# The saddest song in the world

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 3, 2002, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793 "2002-09-03T12:56:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 13

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**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/241 "2011-06-23T05:30:33Z")

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Jethro Tull’s “Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die.”

David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust”

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**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/242 "2011-06-30T05:58:47Z")

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It seems to me a lot of people are defining as “sad” what I’d call “pleasantly downbeat” or “melancholic”.

Nick Drake, for example: In the midst of crippling depression, he managed to make incredibly beautiful music. I don’t find that _sad_, I find it inspiring and life-affirming.

What makes me _sad_ is all the atrocious garbage that’s in the charts these days.

Anyway, if we’re talking about sad music, it’s hard to believe no-one has mentioned this yet, so I’ll just have to go ahead and win the thread: [Mother - John Lennon](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkOoZDK7Rz8)

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