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WHY DO WE LOVE SAD SONGS?

Program 10-12-12-B

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Are you a sucker for a sad song? "Greensleeves." "Yesterday" by the Beatles. For some reason, we love a melancholy tune. But why? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll explore our love of sad music. We'll look into the effects the minor third has on our brains and we'll delve into the saddest music ever written: Barber's Adagio for Strings.

SEGMENT 1:

Why do we love sad songs? It's true, we do, and it's not just "Greensleeves" and "Yesterday." There's a language of melancholy worth exploring. The saddest music of all to many people is Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings." Thomas Larson is the author of "The Saddest Music Ever Written: The Story of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings" and he tells Anne Strainchamps how it earns that name.

SEGMENT 2:

Sad songs are just part of the story. Anyone who has suffered a broken heart knows the satisfaction of listening to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" or Paul McCartney singing "Yesterday." According to psychologist Meagan Curtis, the inherent sadness of the minor third is what we hear in music. She tells Steve Paulson that a recent study at Tufts University's Music Cognition Lab suggests it is also what we hear in speech.

SEGMENT 3:

There are sad songs in rock, and sad songs in jazz, but the resting place for the saddest songs is clearly in country music. There are so many we just didn't how to choose, so we put the question to the foremost historian of country music in America, Bill Malone. He tells Steve Paulson a thing or two about sad country music. Also, no matter what genre you're writing for, adding a cello can increase the melancholy. It's true now, and it was true a couple of centuries ago when J.S. Bach was writing his suites for unaccompanied cello. Journalist Eric Siblin had written about rock for years, but he tells Jim Fleming about his discovery of Bach, and how he came to write "The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece."

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 10-12-12-B.

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Books & CDs:

Thomas Larson, The Saddest Music Ever Written: The Story of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings (Pegasus Books)
Eric Siblin, The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Websites:

• Thomas Larson website:
  http://www.thomaslarson.com/
• Music Cognition Lab
  http://ase.tufts.edu/psychology/music-cognition/
• Eric Siblin website:
  http://www.ericsiblin.com/

Music:

• “Greensleeves” by Pianissimmo on Dinner Party Music: Relaxing Piano Classics for Your Dinner Party. Amazon Digital Music.
  
• Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” by the St. Louis Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin Conductor. Telarc Records.
  
• Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” from the Motion Picture “Platoon.” MGM.
  
• Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” by the Emerson String Quartet on American Originals: Ives, Barber String Quartets. Deutsche Grammaphon.
  
• “Everybody Hurts” by REM on Automatic for the People. Warner Bros.
  “Bluesy” by Louis Myers on Chicago Blues Harmonicas. Paula Records.
  
• “I Get Along Without You Very Well “ by Chet Baker on Let’s Get Lost. Novus.
  
• “Pictures From Life’s Other Side” by Hank Williams on “The Unreleased Recordings of Hank Williams.” Time Life.
  
• “Will the Angels Have a Sweetheart?” by Bill Malone and Rod Moag on Remember Me: Bill Malone and Rod Moag Play the Music of the Bailes Brothers. Hillbilly Dreams.
  
• “Down From Dover” by Dolly Parton on The Rose and the Briar. Columbia Records.
  
• “Easy’s Getting’ Harder Every Day” by Iris DeMent on My Life. Warner Bros.
  
• “I’m Sorry by Joe "Papoose" Fritz on Jook Joint: Vol. 6. Amazon Digital Music.
  
• “Prelude to J.S. Bach’s Solo Cello Suite Nr. 1” by Pablo Casals on Great Recordings of the Century: J.S. Suites for Cello. EMI.
  
• “Prelude to J.S. Bach’s Solo Cello Suite Nr. 2” by Pablo Casals on Great Recordings of the Century: J.S. Suites for Cello. EMI.
  
• “Prelude to J.S. Bach’s Solo Cello Suite Nr. 3” by Pablo Casals on Great Recordings of the Century: J.S. Suites for Cello. EMI.
  
• “Prelude to J.S. Bach’s Solo Cello Suite Nr. 4” by Pablo Casals on Great Recordings of the Century: J.S. Suites for Cello. EMI.
  
• “Prelude to J.S. Bach’s Solo Cello Suite Nr. 5” by Pablo Casals on Great Recordings of the Century: J.S. Suites for Cello. EMI.
  
• “Prelude to J.S. Bach’s Solo Cello Suite Nr. 6” by Pablo Casals on Great Recordings of the Century: J.S. Suites for Cello. EMI.
  
• “Perfect Day” by Lou Reed on Transformer. RCA.

Distribution dates: week of 12/12/2010 - hour 2 click HERE for timings and cues

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