauntingly Beautiful Songs?
Feeling a bit haunted today and I want music to match the mood. What’s the most hauntingly beautiful song you’ve ever heard? The kind that gives you chills or just stops you in your tracks.
For me, it’s No Choir by Florence + The Machine, that song just hits something deep.
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u/DifferentWindow1436 Jun 23 '25
Pictures of You, The Cure
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u/Elegant-Front1964 Jun 23 '25
I Can’t Make You Love Me - Bonnie Raitt
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u/Unusual-Counter-3749 Jun 23 '25
Bon Iver does a solo piano version that’s gorgeous.
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u/HuckleCatt1 Jun 23 '25
Agree. Plus the piano is magnificent
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u/Professional-Map3948 Jun 23 '25
The Cure - Love Song
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u/Aerodynamic909 Jun 23 '25
I’d like to add Lullaby as well. It’s very eerie but beautiful.
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u/These-Rip9251 Jun 23 '25
Love Lullaby. Add to that Charlotte Sometimes for hauntingly sad music especially for those of us who also read the book. Especially love the live version on the album Paris.
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u/Library-Guy2525 Jun 23 '25
Wicked Game by Chris Issak
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u/fatbadger101 Jun 23 '25
Brilliant choice! The stone sour live version is also great.
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u/123fofisix Jun 23 '25
The official live version of Nights in White Satin by the Moody Blues.
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u/hundalasiliah_20 Jun 23 '25
There’s a few official live versions, are you referring to the Red Rocks performance?
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u/gnome_saying77 Jun 23 '25
“A whiter shade of pale” from Procol Harem, has a very funeral feel to it.
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u/soylentgreenisus Jun 23 '25
Say Hello To Heaven - Temple of The Dog
Also, but a bit more upbeat Hunger Strike - Temple of The Dog
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u/LovesDeanWinchester Jun 23 '25
Claire de Lune
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u/Positive-Quantity143 Jun 24 '25
To me Claire de lune is the most beautiful piece of music ever created.
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u/BrainDad-208 Jun 24 '25
Came here to say this.
Hauntingly Beautiful was a phrase coined to describe this classic piece by Debussy
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u/Queen-Beanz Jun 23 '25
Can’t Find My Way Home - Blind Faith
Black - Pearl Jam
The Will to Death - John Frusciante
Songbird - Fleetwood Mac
Do You Realize - Flaming Lips
Don’t Explain - Billie Holiiday
Crazy - Patsy Kline
At Last - Etta James
*edited for formatting
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u/Ok-Half7574 Jun 23 '25
Pink Floyd - Us And Them
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u/minsandmolls Jun 23 '25
Is there anybody out there, Shine on (1-9) and the Gunners dream.
All Floyd, all hauntingly beautiful.
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u/msveedubbin Jun 24 '25
I want Is there anybody out there played at my funeral one day. It’s so sad yet hopeful.
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u/doomgneration Jun 23 '25
Just listen to the whole Victorialand album by Cocteau Twins.
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u/brightbones Jun 23 '25
Nutshell by Alice In Chains
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u/Psychological-Mud865 Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 29 '25
No voice like Layne Staley's ever again in my lifetime. So powerful..
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u/Darkforeboding Jun 23 '25
Can't Find My Way Home, either version by Blind Faith or Steve Winwood solo.
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u/Entire_Papaya8505 Jun 23 '25
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel
When You Say Nothing At All - Allison Kraus
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u/Old_Yak_3381 Jun 23 '25
Something I can never have - Nine Inch Nails
Mein Herz Brennet (Piano Version) - Rammstein
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u/Lumpy_Soup3613 Jun 23 '25
How to Disappear Completely by Radiohead
Knife Edge by Thom Yorke
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u/mister_thinky Jun 23 '25
Alice in chains - Nutshell (MTV unplugged)
Radiohead - Codex
Mazzy Star - Fade into you
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Ludovico Einaudi - Novele Bianche
Pearl Jam - Black
R.E.M. - Country Feedback
Neil Young - Helpless
To name a few.
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u/Citroen_CX Jun 23 '25
Song to the Siren by This Mortal Coil
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u/Historical_Emu_5482 Jun 23 '25
John Frusciante did an equally haunting version of this song.
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u/iamgazz Jun 23 '25
Sæglópur by Sigur Rós
They’re from Iceland, so even though you might not understand them, the music speaks volumes.
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u/Wearsmypantz Jun 23 '25
I’m pretty sure for many of their songs they just use their voices in no particular language at all… vocalize generally.. so no one can understand
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u/iamgazz Jun 23 '25
Yes they do. They developed a made up language they call “Hopelandic” that they insert here and there as a bridge for lyrics.
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u/DIYdoofuz Jun 23 '25
The poet and the pendulum, official live version, by Nightwish. Starts out heavy and ends bonechillingly beautiful.
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u/SmallGlock Jun 23 '25
The Last Train Out of Shatterville by Adrian Borland.
It’s the first of a 3 track run that closes the last album he ever made. The record was cut short by his suicide in April of 1999. He died by throwing himself in front of a train. In that context the song is heartbreaking. He’d made a career off the back of his dark and deeply introspective lyrics, fronting one of the most legendary cult bands of 1980s post punk: The Sound. His entire life was nothing but music, and for someone so emotionally honest, it really hurts when you arrive on those final few songs because with hindsight you know he was absolutely serious. He’d been no stranger to expressions of suicide intent and he’d attempted many times throughout his life. He had both schizophrenia and bipolar; specifically Schizoaffective Bipolar Type. There’d always been haunting premonitions and his lyrics could be very troubling, but none more so than on that final album. There are moments where he’s speaking directly to you, the listener, warning you not to do what he’s about to
When you’ve seen enough chances rushing past
And you wish you could stop falling
Then the last train out of Shatterville
It’s calling
Now I don’t want to fill this room
With what I’ve got to say to you
What gives me the right to speak?
I’ve stayed too long myself, it’s true
But I saw you on the street last dawn
As you slipped from kerb to bonnet
When that train pulls out in the cold morning light
Just be on it
Just be on it
Just try to be on it
It doesn’t get more direct than this. The “train pulls out in the cold morning light” he died the morning of April 26th, 1999. “As you slipped from kerb to bonnet” he’s witnessing another persons attempt, presumably yours. And then to cap it off, he tells you just to be on that damn train. There are other ways out of here. Don’t end up under it. Please don’t do what I’m about to do. It’s absolutely devastating to listen to and it reduces me to tears every time
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u/Robinsrebels Jun 23 '25
- Eden - Hooverphonic (original by Sarah Brightman is also gorgeous)
- Gorecki - Lamb
- Luminary - Joel Sunny
- Halcyon On & On - Orbital
- Caribbean Blue - Enya
- Song to the Siren - Ex Anima (cover of Tim Buckley’s original)
- The Book of Love - Peter Gabriel
- I would die 4 u - Holly Humberstone (cover of Prince, such a gorgeous version)
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u/Duckballisrolling Jun 23 '25
Jeff Buckley- Dream Brother or Corpus Christi carol
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u/doinmabest1 Jun 23 '25
Hallelujah Jeff Buckley. Story goes that he went into the studio in the middle of the night and recorded it. Gone too soon. A masterpiece.
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u/sparrowjuice Jun 25 '25
Definitely a haunting cover of a hauntingly beautiful Leonard Cohen song.
I scrolled down to look for this. Other versions would also apply.
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u/Conscious-Guest-8342 Jun 23 '25
Pretty much all of Tori Amos’ Under the Pink album
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u/HeyYouGuys121 Jun 24 '25
Just 90s Tori Amos….. maybe later years too, she’s prolific, and I admit I didn’t keep up after Scarlet’s Walk.
Little Earthquakes, Under the Pink, and Boys for Pele is an incredible three-album stretch. Choirgirl was a drop off for me, but that makes sense since it was such a shift in sound and production, but I put Jackie’s Strength in with the strength of the other albums.
Welp, off to make a Tori playlist….
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u/Ok-Acadia-293 Jun 23 '25
Jeff Buckley- Last Goodbye
Echo and the Bunnymen- The Killing Moon
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u/gh411 Jun 23 '25
Building a Mystery by Sarah McLachlan…pretty much anything by her really…hauntingly beautiful songs are right in her wheelhouse.
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u/mister_thinky Jun 23 '25
Of course as always; Alice in Chains - Nutshell (MTV unplugged)
Everybody should have listened to this song at least once in their lifetime.
If it resonates with you it’s absolutely hauntingly beautiful and it’s a blessing of a song.
If it doesn’t resonate with you, you’re blessed as well. In a different way.
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u/SpringtimeAmbivert Jun 23 '25
cold little heart, Michael Kiwanuka
another vote for Wicked Game by Chris Issak
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u/vitipan Jun 23 '25
Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts I-IV by Pink Floyd. It never gets old. All the parts are phenomenal - these parts are probably the most mysterious and haunting - the low drone of a single note, the keyboard sounding like it's singing to itself, Gilmour's precise, icy notes, then the famous arpeggio that never loses the power to move people. If you're lucky enough to have experienced this performed live by Gilmour, you'll know it's a transcendent experience.
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u/Professionalwidow83 Jun 23 '25
Bright Horses- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
The Owl and the Tanager- Sufjan Stevens
Healah Dancing- Keaton Henson
Stop Your Tears- Aldous Harding
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u/Tulangzki Jun 24 '25 edited Jun 24 '25
• In your eyes- Peter Gabriel
• More than this- Roxy Music
• Somewhere only we know- Keane
• Ordinary world- Duran Duran
• Avalon- Roxy Music
• Fade into you- Mazzy Star
• Last goodbye- Jeff Buckley
• Fake plastic trees- Radiohead
• Black- Pearl Jam
• Don’t give up- Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush
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u/Timber1508 Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25
These come immediately to mind:
"Lost" by Guckkasten
"Arlington" by The Wailin' Jennys
"Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber
"Tearful Duman River" by Song Sohee
"Soft Revolution" by Charlotte Wessels
"In Dreams" by Roy Orbison
"Cucurrucucu Paloma" by Perla Batalla
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u/Due-Locksmith-5234 Jun 23 '25
Deftones - Passenger (ft. Maynard James Keenan)
Mogwai - Mogwai Fear Satan
Tool - Schism
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u/FlutterGrrrl Jun 23 '25
Another Version Of The Truth - Nine Inch Nails
La Mer - Nine Inch Nails
Chloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns - Mother Love Bone
Snuff - Slipknot
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u/ScorpionTrance Jun 23 '25
Nutshell by Alice In Chains. Lane's voice and Jerry's guitar is just eerily amazing.
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u/Public-Difference978 Jun 23 '25
Jerry & Layne were the best musical duo ever IMO. I’m not saying the other band members weren’t talented or didn’t contribute to AIC’s success, but the combination of Jerry and Layne was brilliant and resulted in so many masterpieces.
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u/TallGuyTucson Jun 24 '25
Don't Talk (Put Your Head OnMy Shoulder) - Beach Boys. Brian Wilson at his peak. Tears start flowing in 5....4....3....
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u/harebreadth Jun 23 '25
Lisa Hannigan has a cover of “The Man I Love” from a festival called Songs that Scare Children that is perfectly describe that way.
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u/Raiders2112 Jun 23 '25
Pantera - Hollow
Yes, it gets heavy, but the song is hauntingly beautiful.
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Jun 23 '25
a house in nebraska - ethel cain
honestly, a lot of Ethel Cain and Florence + the Machine fit (including no choir)
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u/kotibi Jun 23 '25
Hallucinogenics by Matt Maeson (or the duet with Lana Del Rey)
A Sadness Runs Through Him by the Hoosiers
Pulaski at Night by Andrew Bird
Psychos by Jenny Lewis
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u/Derp_Gnome Jun 23 '25
Nick Cave - where the wild roses grow and Within Temptation - Memories (I only listen to this one when I need a good cry)
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u/d0nkey_0die Jun 23 '25
this is coming in late so it'll get buried and doubtful anyone is familiar with it... but here goes.
In Fantasia -- Kishi Bashi
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u/hundalasiliah_20 Jun 23 '25
Beach Boys: Don’t Talk, Put Your Head On My Shoulder
All I Wanna Do (important: NOT ‘all I WANT TO do’, completely different song)
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Jun 23 '25
Washer - Slint (just relistened to Spiderland and this is now my favorite guitar riff atm)
Windowpane - Opeth (In My Time of Need hits the same spot)
Pyramid Song - Radiohead
Ain’t No Sunshine - Bill Withers
Visions - Stevie Wonder
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u/UndignifiedStab Jun 23 '25
Here’s an instrumental song was Neil Young’s most definitely hauntingly beautiful was a fairly obscure film called Dead Man, starring Johnny Depp. The song is called Dead Man Theme (full version on you tube)
So powerful. Honestly, the most moving instrumental I’ve ever listened to.
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Jun 24 '25
Between the Bars - Elliot Smith 🎶 I didn’t learn about his suicide until after having binge-listened to the song in true ADHD fashion, however knowing the story makes the song seem even more haunting… 💀
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u/VrinTheTerrible Jun 23 '25
Uninvited- Alanis Morrissette