# The Saddest of all Sad Songs **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 21, 2001, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135 "2001-01-21T16:54:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/41 "2001-01-24T06:25:09Z")
When I was a kid (early-mid '70s) there was a song, name and artist unknown to me, that had the lines: _…If you happen to see the most beautiful girl in the world Tell her I love her Tell her I miss my baby…_ Of course, now I know it’s a simple breakup song, but back then, I thought it was a father singing about his daughter who had been kidnapped. It absolutely devastated me. Sure, mock me, but if I were to hear it today it would probably still send chills down my spine. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/42 "2001-01-24T06:48:39Z")
Many more than I will list here, but there are a few that make me cry when I pay attention to them. _In My Life_ by the Beatles _California Dreamin’_ by The Mamas and the Papas _Goodbye, England’s Rose_, sometimes. On occasion, random Beatles and S&G songs make me cry. ---
**Author:** ![JerseyDiamond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@JerseyDiamond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyDiamond)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/43 "2001-01-24T07:14:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by woodstockbirdybird \* > \*\*When I was a kid (early-mid '70s) there was a song, name and artist unknown to me, that had the lines: > _…If you happen to see the most beautiful girl in the world > Tell her I love her > Tell her I miss my baby…_ > Of course, now I know it’s a simple breakup song, but back then, I thought it was a father singing about his daughter who had been kidnapped. It absolutely devastated me. Sure, mock me, but if I were to hear it today it would probably still send chills down my spine. \*\* That’s “The most beautiful girl in the world” by Charlie Rich. My younger brother was a baby when that song came out, and my mom & dad couldn’t get him to sleep unless they played that song. 🙂 Baglady said: > [@](#): > > Looks like Annie-Xmas is the only one that listed country songs… I said: > [@](#): > > Tammy Wynette “I Don’t Wanna Play House” Tommy The Cat said: > [@](#): > > The greatest C&W song ever was written and performed by “The Possum,” George Jones. So there! But I bet I’m the only one who gets emotional from listening to Suicidal Tendencies and Anthrax. haha Turpentine: I think I agree with you, re: \*\*Boys don’t cry[/b/]. I didn’t know he wrote those songs to his wife, maybe I’m just more insightful than I thought! hahaha Actually, **Love Song** has always seemed to me to be a guy pining over a girl he lost, not a girl he was with. To me, it just seems to have that dark melancholy mood to it. Just like **Pictures Of You**. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/44 "2001-01-24T07:17:37Z")
whoops! that last post was me. That’s what I get for letting other people post from my computer. ---
**Author:** ![Sn-man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sn-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sn-man)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/45 "2001-01-24T14:33:39Z")
I have tears welling in my eyes right now and it’s hard to swallow. The lyrics to “Don’t Take The Girl” by Tim Mcgraw kinda sum up my feelings for my wife. Same old boy, same sweet girl, five years down the road There’s going to be a little one and she Says it’s time to go Doctor says the baby’s fine But you’ll have to leave’ Cause his momma’s fading fast and Johnny hit his knees And there he prayed: “Take the very breath you gave me, take the heart from my chest I’ll gladly take her place if you’ll let me, make this my last request Take me out of this world God please don’t take the girl” Here is a link for the whole lyrics [http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/5921/mcgraw.html#Don’t](http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/5921/mcgraw.html#Don't) Take ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/46 "2001-01-24T14:49:14Z")
All good choices but I’m having to go with: _Romeo and Juliet_ by Dire Straits Oh is that one brutal. The first itme I heard it I had to stop the record (yes, a record) and do it again, just to confirm that I’d heard one of the few, perfect songs in existence. ---
**Author:** ![Jadis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@Jadis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jadis)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/47 "2001-01-24T14:59:49Z")
I admit, this opinion may be colored by the fact that my boyfriend of 5 years has had a nervous breakdown and has recently given me the “I can’t be there emotionally anymore” line and has totally shut me out of his life, **however** …the saddest songs I can think of are: I Can’t Make You Love Me/Bonnie Raitt (I know this was mentioned before) Unbreak My Heart/Toni Braxton - this one chokes me up every time! ---
**Author:** ![BobSchroeck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@BobSchroeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobSchroeck)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/48 "2001-01-24T18:25:29Z")
I see no one’s mentioned the “triple threat” from 1970s pop: _Wildfire, Alone Again (Naturally),_ and _Seasons in the Sun_. A friend did up a mix tape for me about twelve years ago that started with those three and the first time I heard it, I was tearing up by the beginning of the third track. (I’ve since developed a resistance, fortunately… \) – Bob ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/49 "2001-01-24T18:29:51Z")
John Prine has written a number of incredibly moving songs. Along with the aforementioned “Sam Stone”, there’s also “Hello in There”, a very sad song about people growing old. The refrain: “You know that old trees just grow stronger, And old rivers grow wilder every day, Old people just grow lonesome, waiting for someone to say, Hello in there…hello.” ---
**Author:** ![Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morrison_s_Lament)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/50 "2001-01-24T18:49:56Z")
“About a Girl” - Nirvana Excellent mood, anyone who has ever lost anyone can appreciate, could really work to hammer home a death scene in a movie. — G. Raven ---
**Author:** ![Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morrison_s_Lament)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/51 "2001-01-24T18:50:04Z")
“About a Girl” - Nirvana Excellent mood, anyone who has ever lost anyone can appreciate, could really work to hammer home a death scene in a movie. I think it’s about a relationship going wrong though. — G. Raven ---
**Author:** ![Medievalist2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19adc/32.png) [@Medievalist2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medievalist2)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/52 "2001-01-24T19:12:58Z")
Songs about abortion always make me cry. There’s one song that gets played occasionally on my local Christian radio station. The song is from an unborn baby’s point of view, and it pleads with unwed mothers to give the baby up for adoption instead of aborting it. The refrain to the song is: “Let me live, let me live, Feel my mother’s arms around me, Feel my father’s love surround me, Be a part of God’s creation, Let me live.” Another song is titled “The Baby’s Prayer.” It’s about a baby whose mother is going to abort it because she doesn’t feel that she’s ready to be a mother. The song ends with: “On the days when she may think of me, please comfort her with the truth, that the angels hold me safe and warm, because I’m in heaven with you.” ---
**Author:** ![Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morrison_s_Lament)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/53 "2001-01-25T07:59:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bassguy \* > \*\*“Waltzing Matilda” is mentioned a couple times in this thread. Waltzing Matilda is actually “Tom Traubert’s Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind in Copenhagen)” by Tom Waits. It’s on his “Small Change” album, an album so monumentally sad that I’ll have to put it on right now. > \*\* Ehhh… afraid not. He may have used lyrics from “Waltzing Matilda” in his song, but the original is much much older than Waits himself. No one really knows who wrote it and it has become deeply associated with Australia for some reason. I think it dates back at least a 150 years. — G. Raven ---
**Author:** ![OneChance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@OneChance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneChance)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/54 "2001-01-25T08:12:10Z")
“Time” - Alan Parsons Project “Abraham, Martin and John” - Dion I guess just about any song about old friends or losing friends is sad to me. ---
**Author:** ![dave99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@dave99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dave99)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/55 "2001-01-25T08:46:07Z")
**Morrison’s Lament** Just to clear up… Tom Waits cribbed a couple of lines from “Waltzing Matilda” for the chorus of “Tom Traubert’s Blues”. He also took the melody of “As Time Goes By” and blended it into “Bad Liver and a Broken Heart”. There are other examples of his ‘sampling’ that don’t come to mind immediately. Enough hijacking, though. My saddest song is Tom Waits’ version (that is to say the original) of “Downtown Train”. Also by Waits; “Martha” and “Looks Like I’m Up Shit Creek Again” are close at second and third place. ---
**Author:** ![Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morrison_s_Lament)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/56 "2001-01-25T09:12:27Z")
dave99: Tom Waits rules and all that, just thought everyone knew all about “Waltzing Matilda”, it being a classic and all. I’ve got “Beautiful Maladies” on right now, so I guess I’ll nominate “The Earth Died Screaming” from that album. Sing those blues Tom… — G. Raven ---
**Author:** ![mx-6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4da419/32.png) [@mx-6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mx-6)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/57 "2001-01-25T09:46:38Z")
Again!! Taps- if it doesn’t make you cry you don’t understand the history and haven’t lived it. These arms of mine-Otis Redding Time in a bottle-Jim Croce Songbird-Fleetwood Mac Anna-Counting Crows Cats in the cradle-Harry Chapin Imagine-John Lennon Black-Pearl Jam Witness-Sarah Mclaughlan River-Joni Mitchell Let her cry-Hootie and the Blowfish Foolish Games-Jewel Teach your children-Crosby stills nash young Babys house-Steve Miller Band Somebody-Depeche Mode Everybody hurts-REM As tears go by-Rolling Stones Round here-Counting Crows ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/58 "2001-01-25T10:27:19Z")
How about: “Against All Odds” Phil Collins “I Will Always Love You” Whitney Houston “I Am A Rock” Simon & Garfunkel “Unbreak My Heart” ? ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/59 "2001-01-25T15:55:22Z")
I’m sorry, you’ve gotta list the Dolly Parton original not the Whitney Houston version. Whitney is belting her lungs out. Dolly is practically in tears. Okay, some other country ones that get me: The Dance by Garth Brooks. I can’t believe no one has listed this one yet. The song is sad in itself (it makes me think about love that ended sadly), but the video they did for it (showing all these people’s whose lives were cut short) is a killer. Is It Over Yet by Wynona Judd Love, Me by Colin Raye (that’s a guess). After my grandma died I couldn’t hear that song without bawling. Mary Chapin Carpenter isn’t strictly country, but she’s got some real sad humdingers. Titles are escaping me. Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog makes me teary, but it’s not just the song; it’s memories it stirs up. “Shannon” and “Wildfire” were two songs from my childhood I can recall getting all choked up about. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135/60 "2001-01-25T16:23:28Z")
I’m gonna throw in the first heavy metal song it looks like. Judas Priest’s Beyond the Relms of Death It’s very sad and depressing, mostly due to the guitar work but the lyrics hit home too. but the one that gets me personally is Mary Black’s Ellis Island, it’s personal, and thanks for making me remember it too! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-of-all-sad-songs/51135.md?page=2)