# What makes you cry topic....What is the saddest song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2003, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630 "2003-03-23T22:23:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Bjork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9de0a6/32.png) [@Bjork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bjork)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/81 "2003-04-01T00:19:57Z")
Damn that Tori Amos! Can she produce anything happy? Loosing my religion was sad enough before I just downloaded her version! I’m kidding, shes brilliant I think lyrics are my favourite type of writing, theres something about them, even when they are just written down and not in a song, good lyrics are still so compelling and moving. Its crazy that you can conjure up that much emotion in 3-6 minutes! ---
**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/82 "2003-04-01T00:27:20Z")
“John Riley” - The Byrds ---
**Author:** ![Simbelmyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Simbelmyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simbelmyne)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/83 "2003-04-01T01:13:02Z")
She does a haunting cover of “Smells like Teen Spirit” ---
**Author:** ![born\_too\_late](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@born\_too\_late](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/born_too_late)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/84 "2003-04-01T02:10:31Z")
Anybody ever heard of a band out of Chicago called [Pinetop Seven](http://www.pinetopseven.com/discography.htm) ? Their music has been described as ‘americana’ and it sounds like a soundtrack to a western movie sometimes. Anyway, a lot of it is achingly beautiful - “Drying Out”, “Mission District”, and “Heavens” are exceptionally moving. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Mr\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/85 "2003-04-01T02:31:13Z")
Hangin’ by a Thread-Jann Arden. Straight to the gut, twisting your insides along the way. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/86 "2003-04-01T02:56:28Z")
“Gollum’s Song” from _The Two Towers_. Noooo, not the song Gollum sings about the fish, dammit, the song over the final credits. Saddest. Song. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![kyliex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kyliex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kyliex)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/87 "2003-04-01T04:00:23Z")
umm let it be by the beatles. timeless. and ever since jo strummer died. all clash songs makeme cry. its sad heh. \<\<\ **Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/88 "2003-04-01T21:29:59Z") Thank you, **RawkStah** for mentioning _I Don’t Like Mondays_. Partly because of when I first discovered it, and partly because it’s such an amazingly beautiful song, it just really gets to me. Definitely Pearl Jam’s _Black_, but _Yellow Ledbetter_ gets to me even more. Particularly toward the end. God. Actually, lots of Pearl Jam songs have that effect on me. ---
**Author:** ![WillSantini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@WillSantini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillSantini)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/89 "2003-04-01T21:58:14Z")
_Anna’s Tragic End_ from Anna Karenina. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/90 "2003-04-01T23:03:18Z")
How about “I Am a Rock” - Simon & Garfunkel? This part always got to me: Don’t talk of love… Well, I’ve heard the word before. It’s sleeping in my memory. I won’t disturb the slumber Of feelings that have died. If I’d never loved, I never would have cried. (Hope I’m not repeating a post; this thread is getting really long.) ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/91 "2003-04-01T23:58:47Z")
Good observation on The Cure, **Tanaqui** , but you neglected to mention _Pictures of You_. Also, I would like to comment that the song _Don’t Take the Girl_ is was one of the first country songs I had ever heard, and it broke me up! Cried for almost a half an hour… ---
**Author:** ![Jerrybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8c91f0/32.png) [@Jerrybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerrybear)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/92 "2003-04-02T00:06:41Z")
A couple more by Simon and Garfunkel, that are actually on the same album and right next to each other: “Richard Cory” and “A Most Peculiar Man.” Both are suicide songs. The first one is about a rich man who seems to have it all, but goes home one night and shoots himself. The second one is about an anonymous “everyman” who gasses himself to death. The album as a whole (Sounds of Silence) is pretty much a downer. There is the title track with its theme of urban isolation. There are two fairly sad “lost love” type songs (“Leaves That Are Green” and “April, Come She Will”). And then there are two suicide songs. Oh, I am pretty sure that the aforementioned “I Am A Rock” is on there as well… ---
**Author:** ![Seldon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/93 "2003-04-02T20:06:12Z")
This isn’t a song, but a poem. This verse makes the tears fall: “I have a friend, a kinder friend has no man: Like an ingrate, I left my friend abruptly; Left him, to muse on the old familiar faces” Charles Lamb, **The Old Familiar Faces** ---
**Author:** ![Amethyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@Amethyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amethyst)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/94 "2003-04-02T23:11:07Z")
Lightening Crashes by Live … Mainly because it was popular and on the radio when I was driving back from the hospital one evening trying to pretend to myself that my mum wasn’t goign to die in the next few days. These lyrics got to me: Lightning crashes, an old mother dies Her intentions fall to the floor The angel closes her eyes The confusion that was hers Belongs now, to the baby down the hall ---
**Author:** ![Bjork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9de0a6/32.png) [@Bjork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bjork)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/95 "2003-04-04T04:54:29Z")
Omygod! I cant believe you mentioned that Richard Cory song. I just wrote an essay on the poem “richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson. I didn’t even realise there was a song about it. It bursting with curiosity now! I think ill go download it! Thats so exciting! ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_The\_Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Buck\_The\_Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_The_Diver)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/96 "2003-04-04T06:08:28Z")
…and this is why I listen to talk radio. ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/97 "2003-04-04T07:49:17Z")
There’s only one song that really chokes me up, and that’s _Last Kiss_. Not the Eddy Vedder version, but the oldie by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers. Also, _Sounds of Silence_ by Simon & Garfunkel kind of gives me a weird, sad feeling. ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/98 "2003-04-04T12:18:40Z")
Great choices (especially the Tori Amos and S&G recommendations, plus Gollum). Let me htrow in my favourite song of this century: _Cup of coffee_ by Garbage. You left behind some clothes My belly summersaults when I pick them off the floor My friends all say they’re worried I’m looking far too skinny I’ve stopped returning all their calls And no of course we can’t be friends Not while I’m still so obsessed I want to ask where I went wrong But don’t say anything at all… ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/99 "2003-04-04T12:44:33Z")
I have to second _I’ll Stand By You_ (but it didn’t really get to me until I watched the fanmade Xena music video of it, with all the footage from the last episode) and _Seasons In The Sun_ (which didn’t get to me at all until I finally sat down and listened to the lyrics) and make a few contributions of my own: _Don’t Cry Daddy_, Elvis Presley. I realised only a few months ago that Elvis isn’t the son in the song, he’s the father, which makes it somewhat less sad, but it’s still a tearjerker. _Most Of The Time_, Bob Dylan. The number one saddest breakup song ever. I watched _High Fidelity_ while recovering from a broken-up longterm relationship, and this song just slew me outright. That song from _Moulin Rouge_, _Come What May_, doesn’t really qualify as a sad song until you’ve seen the movie, but I have, so I’ll call it sad, and if you’ve got trouble with that, see my lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![Jerrybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8c91f0/32.png) [@Jerrybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerrybear)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630/100 "2003-04-04T14:04:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bjork \* > \*\*Omygod! I cant believe you mentioned that Richard Cory song. I just wrote an essay on the poem “richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson. I didn’t even realise there was a song about it. It bursting with curiosity now! I think ill go download it! Thats so exciting! \*\* The lyrics to the song are different from the poem, but the story is basically the same. The moral of the story being that money does not necessarily bring happiness. I was a major Simon and Garfunkel fan in junior high/the first year or so of high school. I was a socially awkward, sensitive kid, and somehow their music really seemed to express much of what I was going through. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry-topic-what-is-the-saddest-song/163630.md?page=6)