I think we have a winner here. It sounds so sad I don’t WANT to hear it.
Joy Division - Heart and Soul
Belly - Low Red Moon
Slint - Good Morning, Captain
Cat Power - Colors and the Kids
Jeff Buckley - Nightmares by the Sea
Big Star - Holocaust
Big Star - Nightime
Nina Simone - Strange Fruit
Chris Bell - You and Your Sister
These are all sad songs, but only three songs make my eyes water just thinking about them. These are:
Nick Drake - All My Trials (duet with Gabrielle Drake)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2
Tim Buckley - Song to the Siren
Kate Bush: This Woman’s Work
Natalie Merchant: Jezebel, River
Phil Collins: Against All Odds
Beatles: Long and Winding Road, All the Lonely People
Celine Dion: My Heart Will Go On
Elton John: Daniel
What, nobody voted for Randy Newman’s “When She Loved Me,” from the Toy Story 2 soundtrack?
Damn depressing, especially in the context of the movie…
I second “Alone again, naturally” and “Cat’s in the cradle”.
I also have to add:
How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today - Suicidal Tendencies
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me - The Smiths
Come on, it’s The Smiths, fer cryin’ out loud…do I really need to sample lyrics?
Who Am I? - The Samples
Misery - also by The Samples
These ones usually make me sad…
Concrete Blonde - Tommorrow Wendy
Radiohead - Exit Music (For A Film)
Radiohead - How To Completly Dissappear
Rolling Stones - Angie
Sinead O’ Conner - Nothing Compares To You
Barbara Allen
(as performed by Art Garfunkel)
*All in the Merry month of May,
When all the buds were swellin’
Sweet William on his deathbed lay
For love of Barbara Allen
He sent his servant into the town
The place where she was dwellin’
“My master dear, has bid you come
If your name be Barbara Allen.”
So slowly, slowly, she got up
And slowly she came to him
And all ahe said as there he lay
Was, “Young man I think you’re dyin’”*
And it doesn’t get any peppier from there.
The Sally Garden
(as written by Benjamin Britten)
*All down by the Sally Garden
My love and I did meet.
She passed the Sally Garden
On little snow-white feet.
She bid me take life easy
As the leaves grown on the tree.
But I, being young and foolish,
With her did not agree.
In a field by the river
My love and I did stand
And on my weary shoulder
She placed her show-white hand.
She bid me take love easy
As the grass grown on the weirs.
But I was young and foolish
And now am full of tears.*
Don McLean’s ‘Vincent’ gets my vote.
“Starry, starry night…
…you took you life as lovers often do,
but I could have told you Vincent,
this world was never meant for
one as beautiful as you…”
The Saddest Thing by Melanie Safka brings tears to one’s eyes.
The Smiths are usually too over the top to be genuinely sad - I used to listen to them to cheer me up because it’s so funny after a while. But there are times when they seem serious, and it starts to work. The ones that I find saddest are
Asleep
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
This Night Has Opened My Eyes
“North Dakota” by Lyle Lovett.
2 that hit way too close to home:
** Meatloaf - 2 out of 3 Ain’t bad ** - he’s emotionally scarred, and can’t give of himself any more, and probably never will.
** I am a Rock - Simon and Garfunkel (?) ** - I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain… A rock feels no pain, and an island never cries . He’s isolated. Avoids pain by avoiding contact.
I’ll go ahead and second U2’s Running to Stand Still. Also:
Atmosphere: Joy Division
Pale Blue Eyes: Lou Reed/Velvet Underground
Spiritual: Johnny Cash
Fool To Cry: Rolling Stones
Angel: The Eurythmics
You Better Be Home Soon: Crowded House
Never Tear Us Apart: INXS
I must put in a mention for Richard Thompson, who has written perhaps the two most depressing songs ever.
Withered and Died is a heartbreaking waltz sung by his wife Linda, and features the uplifting chorus “My dreams have withered and died.”
By far sadder, however, is End of the Rainbow. This has the disctinction of being the single saddest song I have ever heard, by anyone.
Here are some of the lyrics, set to a minor dirge:
I feel for you, you little horror
Safe at your mother’s breast
No lucky break for you around the corner
'Cause your father is a bully
And he thinks that you’re a pest
And your sister she’s no better than a whore.
Life seems so rosy in the cradle,
But I’ll be a friend I’ll tell you what’s in store
There’s nothing at the end of the rainbow.
There’s nothing to grow up for anymore
…
Your mother works so hard to make you happy
But take a look outside your nursery door
There’s nothing at the end of the rainbow.
There’s nothing to grow up for anymore
All the sad and empty faces
That pass you in the street
All running in their sleep, all in a dream
Every loving handshake
Is just another man to beat
How your heart aches just to cut hiom to the core
…
Yeesh. Incidentally, Elvis Costello has covered both of these songs, and done a pretty good job. But Thompson’s versions are crushing.
Beth Nielsen Chapman’s “Sand and Water” from the album of the same name.
Actually the whole album, but particularly that song.
“Smoke” by Ben Folds Five
“One” by Metallica (especially the intro to the orchestral version)
“See How We Are” - X
“Joey” - Concrete Blonde
“Who Knows Where the Time Goes” - Sandy Denny
“Behind Blue Eyes” - The Who
“A Sort of a Homecoming” - U2
“Linger” - The Cranberries
“A Rainy Night in Soho” - The Pogues
“Allison” - Elvis Costello
“Are You Lonesome Tonight?” - Elvis
“Wish You Were Here” - Pink Floyd
Fleetwood Mac: Man of the World
Tom Waits: Kentucky Avenue
Loudon Wainwright: Five Years Old
The Pogues: Fairytail Of New York
Are some that spring to mind.
“Way Back Home” - Junior Walker And The All Stars
I was driving home one rainy night listening to a JW CD and when that song came on I got to thinking about my Mom (rest her soul) and my childhood in the South; and I just lost it. I haven’t been able to listen to that song since.
Seconding (thirding?) Harry Chapin’s Cat’s in the Cradle. And adding a few more from Mr. Chapin:
Taxi
WOLD
A Better Place to Be