# The most haunting/sad tune **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 1, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964 "2009-08-01T07:24:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/41 "2009-08-02T03:38:46Z")
[Samuel Barber’s _Adagio for Strings, Op. 11_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV3SHBFyDZM) ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/42 "2009-08-02T03:43:45Z")
[The Needle and the Damage Done, Neil Young.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0t0EW6z8a0) [Hungry Eyes, Merle Haggard.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6iZTTc5YuI&feature=PlayList&p=9B68EF4F74FF2136&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=15) ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/43 "2009-08-02T04:12:14Z")
I came to post “Adagio for Strings”. Also “Eli’s Theme” from the film “Let the Right One In”. But I think when we associate the sad qualities of the movie with the music that makes it easier for the music to be judged as sad. That’s certainly the case with me and “Eli’s Theme”. “Adagio…” is sad to me without any other reference point but the notes being played and, of course, how they are being played. ---
**Author:** ![Deadhead\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@Deadhead\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deadhead_Dave)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/44 "2009-08-02T04:25:48Z")
I can’t believe that nobody has posted this one yet: [Cavatina](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwvDon1_iKs) , better known as the theme to the movie “The Deer Hunter” is, for my money, every bit as heartwrenching as Ashoken Farewell. [This link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAAiYMgFcbw) sets the theme to a slideshow from the movie, which was IMHO the saddest and most poignant Viet Nam film of them all. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/45 "2009-08-02T06:56:15Z")
I’m really not a big country music fan, but it’s my “go-to” genre when I really need a good, cathartic cry. Two of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard are George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” and Johnny Cash’s version of NIN’s “Cry.” If those don’t trigger tears, then adding a dose of Zevon’s “Keep Me in Your Heart” will certainly finish the job. “Waltzing Matilda,” “Vincent,” and “Danny Boy” are also wrenching. Throw in Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven,” and I’m apt to collapse from dehydration or NaCl deficiency… And, because I’m a ridiculous history geek, the circumstances of Beethoven’s naming of his Eroica symphony make the piece very poignant to me. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/46 "2009-08-02T08:08:22Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Eva Cassidy’s version of “Over the Rainbow”. Or her version of “Fields of Gold”. > [@Gail](#): > > Toad the Wet Sprocket’s [Something’s Always Wrong](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKAVrcJ2IbA&feature=related) is my favorite sad song. In high school Toad the Wet Sprocket was my favorite band. I never thought of that song as particularly sad though, even if it’s not happy. They have quite a few good haunting/sad songs, especially on their first two albums, and the singer Glen Phillips has some good solo songs along those lines as well. I always really liked [Crowing](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QFiWwrSgTY) from that same album. Now you have me reminiscing about Toad. I kind of want to listen to them again, but I’m afraid I might not like them as much as I used to. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/47 "2009-08-02T09:36:09Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > and Johnny Cash’s version of NIN’s “Cry.” Quoting myself, only because I’m too big a moron to proofread. Obviously, I meant “Hurt,” not “Cry.” But while I’m editing myself, I’ll add a few songs I forgot earlier: Sunday Morning Coming Down - Kris Kristofferson (and several others, but I love this particular recording.) Behind Blue Eyes - The Who Long December - Counting Crows The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen - various recordings (In the Arms of the) Angel - Sarah McLaughlin (sp?) At Seventeen - Janis Ian Daniel - Elton John Brick - Ben Folds Five All Alone - Beth Nielson Chapman Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain - Willie Nelson ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/48 "2009-08-02T10:23:14Z")
[Sarah McLachlan - Angel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDkcJ-62uuY) [Pink Floyd - The Great Gig in the Sky](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfv7AVm7zPw) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/49 "2009-08-02T13:49:55Z")
[Gayane’s Adagio](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6ZBSdjzKfk) by Aram Khachaturian, although, similar to that coincidental mashup “Phantom of the Opera/School Days” I keep hearing Connie Francis’ “Who’s Sorry Now?” in it. ---
**Author:** ![CateAyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@CateAyo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CateAyo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/50 "2009-08-02T14:01:39Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > Taps. > > I also think Amazing Grace if played on bagpipes. You know, you and I would agree on virtually nothing…except this. These represent my “goodbye” to far too many friends. Well played, Rand. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/51 "2009-08-02T14:05:12Z")
[Steve Earle - My old friend the blues](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQm59Svd9rs) The Ending Theme to the [Incredible Hulk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMbzSdf0_oQ)tv show. I didn’t know the name of the song was “The Lonely Man” til I looked it up on youtube. I’d always just thought of it as that-sad-walking-away song. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/52 "2009-08-02T14:40:39Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Quoting myself, only because I’m too big a moron to proofread. Obviously, I meant “Hurt,” not “Cry.” > > But while I’m editing myself, I’ll add a few songs I forgot earlier: > > Sunday Morning Coming Down - Kris Kristofferson (and several others, but I love this particular recording.) > Behind Blue Eyes - The Who > Long December - Counting Crows > The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel > Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen - various recordings > (In the Arms of the) Angel - Sarah McLaughlin (sp?) > At Seventeen - Janis Ian > Daniel - Elton John > Brick - Ben Folds Five > All Alone - Beth Nielson Chapman > Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain - Willie Nelson I’ve listened to a few versions of Hallelujah, and nobody does it better than Jeff Buckley, IMHO. I’ll have to look up the Kris Kristofferson version of Sunday Morning Coming Down; I’ve only heard the Johnny Cash version. A year before Hurrican Katrina, The Veils released [Valleys of New Orleans.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAx8o-lXuVo) Now it makes me tear up every time I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/53 "2009-08-02T23:25:06Z")
\*Pavanne for a Dead Princess \*by Maurice Ravel ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/54 "2009-08-03T00:28:44Z")
> [@The\_Weird\_One](#): > > I’ve listened to a few versions of Hallelujah, and nobody does it better than Jeff Buckley, IMHO. I’ll have to look up the Kris Kristofferson version of Sunday Morning Coming Down; I’ve only heard the Johnny Cash version. > > A year before Hurrican Katrina, The Veils released [Valleys of New Orleans.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAx8o-lXuVo) Now it makes me tear up every time I hear it. I heard [Louisiana, 1927](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGs2iLoDUYE) by Randy Newman, on the radio a week after Hurricane Katrina and it blew me away. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/55 "2009-08-03T00:54:26Z")
“[Out of the Deep](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ajv-6wNzkE),” from John Rutter’s Requiem. I used to have a tape of his requiem that got stuck in my car’s tape player. I never got tired of it. It finally broke. [Clair de Lune](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LXl4y6D-QI), by Debussy. It’s my favorite thing to play on the piano, though I haven’t played lately. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/56 "2009-08-03T07:06:07Z")
“Out of Tears,” by the Stones gets me every time. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/57 "2009-08-03T07:24:21Z")
If it’s about the lyrics, I’d give you [John Doe No. 24](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFyfY7D9LDE) by Mary Chapin Carpenter (health warning: do NOT watch this in the office, unless you want to explain red eyes and a runny nose), or [Spancil Hill](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYngpjTCXXg). If it’s about the tune alone: > [@Savannah](#): > > _ **She Moved Through the Fair** _. I was going to post this, and [The Lonesome Boatman](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kl-BiYhCCw). There’s something about the treatment given to music by Irish musicians that can even make a song in a major key unutterably sad: qv. [Sonny’s Dream](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYbKwMlT1R4) (originally a Scandinavian song) or [Song for Ireland](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz_dHcduUTU) (by a Scotsman) sung by the late Luke Kelly. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/58 "2009-08-03T18:12:16Z")
Samuel Barber rewrote Adagio for Strings into a choral [Agnus Dei](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvT03pxhe58) that I came in to post. The voices have a haunting quality that, to me, the strings lack, and it rips my heart out every time I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/59 "2009-08-03T18:29:04Z")
**Nunc Dimittis** , the closing music from _Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy_. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFS6lO6WaaM&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFS6lO6WaaM&feature=related) (sorry for the slightly poor quality) ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964/60 "2009-08-03T19:12:32Z")
“I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt can put me in an instant funk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-haunting-sad-tune/504964.md?page=4)