View Full Version : Saddest Songs of All Time
Let's hear your nominees. I'll put a few out there:
Hurt (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22eIJDtKho) (any version is equally affecting; here's a duet with Bowie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCMLwbdSrTY), here's Kermit (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57ta7mkgrOU))
Why it's the saddest song: "What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end ..."
Strike against it: Reznor got rich, famous and happy with music like this. Kinda undercuts the whole premise of Emo misery.
The Only Answer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKENRAkYhOo) (ignore the video, just listen to the music)
Why it's the saddest song: "Five years in the wrong I am assured, my name to you is just another word." Great zinger for a lost love, you gotta admit. We've all been there.
Strike against it: Maybe a little too up-tempo to be the bummer music of all time.
The Ballad of Hollis Brown (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWnLV1DBZMo)
Why it's the saddest song: Well, it does describe a seven-person murder/suicide from the most sympathetic possible perspective. Points for weirdness at least.
Strike against it: Maybe too horrifying to be strictly sad.
Rollin' By (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_V5ltfJMas)
Why it's the saddest song: The death of an entire town: "Me I stand here at the last filling station, while the wind moans a dirge to a coyote's cry."
Strike against it: How sad are we supposed to get about the passing of a community?
I could go on, but I'll stop there for now. So far I think I'd have to give the title to Hollis Brown (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWnLV1DBZMo), even if it is a little bit grotesque.
Hooahguy
07-10-2009, 04:19
ok, people will hate me for it, but id say, as the saddest song that i listen to, is The Outlaw Torn, by Metallica. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoQHRyh03_8&feature=related)
now, there are many ways to interpret the song. i think that its talking about a man who years for his love but then finds out that she left him.
thats just what i think.
i also like Second Chance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAcwdrIG6yw), by Shinedown
pevergreen
07-10-2009, 05:13
Get out of myspace - pure pwnage
CountArach
07-10-2009, 05:43
Pretty much anything by Anberlin. That stuff depresses me... Yet I'm going to go and see them next month...
I really dig that cover by Dolbro Dan, I don't really like Bob Dylan at all, but that cover made me like the song now.
Louis VI the Fat
07-10-2009, 05:53
Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen.
Why it's the saddest song:
Ballads are never sad. Songs need tension, ambiguity. The pumping drums, that keyboard melody, the vocals shouted at the top of his lungs both perfectly capture the theme of the lyrics and contrast with them. The nuance of the lyrics are in great contradiction to the unsubtleness of the music. It is a sad song, introverted. The lone thoughts of a lone man, abandoned. The words ought to be mumbled by an embittered man, alone on his porch. Uttered by that drunk you walked past earlier that day, avoiding eyecontact.
Strike against it: Like a video of Neda, unbearable to sit out. You want to cast your eyes downwards, avoid the shame, the intrusion.
The greatness is the ambiguity with the bombastic stadium rock anthem music.
Legosoldier
07-10-2009, 06:18
Nebel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8ZlCL9pyDg), by Rammstein
Why it's the saddest song:
"The last kiss was so long ago, the last kiss, he does not remember it anymore..." The song is about the death of a loved one, and what is ironic about this is the title; when you flip it backwards, it says leben, which means life.
Strike against it:
Till Lindemann's gruff voice doesn't exactly match the mood of the song, but even then, it still sounds pretty great.
GeneralHankerchief
07-10-2009, 06:21
Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen.
Why it's the saddest song:
Ballads are never sad. Songs need tension, ambiguity. The pumping drums, that keyboard melody, the vocals shouted at the top of his lungs both perfectly capture the theme of the lyrics and contrast with them. The nuance of the lyrics are in great contradiction to the unsubtleness of the music. It is a sad song, introverted. The lone thoughts of a lone man, abandoned. The words ought to be mumbled by an embittered man, alone on his porch. Uttered by that drunk you walked past earlier that day, avoiding eyecontact.
Strike against it: Like a video of Neda, unbearable to sit out. You want to cast your eyes downwards, avoid the shame, the intrusion.
The greatness is the ambiguity with the bombastic stadium rock anthem music.
Louis, I'll see your "Born in the USA" and raise you another Springsteen song, "Jungleland". Probably my favorite song of all time, and is one of the very few songs that still gives me shivers when I listen to it.
Why it's the saddest song:
Excellent portrayal of life wasted in the 70s, and still a great depection of how street/gang life is
just so stupid even now. Great piano riff and sax solo as well.
Strike against it:
Bit lengthy, really. Also, keep in mind that this was the period of time when Springsteen was at his most bombastic, music-wise, if you're not into that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac
Why it's the saddest song:
Moving guitar work. In addition, the lyrics to a point deal with the ever-present problem of aging and looking back at everything and how it's all piled up on you at once.
Strike against it:
I suppose it's not sad so much as melancholy and reflective.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"American Pie" by Don McLean
Why it's the saddest song:
Yeah, I know, that one. But my interpretation of the song is McLean's viewing of the 60s as an outsider; watching as everything he holds to dear to him crashes and burns (in some cases, literally) in the madness that was the later part of the decade. The final verse is just apocalyptic.
Strike against it:
Despite the overall theme of the song, parts of it are pretty up-tempo. In addition, it loses points in the same way that "Hurt" did - the song is now a staple of classic-rock radio, sharing airtime with the same artists that killed the good ol' days. -edit- Also, for some inexplicable reason, Madonna did a cover version of this that was so abysmal it detracted from the power of the original. Weird Al's version didn't help either, but at least that was funny.
Well... supposedly more than a hundred people, including the composer himself, committed suicide right after listening "Gloomy Sunday", "The Hungarian suicide song". It was banned during the thirties because of that.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WBZwLkvpFI
http://www.phespirit.info/gloomysunday/
Gloomy Sunday - the notorious 'Hungarian Suicide Song' - was written in 1933. Its melody and original lyrics were the creation of Rezső Seress, a self-taught pianist and composer born in Hungary in 1899.
The crushing hopelessness and bitter despair which characterised the two stanza penned by Seress were superseded by the more mournful, melancholic verses of Hungarian poet László Jávor.
When the song came to public attention it quickly earned its reputation as a 'suicide song'. Reports from Hungary alleged individuals had taken their lives after listening to the haunting melody, or that the lyrics had been left with their last letters.
Gloomy Sunday was banned from the playlists of major radio broadcasters around the world. The B.B.C. deemed it too depressing for the airwaves.
Wouldn't that make it the saddest of all time? :tongue:. Personally I find, 'sad', Auf Asche by Franz Ferdinand. I also love Moonlight Sonata, which is melancholinc in it's own way.
PS: Sorry for any messiness with my post. I had to do all the coding manually... Remind me to change my posting window options. Oh and sorry for not using the format hehehe I'm in a hurry right now.
LeftEyeNine
07-10-2009, 08:37
Probably there are dozens I'll be able to recommend however momentarily one pops up.
Goran Bregovic - Aven Ivenda (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXqAtn8CHfQ)
It has such an embracing atmosphere that I remember my little brother as numb as dead, lying on the carpet as I started to play that song.
Something in the way - Nirvana (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWqfGKAovnQ&feature=related)?
Or
Leonard Cohen - Chelsea hotel n2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YDb1mZxQRk&feature=related)
My inner emo digs this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrTB-iiecqk&feature=fvst
This still gets me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRE0slFf4Zg
Banquo's Ghost
07-10-2009, 13:47
I fear I am about to end this debate right here. Once an Irishman enters the fray of laments, the conversation is over.
Danny Boy, as sung by the wondrous voice of Eva Cassidy. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=852gverKRPo)
Why it's the saddest song?
You need to ask? The sorrow of a nation that lost her children. The tragic loss of the songstress. It's an Irish lament.
Strike against.
None at all. If you are not weeping your heart out through this song, you surely lack poetry of the soul.
Yes, I'm aware it was written by an Englishman. :frown:
Old school country, where your wife runs off with your best friend, your truck, and your dog, and you drink yourself to death. Hank Williams (the elder), for example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hDPMJ5HJ3M
and for laughs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sETQvtGStbQ
I've been trying to think of songs that I found to be very sad.
The one I can think of that always kinda gets me, mainly because I am a hugely sentimental weenie, is Here's to the Night (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N381z-3z-F4) by Eve 6. It always drags up memories of friends, places, experiences that I know I'll never see again.
Another one that's kinds corny with somewhat of the same effect is See you when you get there (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuDU5MOE9w4) by Coolio.
The next one I can think of is the song from the final scene of Gladiator (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAV5uKO4WxI). Perhaps the visuals and backstory have something to do with it, but nevertheless I found it to be very sad and final.
The songs are somewhat "sad" by themselves, perhaps it's more of the personal twist that applies directly to me that I would associate them as opposed to them just standing alone without perspective.
"Szomorú Vasárnap" or "Gloomy Sunday"
Just listen to it. It drives you insane.
..or off a bridge/cliff
Tristuskhan
07-10-2009, 18:24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j0L57HJkm4&feature=related Ya Rayah, I saw so many strong men crying listening to that song that I got to cry too when I hear it. Song about exile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u3-XwifKGM Plac'h Landelo, we Bretons know how to do sad, sad songs about horrible events.
There are some songs by the Greek singer Loudovikos Ton Anogeion that could compete too.
Last Kiss by anyone who's ever covered it. I have to change the radio station whenever that thing comes on or I'll drive myself off a bridge just to end it.
He ain't heavy, he's my brother, by the Hollies.
They played it at my buddy's funeral years ago. He and his girlfriend were killed in a car accident and the funeral was for both of them at the same time. Some funerals are light hearted, some are some are even fun; this one was just a great big kick in the nuts. It's been years and I still can't hear that song without losing it.
Maybe it's not a sad song, really, but it's sad for me. :shame:
Hosakawa Tito
07-11-2009, 01:52
Pretty tough to top Danny Boy.
However, this song, Teach Your Children (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pphVs8bF0) , has special meaning to me. I just started my midnight shift at the jail and was relieved from my post to take an outside phonecall in the watch-commander's office. My mother called to tell me Dad had just passed away. I held up okay till on the drive home that song came on the radio. Then I cried like a baby the rest of the way....
johnhughthom
07-11-2009, 02:49
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qepn6PN8Y4
Williams Last Words by The Manic Street Preachers.
From their recent album (great by the way, first Manics album I've bought in 14 years). Though the band have denied it, it's hard to see it as anything other than a suicide note from Richey Edwards who disappeared in 1995. It's sung by Nick Wire, probably the band member closest to him, and his lack of singing ability somehow add to the song.
Samurai Waki
07-11-2009, 03:23
Lament by Arcana. Every time I listen to it, I look back on my entire life, and know that eventually that I will be unable to escape my own death.
Lord Winter
07-11-2009, 06:54
Solider of Fortune by deep purple and the other bands that have covered it. Simple and somber with beautiful mellotron. I'm not a huge fan of Coverdale's voice but the lyrics and instruments more then make up for it. Also Epitaph by King Crimson, more somber simple music, excellent vocals and the mellotron back ground all expressing cynicism and hope tied into one song. Surely the invention of the mellotron was one of the greatest in all of human history.
The New Che Guevara
07-11-2009, 09:13
I dunno why, but I feel that the spanish version of Papa Roach- Scars (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTo5_r4Iig4&feature=related) is slightly sad.
There's also Slipknot- Till We Die (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxuPEGg7JZY)
Yet the first time I heard this, it just blew me away. Feeder- Turn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny3P1pczWK4)
Banquo's Ghost
07-11-2009, 12:41
However, this song, Teach Your Children (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pphVs8bF0) , has special meaning to me. I just started my midnight shift at the jail and was relieved from my post to take an outside phonecall in the watch-commander's office. My mother called to tell me Dad had just passed away. I held up okay till on the drive home that song came on the radio. Then I cried like a baby the rest of the way....
That touched me deeply, Hosa. :bow:
I feel I should share something personal in return. "I hope you meet again (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7kYXgFs2rY&feature=related)" by the Saw Doctors evokes the heartbreak and loss of the Troubles. My priest, knowing how much I liked the band, had it played at my daughter's funeral and now it is both unbearable and strangely comforting listening to it play.
Forgive the idiot video - it's the only version I could find.
Hosakawa Tito
07-11-2009, 13:09
That touched me deeply, Hosa. :bow:
I feel I should share something personal in return. "I hope you meet again (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7kYXgFs2rY&feature=related)" by the Saw Doctors evokes the heartbreak and loss of the Troubles. My priest, knowing how much I liked the band, had it played at my daughter's funeral and now it is both unbearable and strangely comforting listening to it play.
Forgive the idiot video - it's the only version I could find.
That is a very moving folk song. While sad, it also gives one comfort and hope for the future. Thank you for sharing that and the personal story behind it. :bow: For me, music is the auditory touchstone in our lives that we use to associate with life's ups & downs.
I recall watching a tv program on Irish folk bands a while back. One of the musicians interviewed had a great insight on the tradition and evolution of their music. I don't remember the exact wording, but to paraphrase, " The victors write the history, but the vanquished write the songs."
KukriKhan
07-11-2009, 13:53
Ballad of The Green Beret (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH4-tOqLH94) - SSG Sadler & R. Moore.
Why it's the saddest song: Soldiers dying in foreign lands. Wives, mothers & gf's losing their men.
Strikes against it: It's so unabashedly patriotic that it provides fodder for much and many parodies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad_of_the_Green_Berets).
pevergreen
07-11-2009, 14:11
I just remembered the song that makes me cry every time I hear it.
You may know it as the song from that ad with the balls bouncing down the street.
The cover of heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4_4abCWw-w). The original is terribad IMO, but this cover makes me cry every time.
Ah...damnit I'm listening to it now because I got the link...and the tears start a'flowing.
edit: its probably only sad because its so very meaningful to me.
Pannonian
07-11-2009, 14:32
And the band played Waltzing Matilda (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI&feature=related)
Why it's the saddest song: "And the band played Waltzing Matilda / As the ship pulled away from the quay / And amidst all the cheers / The flag waving and tears / We sailed off for Gallipoli / ....So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed / And they shipped us back home to Australia / The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane / Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla / And as our ship pulled in to Circular Quay / I looked at the place where me legs used to be / And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me / To grieve, to mourn, and to pity / But the band played Waltzing Matilda / As they carried us down the gangway / But nobody cheered / They just stood and stared / Then they turned all their faces away
Strike against it: Some of the details weren't quite accurate, and Bogle felt it went on too long. However, there was a stunned silence, followed by standing applause when it was first performed in public.
Reverend Joe
07-11-2009, 19:00
I don't think this can top some of the songs already posted here (that Gallipoli one is pretty rough) but I'll still post "Monday, Monday" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIBItIyO5BQ) by the Mamas and the Papas to top some of the poppier songs.
Why it's the saddest song: it's probably the most depressing pop song ever; the Mamas and the Papas had a knack for mixing sad lyrics with appealing music, but this probably tops all their other efforts. It's a song about someone (the sex is never identified) whose partner breaks up with them on one of the best Mondays of their life -- so now, "whenever Monday comes, you can find me cryin' all the time..." Every freakin' Monday. Not a holiday or a month, but a day of the week -- that sucks.
Strikes against it: The fact that it sounds like a poppy love song means that quite a few people will probably miss the lyrics, or at least their meaning, which is sad becuase it beats the hell out of every Emo song ever.
Ser Clegane
07-11-2009, 20:21
Hard to tell - there are so many sad songs.
I like Johnny Cash's version of Lemur's very first suggestion.
Two songs that I think are extremely depressing are from Lou Reed's "Magic & Loss" album.
Cremation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSkjWiHTzSw) deals with the loss of a friend.
Well the coal black sea waits for me me me
The coal black sea waits forever
The waves hit the shore
Crying more more more
But the coal black sea waits forever
The tornados come up the coast they run
Hurricanes rip the sky forever
Through the weathers change
the sea remains the same
The coal black sea waits forever
There are ashes split through collective guilt
People rest at sea forever
Since they burnt you up
Collect you in a cup
For you the coal black sea has no terror
Will your ashes float like some foreign boat
or will they sink absorbed forever
Will the Atlantic Coast
have its final boast
Nothing else contained you ever
Now the coal black sea waits for me me me
The coal black sea waits forever
When I leave this joint
at some further point
The same coal black sea will it be waiting
Harry's Circumcision (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8RwGKV65P4) - an account of complete unhappiness in a person's life
Looking in the mirror Harry didn't like what he saw
The cheeks of his mother the eyes of his father
As each day crashed around him the future stood revealed
He was turning into his parents
The final disappointment
Stepping out of the shower Harry stared at himself
His hairline receding the slight overbite
He picked up the razor to begin his shaving
and thought oh I wish I was different
I wish I was stronger I wish I was thinner
I wish I didn't have this nose
These ears that stick out remind me of my father
and I don't want to be reminded at all
The final disappointment
Harry looked into the mirror thinking of Vincent Van Gogh
and with a quick swipe lopped off his nose
And happy with that he made a slice where his chin was
He's always wanted a dimple
The end of all illusion
Then peering down straight between his legs
Harry thought of the range of possibilities
A new face a new life no memories of the past
and slit his throat from ear to ear
Harry woke up with a cough the stitches made his wince
A doctor smiled at him from somewhere across the room
Son we saved your life but you'll never look the same
And when he heard that, Harry had to laugh
Although it hurt Harry had to laugh
The final disappointment
Philippus Flavius Homovallumus
07-11-2009, 21:28
I think it is indeed hard to top "Danny Boy", though it's not the only song of it's kind.
I do, however, submit this as one of the most affecting songs I have heard from my own generation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX8gcBVExxk, it has a special meaning for myself, but I defy anyone not to feel at least one heartstring plucked.
CountArach
07-12-2009, 08:38
Last Kiss by anyone who's ever covered it. I have to change the radio station whenever that thing comes on or I'll drive myself off a bridge just to end it.
Yeah that's true. I took it off my iPod at one point because I just couldn't get through teh song without feeling down.
Alexander the Pretty Good
07-14-2009, 05:01
As the Footsteps Die Out Forever (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jJE9bf1K1o) by Catch 22/Streetlight Manifesto.
Why it's the saddest song: A mother is diagnosed with cancer. She feels guilty because she's leaving her children in three weeks and won't be there to help them in life.
Strike against it: The actual music is a little too hard and fast for it to really sink in if you're not listening carefully.
Bonus: Streetlight Manifesto also has a song titled "The Saddest Song" but that's cheating. A lot of their stuff is pretty depressing masked by their ska stylings...
Crazed Rabbit
07-14-2009, 05:09
Last Kiss by anyone who's ever covered it. I have to change the radio station whenever that thing comes on or I'll drive myself off a bridge just to end it.
:shame:
Yes indeed. By Pearl Jam. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0B-hJ_gotc)
CR
I'd like to share a song which is called The Angel of the bycicle. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=facKCZhz7eE)
The song is about a person who used to help people who were poor. Once a social crisis came and some people were randomly targeted, and policeman went into a social eating place, place where people was given the only ration of food in all their day, and "Pocho", the Angel, was there and he went into the roof, insulted them and said: "Drop your weapons, here there are kids eating!". He was shot, and killed. This is why in the video they write something like "Pocho lives", "Pocho was like Che, he did not died as a brother but as a comrade(not the exact word)", "Saint Pocho of Ludueña", "There is people that can't wait.", "We must construct spring".
The only problem is that it is in Spanish, yet here are the lyrics translated:
We changed eyes, into sky
His so sweet, so clear words
We change for thunders
We changed his body, we put wings
And now we see a winged bicycle, which travels
For the corners of the quarters, for streets
For the walls of bath and jails
Drop your weapons! Here are only kids eating!
We changed faith into tears
With what book was this beast educated
With fierceness and without soul
We allow to go to an angel
And we have this shit left
That kills us without importing for him, where from we come
That we do, what we think
If we are workers, priests or doctors
Drop your weapons! Here are only kids eating!
We change good for bad
And to the angel of the bicycle we did it of canister
Happiness for crying
Neither the life nor the death give up
With cradles and crossings
I am going to cover your struggle more than with flowers
I am going to take care of your kindness more than with prayers
Drop your weapons! Here are only kids eating!
We change eyes into sky
His so sweet, so clear words
We change for thunders
We extract body, we put wings
And now we see a winged bicycle, which travels
For the corners of the quarter, for streets
For the walls of bath, and jails
Drop your weapons! Here are only kids eating!
Togakure
07-14-2009, 06:25
For me, I Will Always Love You is way up there (any version). Letting go of someone you love from the root of your Heart for their sake, and to your great loss .... so hard, so painful, so sad. It's difficult to listen to when I'm alone.
Strike Against: it's a simple pop ballad, and some might find it sappy and intellectually shallow.
Edit:
This instrumental by Jack Nietzche, from a not-particularly-well-known movie, never fails to move me to deep sadness, similar experience in the past and all that. I've posted this before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gdims_oNL4&feature=related
Strike Against: those who prefer lyrics won't be able to relate to its sadness as well. That's not an issue for me though; music is my second language.
The next one I can think of is the song from the final scene of Gladiator (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAV5uKO4WxI). Perhaps the visuals and backstory have something to do with it, but nevertheless I found it to be very sad and final.
Well, it is sung by Lisa Gerrard, who I think could make me cry just by singing the phone book. But context does have a lot to do with it. If you had never seen Gladiator, you could see it as quite an upbeat song (and indeed it even has that aspect to it in the film too - "now we are free").
A similar piece, also performed in part by Lisa Gerrard, is the Breton song Gortoz a Ran, used in quite a few contexts - including the end to Blackhawk Down. Like the Gladiator song, my perceptions are very influenced by the setting, but it does have a requiem-like quality to it and IIRC, the words reflect that. (Try to ignore the New World visuals if you want to appreciate the sadness, but I rather like them as they soften song.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFXIyb0_cVs&feature=PlayList&p=78034F4CE5FC8EEC&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=40
Strike against: so beautiful, it might just convince you that life's sadness and loss are worth enduring.
"Johnny Was (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sZRmM3hIro)" - Bob Marley & the Wailers
"Lessons In My Life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUAoQcrpTCs)" - Peter Tosh
others:
"High Tide Or Low Tide" - The Wailers ( Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer).
"Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon & Garfunkel
"I Don't Want To Fight" - Tina Turner
"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" - The Platters
"Just Don't Want to Be Lonely" - Ronnie Dyson
"Alone Again (Naturally)" - Gilbert O'Sullivan
"Disarm" - Smashing Pumpkins
"The Unforgiven" - Metallica
"Superwoman" - Karyn White
"Ocean Deep" - Cliff Richard
"Just When I Needed You Most" - Randy VanWarmer
etc...
I agree with you on Cash's cover of NIN. Cash is full of emotion.
A Change Is Gonna Come (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-NH5gA4JP8) - Sam Cooke.
Why it's the saddest song: "It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die, Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky "
Strike against it: I can't fault this one.
Live. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr5djzzeA3M) Studio. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRKqfrct070&feature=related) Rainy Night In Georgia - Brook Benton
Why it's the saddest song: "A rainy night in Georgia, a rainy night in Georgia, It seems like it's rainin' all over the world"
Strike against it: Reaches a semi-upbeat conclusion.
Prodigal
07-19-2009, 05:06
Cheating a bit as its not a song but hands down, the saddest piece of music is Barber's adagio for strings.
The saddest song I listen to of the classic breakup variety song would be Cheap Wine and Cheaper Women (http://www.mp3raid.com/search/download-mp3/1871823/cheap_wine_cheaper_women_airbourne.html) by Airbourne.(let me know if the link wont work)
Bloke gets kicked out on the street by his girlfriend and then turns to goon and cheap hookers. He gets really into it and its believable that he's really worked up about losing his girl.
Strikes against - At one point it seems that he's more emotional that his bottle is almost empty :laugh4:
The sadest song hands down is Rip Rip Woodchip by John Williamson. I cant find anywhere to listen to it appart from 30s clips so I'll just put up the lyrics.
What am I gonna do - what about the future?
Gotta draw the line without delay
Why shouldn't I get emotional - the bush is sacred
Ancient life will fade away
Over the hill they go, killing another mountain
Gotta fill the quota - can't go slow
Huge machinery wiping out the scenery
One big swipe like a shearer's blow
Rip rip woodchip - turn it into paper
Throw it in the bin, no news today
Nightmare, dreaming - can't you hear the screaming?
Chainsaw, eyesore - more decay
Remember the axemen knew their timber
Cared about the way they brought it down
Crosscut, blackbutt, tallowood and cedar
Build another bungalow - pioneer town
I am the bush and I am koala
We are one - go hand in hand
I am the bush like Banjo and Henry
It's in my blood - gonna make a stand
Rip rip woodchip - turn it into paper
Throw it in the bin, no news today
Nightmare, dreaming - can't you hear the screaming?
Chainsaw, eyesore - more decay
Rip rip woodchip - turn it into paper
Throw it in the bin - don't understand
Nightmare, dreaming - can't you hear the screaming?
Stirs my blood - gonna make a standIt's not quite the same just reading the lyrics, when he sings it he adds something extra to it.
Strikes against - It's about Australia so I'm guessing a lot of people are going to just shrug and say "who cares?"
EDIT Rip Rip Woodchip was the first that came to mind, but going back through my music collection I realise that there are a whole bunch of Johnny Williamson's songs that bring me to the brink to tears. The only artist that does. His songs actually mean something unlike those silly love songs.
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