The recent spate of poems and songs about birds, and blackbirds in particular, had me thinking about the way I find myself responding to certain poems and songs. Case in point: both Bye Bye Blackbird and the Beatles' Blackbird. Among the definitions of bittersweet, M-W includes: pleasant but including or marked by elements of suffering or regret. That's how these two songs make me feel. I get the same effect from Danny Boy. I wonder what other songs evoke similar feelings in listeners.
what other songs evoke similar feelings in listeners
Didn't want to leave you lolling about here on your own, but this one requires some thought, so - in the words of Arnie - I'll be back...
'course, Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve comes straight to mind, but mainly because of the name. 
what other songs evoke similar feelings in listeners
VINCENT
by Don MacLean
"Starry starry night,
Paint your palette blue and gray..."
Somewhere (...a time for us), West Side Story, Bernstein/Sondheim
Summertime, Porgy 'n' Bess, George Gershwin (and, IMHO, and after much painstaking thought, I picked this song as #1 on the 20th century list...but that's a whole nother thread).
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"River" by Joni Mitchell
I find that most of her songs pre-1975 have an element of bittersweet to them.
Send in the Clowns, A Little Night Music, Stephen Sondheim, recorded by Judy Collins
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bittersweet - ah yes, oxymoronic language is a favourite for writers and composers enchanted and/or enchained by love. I always liked the idea of 'slaving to need'. And there's is of course the concept of a fine line between pleasure and pain so often used.
I'm not sure where the 'sweet' part comes in during 'Vincent'. It has a certain melancholy resolve that we've come to admire from a suicidal protagonist though.
As for some tunes that spring to my mind, one is the Bristol outfit Portishead, in particular the song 'Glory Box'. Their music reflects the slippery bittersweet state well through the employment of a melodic song, but coupled with the use of highly syncopated beats, interspersed with scratching and discordant samples, and to top it off, a lady's voice that ranges from quiet whispers to long, loud, lazy notes that fall to bits. Good stuff anyway.
For anyone that likes open-tuning and great songs there's always 'The Red House Painters' (from 4AD label) with the sweetness in the music and the bitterness in the content. Powerful yet overwhelmingly simple guitar music. Probably something for those who like Dylan or Ryan Adams, who would both deserve a mention in this topic anyway I guess.
Speaking of birds, there is a vine called bittersweet in New England that had been planted on the small farm I lived on for thirty years. Allegedly the birds ate the seeds. I never saw it happen. Allegedly the seeds on the vines were decorative. Not in my estimation. I spent many hours trying to get rid of it.
For a picture of it, see:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z198516C
Dylan
Sara, Bob Dylan
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Bob Dylan
Ya talk about Dylan, he thinks yer talkin bout Bob Dylan (whoever he was). The cat ain't got no kulchuh.
Linda Ronstadt's recording of Skylark.
Bill, bittersweet grows here in Virginia, too. The dried berries on branches are really pretty and look nice in baskets, crockery and other receptacles. Those dried berries look a little like dried cranberries.
Berry regards,
WW
There is a song by an Australian band called The Hoodoo Gurus called "Bittersweet," but the song itself isn't bittersweet -- it rocks. It's one of my all time favorite rock and roll songs with three chords, a good beat, and a lot of energy and exhuberance.
"Keeping Awake" by the Innocence Mission is sort of bittersweet. Another Beatles number that's bittersweet is "In My life." So is Stan Getz "Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)", almost. [see the thread on beauty in all its forms].
I like "Corcovado" because it illustrates how a person in love changes from a pessimist (if they were one to begin with) to an optimist:
I who was lost and lonely, believing life was only
a bitter, tragic joke have found with you
the meaning of existence, oh my love..."
At the end of the second line, when the word "you" is sung, it's the most beautiful note in the whole song. Such an amazing composition -- and to think the lyrics in English are just the translation from the original Portuguese!
Ya talk about Dylan, he thinks yer talkin bout Bob Dylan (whoever he was). The cat ain't got no kulchuh.You're right, Faldage!...whatever was I thinking? Here's the
true Dylan. Sorry, folks...guess I'm just not a super-hipster anymore (sigh)...
http://www.dylan.org/home.htmlThe Only WO'N!
Here's the true Dylan.
Not the Dylan I had in mind, but.
How about this one then?
Yeahbut®, he's just a real son of a Dylan.
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Surely it must be this Dylan.
http://www.sugarlumpstudio.co.uk/html/figures/mr_dylan.htm
Bingley