# The saddest song ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907 "2011-09-20T04:16:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907/81 "2011-09-23T00:42:25Z")
Is there a sadder song than [Taps?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzFxOQQUNgM&NR=1) ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907/82 "2011-09-23T02:50:58Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > Is there a sadder song than [Taps?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzFxOQQUNgM&NR=1) How about [a song that incorporates Taps](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX1pLlmMcmk&feature=related)? Other versions lay on the Taps much more than this one, but I like this version so there ya go. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907/83 "2011-09-23T03:07:58Z")
Two by Porcupine Tree: [“Fadeaway”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnSh-U-JFfM). A young man drifts further into insanity, with his final refrain being “Reach heaven, far too high…” [“A Smart Kid”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6aF7u-oe40). Another young man (same one perhaps?) is the last person left on Earth after some sort of war or disaster. Some aliens show up, and he begs them to take him with them. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907/84 "2011-09-23T03:37:22Z")
The Notting Hillbillies - [Feel Like Going Home](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOqgZIzigcI&feature=fvwrel). ---
**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:** [September 23, 2011, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907/85 "2011-09-23T07:32:37Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I recall we once we had a thread like this, and someone suggested ‘‘Killkelly, Ireland.’’ I’d never heard of it. I think it’s [the saddest song I’ve ever heard](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N76kAivCb20). (If you don’t want YouTube, google the lyrics. But trust me. It’s sad.) I like that song, I really do, but it is almost comically melodramatic. And unfortunately when I hear it I’m reminded of [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTRrZcEsjFU). ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907/86 "2011-09-23T13:57:25Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I like that song, I really do, but it is almost comically melodramatic. And unfortunately when I hear it I’m reminded of [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTRrZcEsjFU). That cracked me up. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907/87 "2011-09-23T16:35:43Z")
What’s a discussion of sad songs without Les Miserables? Most of the score should make the list. I cannot listen to the sound track all the way through without feeling suicidal: one lament of the poor, downtrodden, abused and dying after another. The worst is probably Fantine’s death song, as she gives her soon-to-be-orphaned daughter to Valjean, and tells him to give the child her goodbyes. Sniff. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907/88 "2011-09-23T17:26:05Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > It’s got nothing on _Billy Don’t Be a Hero_. Not so sure about that, but this is a highly opinionated topic. See, is it Billy not being a hero or the singer begging Billy not to waste his/her life in a nightmarish act of random violence?? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907/89 "2011-09-23T18:22:24Z")
If he was gonna waste his life in a _heroic_ act then it could hardly be random. Either way, it’s an awful song which is depressing just to hear. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907/90 "2011-09-24T12:08:01Z")
This little ditty always got to me as a teenager. [Don’t Leave Me Now](http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP4HjUQppEg) ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907/91 "2011-09-25T23:18:51Z")
not the lyrics but the tune: “the hourglass song.” ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907/92 "2011-09-26T00:19:54Z")
Oh lord, “Taps” is a good nomination. I know it’s super corny, but Elvis’ “In the Ghetto” always chokes me up. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907/93 "2011-09-26T04:28:20Z")
> **[Barbara Allen (song)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Allen_(song))** > > "Barbara Allen" (Child 84, Roud 54) is a traditional folk song that is popular throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. It tells of how the eponymous character denies a dying man's love, then dies of grief soon after his untimely death. > The song began as a ballad in the seventeenth century or earlier, before quickly spreading (both orally and in print) throughout Britain and Ireland and later North America. Ethnomusicologists Steve Roud and Julia Bishop described it as "far and away t... Barbra Allen. [Songcatcher - Emmy Rossum singing Barbara Allen - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRgH_0zxqQE) An example. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-ever/596907.md?page=4)