# The saddest songs you ever heard **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2011, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126 "2011-05-08T03:23:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/1 "2011-05-08T03:23:48Z")
I’ve been over in MPSIMS, re-reading the “May 5th” thread. More than once the song “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” was mentioned, so I finally went to look it up. I’d thought it must be simply about old veterans getting fewer each year. but it’s way more than that. It may be fictional but it’s still real, if that makes any sense, and I think it’s the saddest song I’ve ever heard. Before that I thought the most depressing was “Cat’s in the Cradle”, but this other went way beyond. What, if any, song is the saddest to you? And why? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/2 "2011-05-08T03:37:22Z")
Roy Clark-_[Yesterday, When I was Young.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K42a-obR5OA&feature=related)_ ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/3 "2011-05-08T03:39:19Z")
_Cats in the Cradle_ because it hits so close to home. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/4 "2011-05-08T03:40:53Z")
Kate Bush - This Woman’s Work [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TupvVpxY\_U](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TupvVpxY_U) ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/5 "2011-05-08T03:50:14Z")
Two songs that took me ages to be able to sing without getting choked up and crying in the middle are Janis Ian’s “Jesse” as sung by Joan Baez (she sings it slower, but I sing it even slower) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frrKR6dZ3pI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frrKR6dZ3pI) and the Peter, Paul, and Mary song “Christmas Dinner” [Christmas Dinner - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7QVGRKZKXY) ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/6 "2011-05-08T03:59:42Z")
This is the first song that I thought of when reading the title of the thread: [I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Hank Williams Live Performance - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvW6_-TP5cs) ---
**Author:** ![Meme\_Chose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Meme\_Chose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meme_Chose)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/7 "2011-05-08T04:02:20Z")
Puff, the Magic Dragon always makes me misty, especially so since my Jackie Papers have grown up and gone on. The River by Missy Higgins, and Black and Blue (Epitaph something something) by Kris Kristofferson both evoke such overwhelming loneliness and despair. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/8 "2011-05-08T04:08:08Z")
Brad Paisley and Allison Krauss-_[Whiskey Lullaby](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZbN_nmxAGk)_ Darryl Worley-[_I Miss My Friend._](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zNf4sOO_mg) ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/9 "2011-05-08T04:21:46Z")
Honey by Bobby Goldsboro. First you laugh, then gag, then finally the tears roll. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59BZxgohr9g](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59BZxgohr9g) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/10 "2011-05-08T04:28:10Z")
I thought of this one: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIw7RhYZC1c) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xkiddLL-XDc/hqdefault.jpg "Green Fields of France Music Video") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkiddLL-XDc) Which, as it turns out, was written by Eric Bogle, composer of “And the Band Played ‘Waltzing Matilda’”! ---
**Author:** ![MisterPeabody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@MisterPeabody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterPeabody)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/11 "2011-05-08T04:28:43Z")
“Superstar” by Carpenters “He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones “There Is A Time For Us To Wander” by The Dillards ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/12 "2011-05-08T04:32:58Z")
For personal reasons, ‘At 17’ by Janice Ian. It came out about that time in my life, and I swear to God it felt like she was singing about me. A horrible, gut-wrenching time in my life where I started to figure out there were no happy-ever-afters for girls like me. After all these years, the song still brings me to tears. Every, single time. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/13 "2011-05-08T04:37:02Z")
_Sunday Morning Coming Down_ for me. A guy walks around town in his cleanest dirty shirt, and the smell of fried chicken takes him back to something he’s lost, and church bells remind him of the disappearing dreams of yesterday. Just wow. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/14 "2011-05-08T04:39:45Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > For personal reasons, ‘At 17’ by Janice Ian. > > It came out about that time in my life, and I swear to God it felt like she was singing about me. A horrible, gut-wrenching time in my life where I started to figure out there were no happy-ever-afters for girls like me. After all these years, the song still brings me to tears. > > Every, single time. Word. Whenever an unwanted memory of my younger years pops up, I always think to myself the lyric in that song, “It was long ago and far away, the world was younger than today.” And that usually helps put it in perspective. Not always, but sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/15 "2011-05-08T04:46:04Z")
"Can’t put your arms around a memory - J Thunders but especially the cover by Ronnie Spector. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/16 "2011-05-08T05:00:28Z")
**Fire and Rain** , by James Taylor. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cwugjyeSKx4/hqdefault.jpg "James Taylor - "Fire & Rain"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwugjyeSKx4) ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/17 "2011-05-08T05:35:22Z")
“Long, Long Time” - Linda Ronstadt ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/18 "2011-05-08T05:48:22Z")
[Hungry Eyes, Merle Haggard](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6iZTTc5YuI&feature=related) [Jeannie’s Afraid Of The Dark, Dolly Parton and Porter Waggoner](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb_ge98qFSs) [Cigarette, Ben Folds Five](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJye3_Edjmo) ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/19 "2011-05-08T05:59:45Z")
[Taps](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taps). ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126/20 "2011-05-08T06:26:16Z")
[Can’t See (Useless)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-6NxW1qHlE) - Oingo Boingo. It’s the relentlessness that gets to me. [The Drugs Don’t Work](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LctuTeskxpc) - the original doesn’t, but this cover (by Faith Yang Nai Wen) is the one that does. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-songs-you-ever-heard/581126.md?page=2)