# What are the saddest songs you know? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 28, 2002, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024 "2002-04-28T00:09:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/21 "2002-04-28T04:11:48Z")
The usual suspects have already been named, but I didn’t see Wharf Rat by the Grateful Dead, which is easily up there. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Kahuna\_Burger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Big\_Kahuna\_Burger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Kahuna_Burger)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/22 "2002-04-28T04:25:40Z")
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Tuesday’s Gone It’s so depressing I don’t even know why I listen to it sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Jurhael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@Jurhael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurhael)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/23 "2002-04-28T04:35:42Z")
VNV Nation: Forsaken (vocal version) VNV Nation: Left Behind Nine Inch Nails: A Warm Place Tori Amos’ cover of Somewhere over the rainbow Tori Amos: Silent All These Years Tori Amos: Hey Jupiter Tori Amos: Twinkle Nine Inch Nails - “Something I Can Never Have” Kate Bush: This Woman’s Work Sarah Mclauchlan: Last Dance, Angel, Full of Grace Nine Inch Nails: The Great Below Paula Cole: Nietchze’s Eyes ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/24 "2002-04-28T04:55:00Z")
Touch of Grey - Grateful Dead _Every silver lining Has a touch of grey._ I second Tears in Heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/25 "2002-04-28T05:13:33Z")
“Expecting to Fly” by Buffalo Springfield. Sad **and** funny: “Disco Boy” by Frank Zappa. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/26 "2002-04-28T05:47:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*“I’m Going Home” by Hootie & the Blowfish - Off their first album, I believe the song is semi-autobiographical (the lead singer’s mom died when he was young). Sample lyrics: > > _Mama please don’t go > Won’t you stay here for one more day > I’ve been your boy for so long now > There’s so much I still have to say_ \*\*Ick. I heard this song the day my mother died, when I was 16. Like a punch to the stomach it was. ☹ Rolling Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” Smashing Pumpkins “For Martha”. Another one for those of us that have lost a parent. ---
**Author:** ![CanTak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CanTak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanTak)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/27 "2002-04-28T06:00:39Z")
Definately “Angry Chair” by Alice in Chains. The tortured singer Layne Staley recently died because of his heroin addiction, and he wrote about it in his songs. Loneliness is not a phase Field of pain is where I graze Serenity is far away Saw my reflection and cried So little hope that I died Feed me your lies open wide Weight of my heart, not the size. These lyrics show just how sad his life was. He needed the heroin to live by, but it caused him so much agony hence his field of pain where he grazed. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/28 "2002-04-28T06:35:02Z")
Just about anything by **Black Tape for a Blue Girl** depresses the hell out of me. If I’m already depressed, well, let’s just say the waterworks don’t take long to start. _Gymnopedie_, by **Eric Satie**. _The Tower_ and _The Girl With April in Her Eyes_, both by **Chris De Burgh**. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/29 "2002-04-28T06:35:35Z")
“The Queen and the Soldier” by Suzanne Vega. Gets me every time. ---
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/30 "2002-04-28T06:58:47Z")
Bonnie Raitt – “I can’t make you love me” Kris Kristofferson – “Sunday Morning Coming Down” also his “Casey’s Last Ride” I think Leonard Cohen is more depressing than sad – very cynical looks at life. (For the ultimate in that dimension, check out the lyrics to [“Everybody Knows”](http://www.leonardcohen.com/lc13_01.html).) ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/31 "2002-04-28T07:01:02Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally Posted by Darwin’s Finch_ > \*\*Just about anything by Black Tape for a Blue Girl depresses the hell out of me. If I’m already depressed, well, let’s just say the waterworks don’t take long to start. \*\* Actually, I was going to throw a track from Black Tape on my list, but I couldn’t remember the title. It’s the very first track from _This Lush Garden Within_ that starts out with the crickets chirping and amazing piano … that song is just beautiful! Colin ---
**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:** [April 28, 2002, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/32 "2002-04-28T07:08:47Z")
**John Prine** : “Hello in There” ---
**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:** [April 28, 2002, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/33 "2002-04-28T07:09:58Z")
**Pink Floyd:** “Mother” and “Comfortably Numb”. Hell, half of “The Wall” ---
**Author:** ![babygunt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@babygunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/babygunt)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/34 "2002-04-28T07:46:18Z")
DuMb- nIrvana.When the Cello kicks in… Jitterbug boy-Tom Waits. Drink and tell me differently. Where were you?-Jeff Beck ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/35 "2002-04-28T09:32:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Flymaster \* > \*\*The saddest song ever written is “Cat’s in the cradle” by Harry Chapin. > > I will _NOT_ argue about this. \*\* Beat me to it. One of my favorite songs as well. Ok, my favorite. My contribution? Most songs by Blink 182. I stopped singing about highschool the second it ended, if I was still doing it when I was 30 I’d hope someone would shoot me. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/36 "2002-04-28T10:16:19Z")
“Shooting Star” by Harry Chapin “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot “Jody and the Kid” by Kris Kristofferson “Someone to Lay Down Beside Me” by Karla Bonoff ---
**Author:** ![Skewbald](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@Skewbald](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skewbald)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/37 "2002-04-28T10:49:30Z")
The Ice of Boston by The Dismemberment Plan. It’s about being alone on new years eve. ---
**Author:** ![tapioca\_tundra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@tapioca\_tundra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapioca_tundra)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/38 "2002-04-28T10:55:58Z")
House of Pain - Faster Pussycat Pepperlandgirl, I can’t believe you didn’t include Long long long. ---
**Author:** ![c-of-cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@c-of-cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c-of-cyn)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/39 "2002-04-28T11:41:56Z")
Take a knife, stick it in my heart, and twist it… **The Winner Takes It All - ABBA China - Amos, Tori Price I Pay - Bragg, Billy I Know Him So Well - OST Chess Heaven Help My Heart - OST Chess Sister of Night - Depeche Mode Je t’aime - Fabian, Lara Ainsi soit-je - Farmer, Mylene Consentement - Farmer, Mylene Puisque - Farmer, Mylene Ghost - Indigo Girls Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word - John, Elton Tonight - John, Elton Dust in the Wind - Kansas Crying - Orbison, Roy Tears Never Dry - Simmonds, Steve Fragile - Sting Vienna - Ultravox History - The Verve Mr. Blue - Yaz(oo)** ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024/40 "2002-04-28T12:04:45Z")
**The Tubes** : Love’s a Mystery (I Don’t Understand) **Steeleye Span** : The Weary Cutters **Charles Ives** : The Unanswered Question [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-saddest-songs-you-know/106024.md?page=3)