— Messages, OMD. makes me cry every time.
“so dont ask me if i think its true that
communication can bring hope to those
who have gone their separate ways.”
– Long Honeymoon, Costello.
– Country Death Song, Violent Femmes. Yeah, its tongue in cheek, and the first half is funny, but starting with the solo its some powerful stuff
“dont speak to me of lovers with a broken heart
you wanna know what will really tear you apart?
i’m goin out to the barn with a never stoppin pain
i’m goin out to the barn to hang myself in shame”
Anodyne by Uncle Tupelo. Not so much for the lyrics, but the sound. The guitar is mournful, almost crying.
**Driver 8 ** by R.E.M. This one is sad specifically because I heard it just after I found out my grandfather had passed away. The line, “Driver 8, take a break, you’ve been on this shift too long” is such a metaphor for death, at least for me.
Amen to that!!! A good way to cheer yourself up is to pick virtually any Morrissey or Smiths song and sing it in an upbeat, cheerful tone (pick up both the pace and the mood big time, keep the words as they are)…and within seconds you’ll find yourself drifting into a manic giggly state as you sing upbeat/happily:
“I’ve come to wish you an unhappy birthday…cause you’re evil and you lie…and if you should die, I may feel slightly sad but I won’t cry.”
“Tell me, tell me that you love me…oh, I know you don’t mean it”
“Girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know, it’s serious”
“Why do you come here when you know it makes things hard for me…”
“London is dead, London is dead, London is dead, London is dead”
I think this is the way Morrissey originally concocts such lyrics…so be careful not to play this game too much, or you might become a sociopath just like him. :eek:
I think some of these songs may have already been mentioned but here goes…
This Womans Work - Kate Bush
Love Is Teasing - Marianne Faithfull
So Cruel - U2
All I Want Is You - U2
My Old Friend The Blues - The Proclaimers
The Town I Loved So Well - The Dubliners
The Band Played Waltzing Matilda - The Pogues
Apron Strings - Everything But The Girl
Almost Blue - as sung by EBTG
Carrying A Torch - Van Morrison
Tank Park Salute - Billy Bragg (It’s about Bragg’s father dying. Came out the same year my dad died. I burst into tears at the concert.)
When She Loved Me - Sarah Maclachlan (I need to put this song behind one of those “In Case of Emergency, Break Glass” thingys. When the kids watch Toy Story 2 I have to leave the room when that song comes on. Has been known to reduce me to a sobbing wreck.)
It’s not the best song in the world, but “Why Not Your Baby Anymore?” (by Chris Hillman and Clarence White?) covered by The Velvet Crush asks one of the saddest questions I can think of:
Why don’t you call me your baby anymore?
Am I so changed from the strange love that came before?
Is this the change of mind I was designed for?
Why not your baby anymore?
Linda Ronstad (Yes!) did three fantastic albums with Nelson Riddle in the 80’s. George Michael and Robbie Williams should learn from those, how to make good covers today, of old standards. Linda’s version of When you wish upon a star (Yes! again) sends chills down my spine, but the one that’s the most sad is 'Round Midnight by Thelonius Monk with these lyrics.
On Johnny Cash’s “Americana III - A Solitary man”, which he did with a little help from Tom Petty, Merle Haggard and Sheryl Crow, he does a version of One by U2, which should send Mr. Hewson home to practise getting more feeling in to his singing. The pain, the angst, the religion. Cash has never been better (he does a Nick Cave cover too: The Mercy Seat).
The was a time when the things Bruse Springsteen wrote ment something to me. His album Darkness on the edge of town is his best to date. Born to Run is nowhere near it, and later efforts got stained from his increased popularity.
Of all the songs on DarknessRacing in the streets stand out. For those to lazy to click - here are two paragraphs:
And that very last line, my fellow dopers, takes my price as the single saddest line ever. He knows he hurts her. He’s sad that he does, but he keeps doing it anyway.
Great thread! I would second “Yesterday”, although I’m surprised no one seems to have suggested “Yes It Is”, as sad as anything the Beatles ever did.
Incidentally, I read that Paul realized a few years ago that he was probably singing to his mother (who died when he was 14) when he wrote “Yesterday”.
I would also second “St. James Infirmary” and “Tears in Heaven”.
I have saved “best” for last.
The saddest, most melancholy piece of recorded music I have ever heard was recorded in 1930 by a Mississippi bluesman named Skip James. It’s called “Devil Got My Woman”, and it NEVER fails to give me serious chills.
Other of Skip James’ work is pretty sad (it’s been said that it was always dark out when Skip was singing), but “Devil Got My Woman” is his masterpiece. Robert Johnson lifted elements from it in HIS eerie masterpiece “Hellhound on My Trail”, which is itself no slouch.
Come to think of it, Johnson’s “Love in Vain” (covered by the Rolling Stones) is also pretty sad – I prefer RJ’s version to the Stones’.
I can’t believe this thread has gone on for four whole pages and no one has yet mentioned the traditional Irish song “Londonderry Aire” (often commonly referred to as “O Danny Boy”). That song has never failed to bring tears to my eyes, ever since the first time I heard it, when I was three years old.
I was always somewhat embarassed that the song made me cry, until I saw that bit on Saturday Night Live about an advertisement for a collection of Irish drinking songs; there’s a pub full of drunk people singing along with all of the songs, and when the melody for “Londonderry Aire” plays, everyone tries to sing, but it’s unintelligible because they’re crying so hard, and the caption at the bottom of the screen reads: “The Irish Crying Song.” After seeing that, I realized I was not alone.
This is an amazing song of undying love, I dedicated this song to my son.
This song makes me rejoice. It is all the meaning that you place within the song. As a father, I am enjoying the process of watching him grow. He is 9 months old today.
Some people mentioned some Grateful Dead songs upthread, but I did not see this one mentioned.
“I Will Take You Home.”
Like the John Lennon songs from the last album before he was killed, this one was not really intended to be sad but rather takes on a sad meaning because of what ended up happening to the person who wrote and sang the lyrics.
The Dead’s keyboardist at the time, Brent Mydland, wrote the song as a lullabye for his young child, complete with lyrics about how "Daddy will always be there for you (I’m not sure if that is an exact lyric, but the general gist of the song.)
Unfortunately, he ended up dying of an overdose not long after the song was written and recorded, which makes it a sad song to listen to. Much like “Starting Over” and “Beautiful Boy” were (and can still be listened to) as positive songs but are kind of sad when one thinks of what happened to John Lennon shortly after the songs were released.
We had an apartment in the city,
Me and Loretta liked living there.
Well, it’d been years since the kids had grown,
A life of their own,
left us alone.
John and Linda live in Omaha,
And Joe is somewhere on the road.
We lost Davy in the Korean war,
And I still don’t know what for,
don’t matter anymore.
Chorus:
Ya’ know that old trees just grow stronger,
And old rivers grow wilder ev’ry day.
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, “Hello in there…”
hello.
This is an obscure song by an acapella Christian group called AVB (Acapella Vocal Band). The name of the song is “Take You Home” (I think) and it was written by a man dying of cystic fibrosis. He wrote it for his wife, who he knew he would soon leave behind.
Now, this is a Christian band, so the whole Jesus-coming-back-thing is a basis. If you can hang with that, the lyrics are:
A bit cheesy, perhaps, and Christian cheesy at that. But it’s such an earnest song, written with such sweet (and sad) intent…it still get me every time. I still see it as just a remarkably loving gift for his wife.
