Please offer better suggestions in the comments.
My personal sad, sad song -- the song I used to play when I was already sad and wanted an accompanying soundtrack for my sorrows -- is: "Fool To Cry."
UPDATE: On a nonpersonal level, I should think "Gloomy Sunday" would take first place, given its reputation for inspiring suicide.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Lots of great suggestions in the comments. Go in and add some! I thought of a long -- really long -- story song that gets me: "El Paso." I remember hearing the Grateful Dead do it, and recently I heard the brilliantly sung Marty Robbins version on the radio. Here's the cowboy's terrible end:
Something is dreadfully wrong, for I feel
A deep burning pain in my side
Though I am trying to stay in the saddle
I'm getting weary, unable to ride
But my love for Felina is strong and I rise where I've fallen
Though I am weary, I can't stop to rest
I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle
I feel the bullet go deep in my chest
From out of nowhere Felina has found me
Kissing my cheek as she kneels by my side
Cradled by two loving arms that I'll die for
One little kiss, then Felina good-bye.
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27 comments:
My vote would be for anything sad not on that horrific Guardian list. (Those songs -- many of them-- are sad for all the wrong reasons).
Top picks:
Sunday Morning Coming Down written by Kris Kristofferson and sung perfectly by Johnny Cash (and not so bad by Kris either)
Also: "The Shadow of Your Smile" most versions, but I like Sinatra's best (Live at the Sands)
"The Drowning Man" by U2 (War album) at least when I was in high school I thought so.
Anything off of Springsteen's "Nebraska" is sad -- or at least depressing...
And how could I forget "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division ca. 1981?
"It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference" or "Lucky Guy" by Todd Rundgren
It seems like the author of the Guardian list was trying to pick the worst and most over the top sad songs: all drama and no soul. (Although I do quite like Bruce's "The River" for its minor chord melancholy.)
My choices would be:
"Save Me" by Aimee Mann, who used to sing in a band called Til Tuesday. Her music permeates the brilliant film Magnolia (and not to be confused with Steel Magnolias). "Come on and save me...from the ranks of the freaks," she begs.
My second choice would be Keith Urban's "You'll Think of Me", where he wakes up early at 4 A.M thinking of his woman who left him for another guy. "Take your cat and leave my sweater," he says, while driving and trying to clear his head of emotions.
Finally, I would add Peter Gabriel's "Mercy Street", which is like a sonic trance. The lyrics and song itself are somewhat related to dead poet Anne Sexton, who killed herself (using the kitchen appliance method, if I recall correctly, or not, but nevertheless out-Plathing Plath).
Save Me, I agree with, or Wise Up, but actually almost all Aimee's songs are sad :)
I'm kind of an aficianado, I figured out and transcribed all her solo stuff here:
Aimee Mann Tabs
I'd rate "Just Like AnyOne" as one of her very saddest though. Or "There Must Be A Word" or "Invisible Ink"
I nominate:
"There Will Never Be Another You" (the Nat King Cole version)
"You and Me" (Frank Sinatra version)
"Long, Long Time" (Linda Ronstadt)
"Empty Chairs" (Don McLean)
"The Dance" (Garth Brooks)
I vote for George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today".
I rarely ever listen to music now, and when I do, it's not for a soundtrack to go with sadness. I haven't had the occasion to be sad for a very long time. I guess that's good.
Almost ten years ago, I was in high school, and my sad soundtrack was Talk Show Host by Radiohead.
"It Makes No Difference" by The Band.
It makes no diff'rence where I turn
I can't get over you and the flame still burns
It makes no diff'rence, night or day
The shadow never seems to fade away ...
It makes no diff'rence how far I go
Like a scar the hurt will always show
It makes no diff'rence who I meet
They're just a face in the crowd
On a dead-end street
And the sun don't shine anymore
And the rains fall down on my door ...
Of the songs on the list, the only one I both knew and thought worthy was "Brick", by Ben Folds Five.
George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today" is a great suggestion. The voice delivery by Jones is simply perfect...
I think "Living Years" becomes too focused on a positive message later in the song to be one of the best sad songs ever...
There's one song that after more than 30 years still brings a tear to my eye. It's the theme from "The Legend of Billy Jack"
One Tin Soldier
Of course back then I was a soldier.
When it comes to sad songs, my favorite is "For No One." The combination of McCartney's lyrics, haunting melody, and the arrangement lay me out almost every time I hear it...and I listened to it again this past week.
It's especially poignant when he sings the last verse:
You stay home, she goes out
She says that long ago she knew someone but now he's gone
She doesn't need him
Your day breaks, your mind aches
There will be time when all the things she said will fil your head
You won't forget her
Who hasn't been there or at least been in love enough to imagine being there?
A second really sad song that I like is James Taylor's 'Another Grey Morning,' the lament of a housewife for whom the weight of sadness has become so great that any emotion has simply been wrung from her. This is sadness beyond sadness. Because this song is likely not well-known, here are its lyrics:
When I feel as though my love is sinking down
The sun doesn’t want to shine
When it feels like she won’t face another day
Life is unkind
She’s frozen in time
Here comes another grey morning
A not so good morning after all
She says "Well, what am I to do today
With too much time and so much sorrow"
She hears the baby waking up downstairs
She hears the foghorn calling out across the sound
Repetition in the morning air
Is just too much to bear
And no one seems to care
If another day goes creeping by
Empty and ashamed
Like an old unwanted memory
That no one will claim
The clouds with their heads on the ground
Shes gonna have to come down
She said "Move me, move me
“I’m locked up inside"
Well, I didn’t understand her
Though God knows I tried
She said "Make me angry
“But just make me cry
“But no more grey morning
“I think Id rather die"
MarK: "For No One" is a great choice.
Abraham: Those three categories are very useful. When I was reading the list at the link, it irked me that everything was sad by lyrics, not by the melody and instrumentation or the particular performance. My personal choice, "Fool to Cry," is sad to me for all three of your reasons.
A lot of movie soundtracks, not really songs, are sad in the second and third way. Two movies that I've seen before but that, if I watch again, I'll cry as soon as I hear the soundtrack begin are "Wuthering Heights" and "Limelight."
A song I think is trash but will make me cry because of a funeral is "Wind Beneath My Wings."
He may have been a teen idol, but "Lonesome Town" by Rick Nelson was anything but happy-go-lucky or bubble-gum. I've always thought it was the one of the saddest songs ever made, lyrically and musically and even sadder by association, given the circumstances of his death.
Outlier: That reminds me that "Heartbreak Hotel" should be on the list.
MarK: another sad Taylor one is "Millworker", from an aborted Broadway show he worked on. I believe its on "Daddy Loves His Work".
I'm surprised no one mentioned Michael Martin Murphey's "Wildfire". That one messed with me as a kid and it still gets me a little misty.
Shawn Colvin's entire album "A Few Small Repairs" does it for me when I'm looking to embrace the darkness for a bit, especially the tracks "If I Were Brave" and "Suicide Alley".
Sarah McLachlan's "Good Enough".
Lisa Loeb's "Furious Rose".
"Bridge Over Troubled Water" is now the pre-eminent funeral association for me, as it was the first track played at my mother's memorial this past February.
Marty freakin' Robbins! Brilliant! His version of "The Streets of Laredo" would make Mt. Rushmore cry. There is also an old song by a country singer named Jim Reeves about a guy who almost gets home in a blizzard, but ends up a few yards short.... Can't remember the title, but sad.
Amazing what comes from being force fed Hee-Haw as a youngster at Granny's house.
The John Cale version of Heartbreak Hotel is way more depressing than the Elvis one.
My personal vote for most depressing song of all time is I Am An Animal by Pete Townshend:
http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/pete_townshend/i_am_an_animal.html
But Candidate by Joy Division runs it a close second:
http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/joy_division/candidate.html
A lot of songs have depressing lyrics set to upbeat music or vice versa, but those two are depressing on both counts.
Late to this story, but had to comment...
Have you heard "Beloved Wife" by Natalie Merchant? All about a man who just lost his wife of 50 years reminiscing and wondering how he's going to go on.
"my beloved wife
my love is gone she suffered long
in hours of pain
my love is gone
now my suffering begins
my love is gone
would it be wrong if I should
surrender all the joy in my life
go with her tonight? "
And with Merchant's powerfully mournful vocals and the delicate piano chords and guitar, it meets at least 2 of Abaraham's categories, and the third in certain situations.
"Puff, The Magic Dragon" would get my vote. Perhaps it was one too many family road trips in the 70s listening to Peter, Paul, and Mary on the 8-track, but there's something about the little boy growing up and leaving his loyal, but imaginary, playmate behind that still gets me. If the dragon ceased to be when that happened, no problem; that the dragon lives on in exile, separated from his boy, is too sad:
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.
My vote would be Hank Williams Sr--I'm not sure which song, though.
Probably "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," but "Nobody Lonesome for Me" woudl be a close second.
The other commenters' suggestions are far better than the Guardian's. Oddly, this does not come as much of a surprise! For what it's worth, here's another suggestion: "I Will Always Love You" (multiple versions). But for me, for very personal reasons, it's Dire Straits' "Tunnel of Love".
Oh my top have to go with Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven and the new music Diamond Rio's "One More Day".
And then yes, the hat's off to McCartney's "For No One". That one went on too many times during my high school years.
Oh and someone needs to tell them Comfortably Numb is soooo not depressing. It rocks and is appropriate when you want to mellow out!
Someone mentioned Shawn Colvin: "Monopoly" is another one of her very sad songs (about a break-up, of course)
Sad country music story song that brought a tear to my eye when I first heard it in the car (but really, it's a redemption song): Randy Travis, 3 Wooden Crosses.
"Three Wooden Crosses" is reminiscent of the old country classics from the '60s and '70s. There was one small glitch, however. "People started coming up to us and saying, 'What happened to the bus driver?' We hadn't really thought about that," said songwriter Doug Johnson laughs. "So we just started telling people that Jesus was the bus driver."
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