On Raglan Road
The Leaving Of Liverpool
Far Away In Australia
The Sally Gardens
THe Parting Glass
Please add your own suggestions! 
Define “miserable.”
I offer The Braes of Sutherland
I mean by sad and melancholic.
The Mountain Goats’ “No Children”:
I hope that our few remaining friends
Give up on trying to save us
I hope we come up with a failsafe plot
To piss off the dumb few that forgave us
I hope the fences we mended
Fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it’s already too late
And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
Someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away
And I never come back to this town
Again in my life
I hope I lie
And tell everyone you were a good wife
And I hope you die
I hope we both die
. . . . .
Railroad Boy
*Her father he came home from work
Saying, "Where’s my daughter, she seems so hurt’’
He went upstairs to give her hope
And he found her hanging by a rope.
He took his knife and cut her down
And on her breast these words he found.
"Go dig my grave both wide and deep
Put a marble stone at my head and feet
And on my breast put a white snow dove
To warn the world that i died of love.’’*
The Irish are going to win this one.
So let me throw in “The West Coast of Clare” and “She Moved Through The Fair”.
Yeah maybe, but surprise me/us/the whole land of Eireann…
There’s always The Band Played Waltzing Matilda.
This is something of a stretch, but there’s “In the Pines” (or whatever you choose to call it)…if they leave out the specific “railroad” lyrics and you happen to be a fan of Manly Wade Wellman.
“The Famous Flower of Serving Men” isn’t exactly a chuckle fest.
The Bonnie Banks O’ Loch Lomond (video)
If you consider Bluegrass as a type of Folk, I think the hillbillies would atleast run a close second.
“Lord I feel like going home
I tried and I failed and I’m tired and weary
Everything I ever done was wrong
And I feel like going home”
My vote goes to Two Sisters, aka The Wind and Rain
It’s a traditional folk song, with many versions. Here’s one version, popularized by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman.
There were two sisters came walkin' down the stream
Oh the wind and rain
The one behind pushed the other one in
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
Johnny gave the youngest a gay gold ring
Oh the wind and rain
Didn't give the oldest one anything
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
They pushed her into the river to drown
Oh the wind and rain
And watched her as she floated down
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
Floated 'till she came to a miller's pond
Oh the wind and rain
Mama oh father there swims a swan (note 1)
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
The miller pushed her out with a fishing hook (note 2)
Oh the wind and rain
Drew that fair maid from the brook (note 3)
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
He left her on the banks to dry
Cryin' oh the wind and rain
And a fiddlin' fool come passing by
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
Out of the woods came a fidder fair
Oh the wind and rain
Took thirty strands of her long yellow hair
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
And he made a fiddle bow of her long yellow hair
Oh the wind and rain
He made a fiddle bow of her long yellow hair
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
He made fiddle pegs of her long finger bones
Oh the wind and rain
He made fiddle pegs of her long finger bones
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
And he made a little fiddle of her breast bone
Oh the wind and rain
The sound could melt a heart of stone
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
And the only tune that the fiddle would play
Was oh the wind and rain
The only tune that the fiddle would play
Was oh the dreadful wind and rain
The Three Fishers In particualer the version by Stan Rogers is really an emotional one about the death of the fishermen that never return. The lyrics are far over a hundred years old. Charles Kingsley (1819–1875)
When Father Papered the Parlour R. P. Weston, 1878-1936 It’s an old song that uses disaster as a funny song. The main point of this one is the music is often used in some morose folk songs and has a very spooky feel. Here is an old recording that is played in a happier tone than I’d like to use as an example. There is a folk song that uses a Thomas Hardy poem and I think a variation of this music. It has a very good effect. I just wish I could find the recording. I haven’t heard this one for over twenty years.
Fuck me, man.
What about The Loch Tay Boat Song? It’s one that always gets to me.
Or Twa Corbies? (lyrics here)
A couple of others:
The Griesly Bride But, I’ll admit I have a fondness for the uncanny and the morbid, so this might not please most people here.
Farewell to Nova Scotia is another good wrenching song. The singer is jealous because his dead brothers get to rest in peace. :eek:
The Minstrel Boy (Ignore the verse dating to the US Civil War) Unfortunately, I can find some nice instrumental versions, and an interesting rock rendition, but nothing I’d consider a good version of the folk song.
On a much different note, but still wrenching, I’d also suggest Moorsoldaten. Here’s a fair performance of the English version - but I like best the version done by Pete Seeger when he’s doing the German version.
(And what’s wrong with In the Pines, even with the Railroad specific parts? I think it’s a perfectly wrenching song.)
Nothing wrong with the song at all. But Manly Wade Wellman wrote weird fiction based on Appalachian folklore. So a familiarity with Wellman’s body of work and the omission of specific cultural/technological references lets the listener’s imagination do a little more work and adds that extra frisson of dread.
It’s kind of like what can happen if you read The Wendigo and then go for a walk on a cold, crisp autumn night.
Hunter Hawk, thanks for explaining that.
One more I forgot earlier: Two Brothers On Their Way
No mention yet of the “Fields of Athenry”? Seems to be a sports anthem nowadays, but a sad and melancholy song anyway.