That is the first one that pops into my mind. His last appearance on Letterman is still too heartbreaking to watch.
Also very sad especially with the video is Johnny Cash’s version of Hurt.
Then of course there is Danny Boy. Especially the second verse.
But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,
If I am dead, as dead I well may be,
Ye’ll come and find the place where I am lying,
And kneel and say an Ave there for me;
And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me!
Kiara Bell: please don’t post entire lyrics here; it is in violation of copyright laws. What you can do is post a few pertinent lyrics and then link to the rest elsewhere.
And welcome to the Straight Dope! Hope you’ll stick around.
Some of the Christmas ones are sad. The already mentioned “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, “Please, Daddy, Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas” and saddest of all “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer”.
I’m with panache. Christmas Shoes is maudlin, mawkish and manipulative. It’s bathos, not pathos. I’m the kind of person who will seek out and listen to Christmas music in July, but if The Christmas Shoes comes on, it’s an instant fast-forward. UGH! The only truly sad thing about it is that it exists.
I was going to post this one, but with a different video. The official music video makes it even sadder, and I teared up every time I watched it even before my dad died late last year. Now, I think it’s probably best if I don’t watch it for a while. (Not that the message applies to me, but just the whole “dad’s gone and I’ll never talk to him again” thing is kinda raw right now)
“Mama, Look Sharp” from the musical 1776. It’s sung by a soldier, telling about his best friend who was shot dead in the American Revolution. His friend crawled off the battlefield, and the words are from the dying man’s point of view, telling his mother to “look sharp” so that she could find his body. The last few words are from the mother’s point of view, when she finds him.
“The Heart of the Matter” by Don Henley. That record was the soundtrack to my life at the time.
Also, “Kiss and Say Goodbye” by The Manhattans. I think we can all agree that “Patches” by Clarence Carter is a tearjerker of the first order, as well.
*They’re watching you, Mary, in hard times afraid
As council finds guilty for charges unpaid
Even as your last hope is labeled and sold
We’re all the one, Mary, outlawed for gold
Have you seen it before?
The names of good women and men
Decreed by the sword and the pen
To be outlaws all over again*
“Guenevere” - Camelot soundtrack
In that dawn, in that gloom
More than love met its doom
In the dying candle’s gleam
Came the sundown of a dream
Guenevere, Guenevere
In that dim, mournful year
Saw the men she held most dear
Go to war for Guenevere
I’ve nominated that song before. But I thought of it again a few years back, because of the closing verse. In that verse, the narrator watches a parade of elderly World War 1 veterans, then sneers:
***The young people ask, “'What are they marching for?”
And I ask myself the same question.
But the band plays “Waltzing Mathilda,”
And the old men still answer the call.
But year after year, their numbers get fewer.
One day, no one will march there at all.***
And as of just a few years ago, that’s literally true. There’s no one left, in Australia or anywhere else, who fought in The Great War.
“The Mule, Old Rivers and Me.” Not exactly sung…It was one of those spoken songs that came out about once a year in the '60s. I think it was Walter Brennan who did the narration.
Just heartbreaking!