# The saddest song in the world **URL:** \ **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:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![zen101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c68b51/32.png) [@zen101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zen101)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/81 "2002-09-06T11:53:15Z")
I forgot one in my earlier posting haste. “Shes’ Already Made Up Her Mind” by Lyle Lovett ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/82 "2002-09-06T15:01:46Z")
Two immediately come to mind: “Yesterday” by The Beatles. Can’t believe nobody mentioned this, unless I missed it. “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman. What a sad song about someone trying to escape a horrible life for something better only to wind up right back where they started. ---
**Author:** ![Trancey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Trancey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancey)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/83 "2002-09-06T18:32:47Z")
I’ve come up with a few more… For a band who’s every single song has made me cry, Anathema. I have particular favorites though… Anathema -A Fine Day to Exit " "Deep " "Panic " "Everwake " "Inner Silence " "Parisienne Moonlight _If your going to download any, get this one_ " "Release " "Anyone Anywhere REM - Loosing My Religion (That’s a given) Switchfoot - You Duran Duran - Come Undone Duran Duran - Ordinary world Diana Washington - What a Difference a Day Makes Jars of Clay - Lift Me Up Fred Astaire - Cheek to Cheek (From the Green Mile soundtrack) Massive Attack - Teardrop Stutterfly - Gun in Hand Chobits - Opening Song It’s an anime, and for some reason this song really gets to me. Maybe it has to do with the show, not too sure… ---
**Author:** ![JonTheHasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7bcc69/32.png) [@JonTheHasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonTheHasher)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/84 "2002-09-06T19:12:46Z")
I can’t believe no one has mentioned [NFB](http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/anthrax/attackofthekillerbs.html#12). ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/85 "2002-09-06T19:30:38Z")
[Shannon](http://www.henrygross.com/s_lyrics.htm) by Henry Gross. Even if it is about a dog. ---
**Author:** ![Giselle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Giselle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giselle)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/86 "2002-09-06T20:42:08Z")
How many votes have been cast for _Danny Boy_ now? Three? I’ll make it four. Or whatever. _L’un Vers L’Autre_ from **Les Miserables** always gets to me. It has since I went through a French-English dictionary and figured out what some of it meant. I also cry every time I hear _The Lost Chord_ [arthur sullivan] or Emma’s last melody in **Jekyll and Hyde** : _You are free now You’re with me now Where you’ll always be_ ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/87 "2002-09-06T22:00:36Z")
Sorry **Trancey** , it’s Dinah Washington. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/88 "2002-09-06T22:21:44Z")
**Songs To Aging Children Come** - Joni Mitchell **Don’t Let It Bring You Down** - Neil Young nobody’s mentioned Neil? **A Better Place To Be** - Harry Chapin **Desperado** - The Eagles ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/89 "2002-09-07T00:09:57Z")
This thread has been done many times before… but… -Another vote for **Danny Boy** -Another vote for **A Gentle Fall of Rain** from Les Miz, along with the death of Fantine, and the reapearrance of Fantine’s ghost (“Monsieur I bless your name” “I am ready Fantine” “Monsieur lay down your burden” “at the end of my days” “You’ve raised my child in love…”) - **Puff the Magic Dragon** - **Where have all the flowers gone?** -But the hands down saddest song ever written, at least when heard in its correct context, is **Oh Lord, I’m on my way** , the finale from Porgy and Bess. The irony is that it’s this incredibly upbeat triumphant music, but it’s triumphant because poor Porgy (who has no legs) is wheeling his way in his cart out of Catfish Row to go to New York (which is described as “way up north, past the customs house”) to find his true love, Bess. And he’s all hopefuly and happy, and the music is all excited and happy, and of course you just know that he’s never going to make it. Gut-wrenching. ---
**Author:** ![Treviathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@Treviathan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treviathan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/90 "2002-09-07T00:44:50Z")
Another vote for Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should’ve Come over” and for Tracey Chapman’s “Fast Car.” I’m surprised no one’s mentioned anything my Ryan Adams or his former band, Whiskeytown. “Jacksonville Skyline,” “Sit and Listen to the Rain,” “Come Pick Me Up,” and “Harder Now that It’s Over” are all incredibly morose. “Jacksonville Skyline,” actually, reminds me of “Fast Car” in the way it captures the narrator’s inability to change his situation in life. The saddest songs, for me, are the ones about dashed hopes. ---
**Author:** ![Nightime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Nightime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightime)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/91 "2002-09-07T01:08:06Z")
Joy Division _Isolation_ “I’m ashamed of the things I’ve been put through; I’m ashamed of the person I am” Belly _Low Red Moon_ “Now I’ve got strong arms, strong arms for a skinny girl, and I say ‘He belongs to me’” Slint _Good Morning, Captain_ “I miss you” Cat Power _Moonshiner_ “When the bottle gets empty, then life ain’t worth the drown” Nina Simone _Strange Fruit_ “Southern trees, bearin’ strange fruit” Big Star _Big Black Car_ “Driving in my big black car, nothing can go wrong” Nick Drake _All My Trials_ “But it’s too late, my friend, too late but never mind” Neutral Milk Hotel _Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2_ “And in my dreams you’re alive and you’re crying, as your mouth moves in mine, soft and sweet, Rings of flowers round your eyes and I’ll love you for the rest of your life” 1. Tim Buckley _Song to the Siren_ (the version on Starsailor) This Mortal Coil does a very pretty version of this song, but after hearing Tim’s Starsailor version their’s doesn’t even seem sad at all. Tim Buckley had the greatest voice of any singer, it has to be heard to be believed. “Here I am, here I am, waiting to hold you” ---
**Author:** ![zen101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c68b51/32.png) [@zen101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zen101)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/92 "2002-09-07T02:52:26Z")
Nightime: _Strange Fruit_ is certainly a great song. But it’s usually associated with Billie Holiday (although writen by Lewis Allen for her). For Nina Simone (who at 80+ when I saw her at the Scnitz here in Portland was still stomping) and a sad rendition I would say her “I Put A Spell On You” is Earthshaking and sad in it’s desperation. Her cover of “I loves you Porgy” is pretty damned good too. ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/93 "2002-09-07T03:05:12Z")
I have to add yet another vote to Jeff Buckely’s\*“Lover, You should’ve come over”\*. Gets to me every time. He had the voice of an angel. Then there’s _“Oh Death”_ from the the O Brother, where art Thou soundtrack. _“Wichita Lineman”_ by Glenn Campbell. “And I need you more than want you and I want you for all time And the Wichita lineman is still on the line…” _sigh_ and _“Wildfire”_ by Michael Martin Murphy. Saddest “girl-dies-in-blizarrd-looking-for-her-horse” song I’ve ever heard. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Harvey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@Max\_Harvey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Harvey)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/94 "2002-09-07T03:40:52Z")
Cocteau Twins - Spooning Good Singing Gum, Eggs And Their Shells Lisa Fischer - Ruler Of My Heart John Mayer - Cavatina (theme from Deer Hunter) Elvis Costello - Couldn’t Call It Unexpected No. 4 Peter Gabriel - Flotsam And Jetsam ---
**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:** [September 7, 2002, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/95 "2002-09-07T04:49:52Z")
_Sam Stone_ - By **John Prine** Actually, of the top-20 saddest songs, I think about 7 or 8 of them would come from John Prine. “Angel From Montgomery”, “Hello in There”, “Far From Me”, “Paradise”… ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/96 "2002-09-07T06:43:36Z")
Wow! Two references to _Porgy And Bess_, but neither one mentioned the truly sad _Where is Brother Robins?_, sung by the chorus about a fisherman lost at sea in a storm, and the really gut-wrenching _My Man’s Gone Now_, sung by Robins’ widow. “Ain’ no use a listnin’ for his tired footsteps climbin’ up the stair.” Now, that’s sad. ---
**Author:** ![kawliga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@kawliga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kawliga)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/97 "2002-09-07T07:03:16Z")
Kern River - Merle Haggard Pancho and Lefty - Townes Van Zandt ---
**Author:** ![Granuaile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecccb3/32.png) [@Granuaile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Granuaile)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/98 "2002-09-07T07:33:50Z")
**Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want** - Smiths **This Is Not A Rebel Song** - Sinead O’Connor **A Rainy Night In Soho** - The Pogues **I Love** - Tom T. Hall **So Cruel** - U2 **The Only One** - Billy Bragg **Tank Park Salute**" " **This Womans Work** - Kate Bush **Apron Strings** - Everything But The Girl **Requiem** - Mozart And a very depressing song I’ve been listening to lately: **The Old Main Drag** - The Pogues Synopsis:16 yr old boy heads to London with only “…_a fiver in my pocket_…” gets swept into a life of being a drug addicted “rent boy.” The last verse of the song goes “_Now I am lying here, I’ve had too much booze/I’ve been spat on and shat on and raped and abused/I know that I am dying and I wish I could beg/For some money to take me from the old main drag_” G. ---
**Author:** ![Granuaile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecccb3/32.png) [@Granuaile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Granuaile)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/99 "2002-09-07T08:12:36Z")
There are very few things that I regret having done. Having said that, I sincerely regret doing a search for the lyrics to “Padraic My Prince”. Jesus Christ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793/100 "2002-09-07T12:50:45Z")
I second **Coldfire** ’s selection of Pink Floyd’s _The Gunner’s Dream_, and am quite frankly amazed that that seems to be the only Floyd song picked. C’mon, The Wall should have been packaged with lithium pills for convenience! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-song-in-the-world/126793.md?page=6)