The saddest song in the world

Cafe Society
1

John Doe No. 24 by Mary Chapin Carpenter fulfils this role for me.

I first heard it on the radio in 1996, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn’t even know who it was by, and spent years trying to hunt it down. I’m not a fan of hers, except for this song. It never fails to make my eyes brim over (particularly embarrassing yesterday when I made the mistake of listening to it in the office just before a meeting).

It’s based on this newspaper article, about a deaf-mute-blind guy who just showed up in Jacksonville, IL, one day in 1945.

Here are the lyrics, though it should really be heard as a song to get the full effect.

Anyone else have a song that can move to tears (NOT by association with an event in your own experience, BTW, but on the strength of the song itself)?

2

Henryk Gorecki - Symphony Number 3

Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings

Concrete Blonde - “Tomorrow Wendy”

Aimee Mann - “Wise Up”

Five for Fighting - “Superman (It’s Not Easy)”

All of these songs have moved me to tears, many of them almost every time I hear them, no matter the context.

3

The Verve: “The Drugs Don’t Work”
REM: “Wendell Gee”
Suede: “By The Sea”

4

John Prine “Hello in There”

Joni Mitchell “Both Sides Now”

Almost any song off Iris Dement’s My Life (this is the CD that caused my mother to exclaim “Can’t this woman write any fucking happy songs?”)

and, most embarassingly of all…

Red Sovine’s “Roses for Mama,” quite possibly the campiest song of all time, yet still one that gets to me every time

5

What Crusoe said, plus

Atmosphere - Joy Division, although there are quite a few JD tracks that are candidates.

The band played Waltzing Matilda - The Pogues version, which breaks me up every single time.

6

The saddest I can think of at the moment is “The Same Deep Water As You” by The Cure. They have a lot of sad stuff, but I think this is the best.

–Chorus

7

Ah yes, the last verse of Waltzing Matilda. shudder

Willy McBride, too, while we’re in that genre - the only song I know in an entirely major key that manages to be melancholic.

8

Gorecki No.3
Arvo Part Spiegel Im Spiegel

9

Gloomy Sunday, Billie Holliday. A really sad song, so sad there was an urban legend about it

Cold Tea Blues, Cowboy Junkies. Very sad in it’s simplicity.

The Distance, Cake.

10

Hmmm. I would go with The Dark is Rising by Mercury Rev. Just terribly depressing.

11

“God Only Knows” by the Beach Boys, and “Wouldn’t it be Nice” and “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on my Shoulder)” because they seem so wistful, but also so depressing.

“How Soon is Now” by the Smiths. Just so gloomy and sad…and one of my favorite songs.

12

Another vote for Barber’s Adaggio for Strings, though preferably in a choral or piano version.

A piece by Handel, the name of which I’ve nevr been able to find out; it was used in the movie Hope and Glory and is one that, if it comes on the tannoy while I’m out shopping and such, I’ll stop to listen to it and my mood will be changed.

I’m dreaming of a White Christmas.

Moby’s ** ‘My Weakness.’

The Beatles’ ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and 'She’s Leaving Home.'

More will come to mind soon, I’m sure.

13

" I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues" - Elton John

14

Why oh WHY did you have to remind me of that song?! Now I have to go digging through all my old cassettes to find that one and listen to it and cry before work tonight …

“Chariots of Fire” and Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” always bring a tear to my eye, too.

-Dirty

15

There Were Roses. This maudlin Irish folk song gets me every time. It’s based on a true story about the fighting in Northern Ireland.

16

Blind Man in the Bleachers. I think it’s pretty obscure, anyone know it? What a freeking tearjerker.

17

“Send in the Clowns” by Judy Collins.

I don’t have a clue what it’s about, but it makes me sad when I hear it.

18

Okay, damnit, I’ll try this again, and see if the MB tells me I’m “Not Registered”!

Note: “Send in the Clowns” was written by Stephen Sondheim for his musical “A Little Night Music” (based on the Ingmar Bergman movie Smiles of a Summer Night). The song makes sense in the context of the play. Of course, it was Judy Collins that made it a hit single.

“The Band Played Waltzing Matilida” by Eric Bogle. Great song about WWI.

“Bookends” by Simon and Garfunkle. Short but effective.

“Come On, Come On” by Mary Chapin Carpenter.

“Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. I know some other people have done good covers, but when Cohen sings it, he sounds like he’s been through it all.

The “Flower Duet” from the opera Lakme. It’s not actually sad, but it moves me to tears through sheer beauty.

19

since Dm is the saddest of all keys, the obvious choice would be Nigel Tufnels “Lick my Love Pump”.

20

“I’LL NEVER SAY GOOD BYE”
Written by Atrie Butler, Molly Ann Leiken

That song just kills me!