What's the saddest song you've ever heard

Kittys_Back

bruce springsteen - the river

mle1324

knocken on heavens door,particularly in leathal weapon 2 when you think riggs is going to die

KnifeWRENCH

"Comfort In Sound" by Feeder always makes me feel a bit down. It's a great song but really sad.

Smashing Pumpkins "For Martha" deserves a mention too.

AntoSRFC

A lot i would have said already mentioned. THe likes of Damien Rice/ Radiohead ect.

This is up there .
Nina Simone- Strang Fruit (Well worth the listen)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_BMZmp9Puc

And

The Ramones- The KKK Took My Baby Away
Nothing sader than an abduction by a radical right winged group.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-4EZyPIsSY

MooseJam

Adagio for Strings

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI

Joy Division - Decades
Elbow - The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver
Ministry - The Fall <-- 'Depressing' more than a 'sad song'

osnola ibax

Nick Cave / Johnny Cash - the mercy seat "and anyway I told the truth but I'm afraid I told a lie", holy powerfulness batman

Loomis

Galilea Poor Sunlight wrote: »

hmm alot of Bonnie prince billys stuff . 'I See A Darkness' is an extremely moving song, he sounds like he could burst into tears at any moment singing it.

zudo wrote: »

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - 'I See A Darkness'

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

And no, Johnny Cash did not write this song.

This is the original from Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, from the album also titled 'I See a Darkness', which is simply one of the best albums of the last 20 years.

This.
The song is wonderfully melancholy and has some great lyrics. It's appropriately the theme song to the program on RTE I See a Darkness which deals with the effect of suicide on families.

Well, you're my friend, (that's what you told me)
And can you see (what's inside of me)
Many times we've been out drinking
And many times we've shared our thoughts
But did you ever, ever notice, the kind of thoughts I got
Well you know I have a love, a love for everyone I know
And you know I have a drive to live I won't let go
But can you see it's opposition, comes arising up sometimes
That it's dreadful antiposition, comes blacking in my mind

And then I see a darkness
And then I see a darkness
And then I see a darkness
And then I see a darkness
And did you know how much I love you
Is a hope that somehow you, you
Can save me from this darkness

Well I hope that someday buddy
We have peace in our lives
Together or apart
Alone or with our wives
And we can stop our whoring
And pull the smiles inside
And light it up forever
And never go to sleep
My best unbeaten brother
This isn't all I see

Oh no, I see a darkness
Oh no, I see a darkness
Oh no, I see a darkness
Oh no, I see a darkness
And did you know how much I love you
Is a hope that somehow you, you
Can save me from this darkness

ntlbell

keane2097 wrote: »

Dude seriously, Sting is the most pretentious man in the history of music...

If you could f*ck for as long as he can you would be too...;)

The Verve - The Drugs Don't Work

RGDATA!

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

there follows 10 pages of lists of songs without reasons....

thalia_13

Here is my sad songs

Honey - Bobby Goldsboro - its my parents 'song', always makes me feel emotional, and when i was living abroad, made me so sad when i heard it, coz I missed them so much

Anachie Gordon - Mary Black, this was mentioned earlier and I am glad as thought I was going mad, anyone I ask say they never heard of it. Its so sad, lyrics are about love, and its heartbreaking, (I think). Havent heard it in years may not have same effect now as it did in youger years

Asleep - The Smiths - song is just phenomenal, the emotion in it and music, god it sets me off everytime. I love Morrissey, and alot of his songs make me sad

Please please please let me get what I want - The Smiths. Love this song, it makes you feel so overwhelmed, especially if you are in a situation where it feels like nothing is going your way. I also like the Deftones version of it, its very good

Flightless Bird, american Mouth - Iron and Wine - lyrics seem a bit strange but overall the song is so beautiful, slightly tarnished now by the fact lots of 'twilight' fans think its the prom song with bella and edward...

I will follow you into the dark - Deathcab for cutie

Pictures of you - the cure

Landslide - Fleetwood Mac/Smashing Pumpkins version - both make me sad

Jeff Wayne - Forever Autumn

Mike and the Mechanics - The living years - my dad loves this song as he never really knew his own dad as he died young. I always get sad when I hear this song because I think of my dad

Bran Van 2000 - Drinking in LA - its a situational song, brings me back to the day i got my LC results, so of course I am gonna be sad Im not 17 anymore

right thats me..

The Pontiac

RGDATA! wrote: »

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

there follows 10 pages of lists of songs without reasons....

Reason=because it sounds sad.

dioltas

Did anyone metion Man of the World - Fleetwood Mac?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRwFRCFTgSA

The Verve the drugs don't work or history maybe, radiohead would definitely have a few candidates! Can't really think of any others.

Kate Bush - Cloudbusting is kinda sad.

cHaTbOx

Somewhere over the rainbow

My sister sang it to my nan every morning for the three months while she was suffering from terminal cancer. Then at the funeral , can't help but cry when it comes on.

D.R Adams

Ok, heres a few:

Gilbert O'Sullivan - Alone Again(Naturally)- cant believe it hasnt been mentioned yet, without doubt one of the saddest songs you'l hear!

Ryan Adams - How Do You Keep Love Alive - a beautiful song about his love for a girl who has broke up with him.

Neil Young - The Needle And The Damage Done - speaks for itself really.

thescruff

JerryHandbag wrote: »

Neil Young - Philadelphia

thought it was brucey but maybe there's another.....

D.R Adams

thescruff wrote: »

thought it was brucey but maybe there's another.....

Maybe he/she means Ohio by Neil Young, the song he wrote about the killing of 3 american students in Kent State University Ohio.

Elliemental

When I was in my early - mid teens (many years ago now), I had two main passions; making mix tapes, and Suede (doubt many people even remember them!).

Anyway, I was home about two years ago as my mother had just died, and while i was sorting through some old stuff, i'd found an old mix tape. One of tracks on it was The Next Life by Suede, and i'd not heard that song in years. It was, in that context, the saddest song i'd ever heard.

KnifeWRENCH

People might scoff at me for saying this because she's a 'pop star' , but I think "All Good Things" by Nelly Furtado is very possibly the saddest song I've ever heard.

I guess it's because there's no real sadness or anger: it's just so full of numbness and apathy that misery would almost be preferable.

I want to pull away when the dream dies
Pain sets in and I don't cry
I only feel gravity and I wonder why

Even the catchy chorus seems really depressing to me

Flames to dust, lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end?

Love is destructive like a flame, friendship is worthless as dust.

The last verse pretty much speaks for itself: everything in the world is going wrong and the only thing to look forward to is the end.

And the sun was wondering if it should
Stay away for a day til the feeling went away
And the sky was falling and the clouds were dropping
And the rain forgot how to bring salvation
The dogs were barking at the new moon
Whistling a new tune
Hoping it would come soon
So that they could die

madfortrad

Has to be "Lighthouse Tale" by Nickel Creek, it actually made me cry when I first heard it, the story behind it is really sad.

Wucking Fanker

D.R Adams wrote: »

Maybe he/she means Ohio by Neil Young, the song he wrote about the killing of 3 american students in Kent State University Ohio.

Neil Young did write a song named 'Philadelphia' for the same film. The Boss's one was 'Streets of Philadelphia.

Young's is very haunting and played after your man's death in the flick, very sad.

Edit: I see Clapton's Tears in Heaven getting mentioned a fair bit - 'River of Tears' is another good one.

PaythePiper

I see a darkness....Bonnie Prince Billy

Mac Masters

Creed - My Sacrafice

pauline fayne

Quite a few songs make me cry but the main ones are :
Anachie Gordon -Mary Black
Ghost - Indigo Girls
The Grave -Don Mc Clean
Three Flights up -Don Mc Clean
and anything by Al Jolson because my father loved his music .He died when I was ten
but 44 years later Any Al Jolson song that comes on the radio I'm crying again..

Julesie

Antony and the Johnsons - I Hope There's Someone.

This song always gets me. It has a somewhat other worldly sound to it plus the lyrical content is pretty bleak too.

Hope there's someone
Who'll set my heart free
Nice to hold when I'm tired

There's a ghost on the horizon
When I go to bed
How can I fall asleep at night
How will I rest my head

Oh I'm scared of the middle place
Between light and nowhere
I don't want to be the one
Left in there, left in there

Dr Gradus

Lacrimosa from Mozarts requiem

Eva by Nightwish

Samson by Regina Spektor

Born yesterday by Rob Dougan

Kid V

Cat Power 'Sea of Love'

Radiohead 'Pyramid Song'

2 beautifully sad songs

Mr.Nice Guy

Surprised no one mentioned La Ritournelle by Sebastien Tellier. Love the instrumental sound. You need to listen to the full version of it though...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu1fTcGdS8A

kwalshe

Daddy's Little Girl by Ray Sawyer (the guy with the patch from Dr. Hook) I'm off for some tears and snots........:(:(:(:(:(

mountain

for many people, billy bragg may not come up to mind for a sad song,
but "tank park salute" breaks my heart when i hear it, written appearently for his own father,

Kiss me goodnight and say my prayers
Leave the light on at the top of the stairs
Tell me the names of the stars up in the sky
A tree taps on the window pane
That feeling smothers me again
Daddy is it true that we all have to die

At the top of the stairs
Is darkness

I closed my eyes and when I looked
Your name was in the memorial book
and what had become of all the things we planned
I accepted the commiserations
Of all your friends and your relations
But there's some things I still don't understand

You were so tall
How could you fall?

Some photographs of a summer's day
A little boy's lifetime away
Is all I've left of everything we've done
Like a pale moon in a sunny sky
Death gazes down as I pass by
To remind me that I'm but my father's son

I offer up to you
This tribute
I offer up to you
This tank park salute