What's the saddest song you've ever heard

purple'n'gold

Dubh Geannain wrote:

I think "the Streets of London" (can't remember who sang it) really captured the plight of down and out Irish emigrants in our not too distant past.

Also think "The very thing" by Stars is good depressing one.

streets of London, Ralph McTell

Bri~

Bright eyes - Poison Oak

Fanny Cradock

The saddest songs known to man are as follows:

Place to be - Nick Drake (anything off his 'Pink Moon' Ablum for that matter

Symphony of sorrowful songs: II. Lento E Largo - Tranquillisimo - Henryk Gorecki

Lost Cause - Beck

Dirty - Christina Agulera

copacetic

as above, from a funeral so brings back memories, might be a bit obvious but

angel : sarah mclachlan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CbAjj80NIM

Kevster

I don't know why but Manic Street Preachers' Little Baby Nothing is the first that popped into my head.

PullMyFinger!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFmp9K8RTcc

keane2097

Summer in the City by Regina Spektor chokes me up a bit...

I guess I associate it with good times gone for good - lovely tune though...

keane2097

wild_eyed wrote: »

elliott smith's pitseleh

Terribly haunting song...

The line "I'm so angry, I don't think it'll ever pass" resonates so strongly considering how he ended up.

A tortured soul, but boy what a genius...

Dean820

Hurt by Johnny Cash

Duiske

An oldie, but a goodie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuH4yR9N4Yg

sillybird

+1 for The Dance

Puff Daddy- I'll Be Missing You breaks my heart everytime I hear it
and I dunno why but Sail On by The Comodores/Lionel Richie

thielfer

Dean820 wrote: »

Hurt by Johnny Cash

agree...

Southern girl by Incubus always makes me sad
Always on my mind from Elvis Presley's heritage is one of classic sad songs as well

The one that makes me sad and thrills me out as well is Lennon's Imagine performed and rearranged by A Perfect Circle - kind of thriller itself...and a masterpiece anyway...

keane2097

This thread has made me listen to OK Computer for the first time - super album...

Loads of lines from Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" I've noticed...

Simi

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote: »

Maybe it's just my interpretation.
Which is one of the things I really like about Radiohead (apart from them actually sounding amazing)... the songs are vague and open enough to hear from different angles... even re-listening to the same songs at different times... I find my interpretation changes based on my mood.
Gives it a lot of replay value.
I always found 'nice dream' really positive and chilled out until I listened to it from a more cynical angle.
Same with FakePlasticTrees actually... in a good mood; the song just sounds silly and lighthearted, but in a more melancholy mood; it takes on a really hauntingly sad tone.

A f*ck it, maybe I should just become an Emo and get it over with.

Agreed it depends entirely on your mood when listening to the track. I'd probably go with fake plastic trees when in a particularly melancholic mood.

road_2_damascus

Kold wrote: »

I don't want lists of sad songs, I want you to make a decision and give a reason for it.

I got the idea when I was just hanging out with some good friends and Pink Floyd's 'Wish you were here' came on. I said "Class" and then one of them says he loves the song so much because he thinks it's probably the saddest song he's ever heard. Now whilst it's a beautiful song, I can withstand a blast of it without becoming morose.

My choice would be Radiohead's 'No Surprises' because I think it has such a depth to it that you're still able to relate to. The music isn't obviously gloomy because the instrumental isn't (their most..) blatantly sad song, it's no How to disappear completely like.. But then the lyrics.. it's about someone so terrified of life that they pray for a life of numbness. They'll take a life of complete mediocrity and gladly step back to live as another statistic, the life that when we're young we absolutely refuse to accept the idea of living.. When you decide that the obstacles in your life are actually too difficult to overcome. All this masked in a tune pretending to be catchy and nice.


It's weird cos it's far from my favourite song on OK Computer (Lucky ftw) and you don't really realise how sad it is until you really think about it.

Debussy, Claire de Lune http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=d_6AdmlBBBI&feature=related

reminds me of a lost love and the good times we had before it ended

delbertgrady

Chris Bell: I Am the Cosmos

Especially when the guitar solo kicks in.

jossnjuice

if is should fall behind- bruce springsteen

when he does this live and all the mebers of the E street band take line of vocals it is truely spine chilling and pure emotion

cry to heaven - meatloaf

these days- bon jovi

if only in my dreams- bon jovi, with tico torres on lead vocals- unbelievable voice, gravle, puts magowan to shame.

gscully

For me...Bobby Goldsboro - Honey

Deedsie

Midnight Express by The Sawdoctors.

If you are ever homesick this is the saddest song for alot of Irish people to hear.

Agree with most of the above, dont think to many would know that one though.

Boo-yah

Not the saddest song I've ever heard no doubt but the most recent song in memory -> The Hold Steady: Lord I'm discouraged

Best song from their last (brilliant) album "Stay Positive" deals with a guy who is praying because he's afraid he will lose his girlfriend/girl who is a friend to drug addiction. The last verse is particularly affecting:

"Lord, I’m sorry to question your wisdom, but my faith has been waverin’. Won’t you show me a sign, let me know that you’re listening? Excuses and half-truths and fortified wine. Excuses and half-truths and fortified wine. Excuses and half-truths and fortified wine. I know it’s unlikely she’ll ever be mine, so I mostly just pray she don’t die. "

Also love this verse

"I know I’m no angel…I ain’t been bad, that way. Can’t you hear her? She’s that sweet, missing songbird, when the choir sings on Sunday. And I’m almost busted, but I bought back the jewelry she sold. And I come to your altar, but then there’s just nothing"

boredatwork82

Puff the magic Dragon

keane2097

boredatwork82 wrote: »

Puff the magic Dragon

Fcukin right

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, jackie paper came no more
And puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.

His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, puff could not be brave,
So puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave. oh!

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee.

Gutting.

RandolphEsq

boredatwork82 wrote: »

Puff the magic Dragon

Who would have thought it wasn't about a dragon

Bright Eyes - Amy in the White Coat. Rememberance of being a teen :rolleyes: *sigh*

chalad07

I think the Queen song 'Who wants to live forever?' is particularly sad. Given that Freddy used to sing it after he had been diagnosed with AIDS,

Maybe the song is not that sad, but that context def is,

Deadzone

End of a Holiday - Fairport Convention, short instrumental that actualy puts you in the car on the way home.

partyguinness

"Famous Blue Raincoat"- Leonard Cohen

TBH its more the feelings of isolation than sad that does it for me.

The entire album is haunting.

"Moonlight Sonata" by Beethovan is another contender.

Amazotheamazing

swingking wrote: »

Tom Waits- Grapefruit Moon

Agree, amazing song.

Amazotheamazing

Boo-yah wrote: »

Not the saddest song I've ever heard no doubt but the most recent song in memory -> The Hold Steady: Lord I'm discouraged

Best song from their last (brilliant) album "Stay Positive" deals with a guy who is praying because he's afraid he will lose his girlfriend/girl who is a friend to drug addiction. The last verse is particularly affecting:

"Lord, I’m sorry to question your wisdom, but my faith has been waverin’. Won’t you show me a sign, let me know that you’re listening? Excuses and half-truths and fortified wine. Excuses and half-truths and fortified wine. Excuses and half-truths and fortified wine. I know it’s unlikely she’ll ever be mine, so I mostly just pray she don’t die. "

Also love this verse

"I know I’m no angel…I ain’t been bad, that way. Can’t you hear her? She’s that sweet, missing songbird, when the choir sings on Sunday. And I’m almost busted, but I bought back the jewelry she sold. And I come to your altar, but then there’s just nothing"

Great song alright, the album is patchy though. There's a strong undercurrent of sadness and hopelessness all through the album, Magazines and Joke about Jamaica work pretty well.

In relation to "Lord, I'm Discouraged" though, it's clear he's not with her, he's the guy who has to watch her **** herself up. "she keeps insisting that sutures and bruises are none of my business" is a great, depressing, line.

stupidusername

For me it's not the lyrics of a song that make it sad, i know this sounds odd. It's more the sound of it. Like Snow Patrol I think is really sad, makes me cry every time i hear it, and i don't even know why, you know? I don't even know if the lyrics are sad, it just sounds sad

Edit: OOOPs i meant Snow Patrols Chasing Cars ... doi!

fcleere

audioslave: shadow on the sun and/or like a stone!