# What's the saddest song on your playlist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858 "2016-12-16T15:47:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/21 "2016-12-16T19:09:16Z")
During my mom’s final six weeks in hospice with level 10 pain, the following number was a 24/7 earbug that I can’t listen to anymore: [_Life On Mars_ (@ 9:42)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm7DCVURAbw) Despite it being relatively mainstream, this somehow slipped my radar until mom’s decline - I’m sure if I had heard this way back in the day (along with all his other gazillion records that my sisters were always playing)\* it wouldn’t have hit me in the yarbles like it did, being not really on top of my game, at the time. \*pffffft they had every album EXCEPT _Hunky Dory_ Then again Elton’s _Sad Songs_ - no - not a sad song. Treacly, by-the-numbers, and pedestrian, sure, I’ll go with that, though. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/22 "2016-12-16T19:43:14Z")
Ian Tyson singing [Barney](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NCvnG8AMFo). Note: this song is not about a purple dinosaur. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/23 "2016-12-16T19:55:54Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > Ian Tyson singing [Barney](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NCvnG8AMFo). Note: this song is not about a purple dinosaur. Although the purple dinosaur song makes me cry, too. ---
**Author:** ![CatandMouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@CatandMouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatandMouse)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/24 "2016-12-16T20:19:27Z")
[Bridge Over Troubled Water](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_a46WJ1viA) is a good crying song. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/25 "2016-12-16T20:40:23Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [My Hand To God](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Czj5xtpHvE) by Daniel Amos > > In this, the closing track of a concept album about a fictional couple named Bud and Irma Ackendorf, Bud is on his deathbed saying his last goodbye to his beloved wife. I never expected to find another DA fan on the Dope, although I really haven’t thought about them much since the late '80s/early '90s. I was more an Adam Again or The Choir guy. Speaking of Adam Again, their songs “River on Fire” and especially “Stone” are also pretty depressing. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/26 "2016-12-16T21:02:12Z")
Tossup between [Asleep](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B138KBFhTRw) by The Smiths, [God Damn The Sun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jpVtYQIols) by Swans or [Atmosphere](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EdUjlawLJM)by Joy Division or possibly, just tonight, it’s [Severance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unhfa9OnpbE)by Dead Can Dance… ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/27 "2016-12-16T21:19:56Z")
Probably [this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhhauaTNMm4), Beth Nielsen Chapman’s “No One Knows But You”, written shortly after the artist lost her husband to cancer. Or this one: Melanie’s [I Really Loved Harold](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA-CzBKQrzM) Runner up: Carly Simon’s[Do the Walls Come Down?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaCjm1GGYrM) Runner up: Tori Amos’s [Me and a Gun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPF_8T2pkAw) Runner up: Bloodrock’s dystopian [America, America](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4qPTIwaOAM) Honorable mention: Pink Floyd’s [Nobody Home](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQpTtYj52ts) ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/28 "2016-12-16T23:00:51Z")
[Harris and the Mare](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQSEn-SZzpM) by Stan Rogers. I usually can’t handle it, and skip it 19 out of every 20 times it comes on. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/29 "2016-12-16T23:07:21Z")
From Warren Zevon’s last album, The Wind. [Keep Me In Your Heart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dscsGRjpxk) is just. . … Man, it’s been almost 14 years and I still choke up when I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/30 "2016-12-17T00:20:09Z")
I kinda like [The Old Blue Suit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRab6pjWet8), which is elegaic. I see it as a celebration of a man’s life, but my b.i.l. thinks it is incredibly sad. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/31 "2016-12-17T00:34:18Z")
“You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma” by David Frizzell and Shelley West. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/32 "2016-12-17T01:09:32Z")
I grieve by binge-listening to an artist\*, tearing up as I drive to work. So right now it’s a lot of Bowie and Cohen, specifically _Bewley Brothers:_ “Leave my shoes, and door unlocked / I might just slip away… just for the day, hey…” and _Famous Blue Raincoat:_ “Did you ever go clear?” \*(so Daniel Amos’ll be on my playlist as soon as “Uncle Terry” Taylor buys the farm) ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/33 "2016-12-17T01:51:45Z")
[Kilkelly Ireland](https://youtu.be/QRHQAtKbRTk) performed here by Robbie O’Connell & Finbar Clancy. I dare you to be dry-eyed by the end of that song. Song starts at 0:57 on the link if you want to skip the intro. Although the story really sets up the background of the song. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/34 "2016-12-17T02:31:43Z")
How about Elvis Costello’s ‘This House is Empty Now’… These rooms play tricks upon you Remember when they were always filled with laughter But now they’re quite deserted They seem to just echo voices raised in anger Do you recognize the face Fixed in that fine silver frame Were you really so unhappy there You never said So this house is empty now There’s nothing I can do to make you want to stay So tell me how am I supposed to live without you ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/35 "2016-12-17T02:54:38Z")
One year, in my chorus’s Holidays concert, one of the songs was “Christmas Without You” (not the Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers song or any other one I could find online). Less than a week before the concert, one of the singers suddenly died of meningitis. It hit everyone very hard. But you know, the show must go on. I don’t know how we made it through that song with tears running down our cheeks. And the audience too, including the guy’s family. I still think of him when I hear that song. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/36 "2016-12-17T03:05:06Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > [Kilkelly Ireland](https://youtu.be/QRHQAtKbRTk) performed here by Robbie O’Connell & Finbar Clancy. > > I dare you to be dry-eyed by the end of that song. Song starts at 0:57 on the link if you want to skip the intro. Although the story really sets up the background of the song. Came to say this. My version is by Michael Moloney and Green Fields of America. ---
**Author:** ![GinoC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f4b2a3/32.png) [@GinoC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GinoC)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/37 "2016-12-17T03:10:03Z")
_Daisy a Day_ by Jud Strunk. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/38 "2016-12-17T04:18:01Z")
Chopin [nocturne op 48 no.1 c minor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gw9wafY9GY). Funny, I always seem to be cutting onions when I listen to Arrau tickle the ivories on this piece. ---
**Author:** ![littlespeedysuperbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@littlespeedysuperbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/littlespeedysuperbike)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/39 "2016-12-17T05:56:59Z")
“Well, she walks these hills in a long black veil…” ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858/40 "2016-12-17T06:13:07Z")
Probably a 3-way tie between [Pearl Jam “Black”,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV2iYFl5eSk) [Rush “Losing It”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SFA5ScV7cU) and [Porcupine Tree “Even Less”.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BLJPCcjg7I) There’s also [The Cure](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMOlZtpANa0) and [Type O Negative,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xjujoPwSXA) but I actually find those kinda cheery. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-saddest-song-on-your-playlist/774858.md?page=3)