@Chantelle:
Manly kind of sadness? I smell an Edward Keenan spinoff blog post!
So far, "Saddest music in the world" (Walrus online) has omitted Amy Winehouse's devastating lyric from the title track to her "Back to Black" CD. The lyrics to the chorus of "Back to Black" are:
We only said goodbye in words / I died a hundred times / Then you go back to her / And I go back to black.
I would have liked to see the Counting Crows, either Round Here or Colorblind on this list.
I love Billie Holiday, but how does she make the cut given the criteria of no "groups or artists whose default emotion is sadness"?
I don't know if anti-war songs count, but if they do I'd nominate The Pogues version of 'And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda'. Just hearing the music makes me choke up.
Cat's in the Cradle, by Harry Chapin. The sadness of feeling a profound regret after it's too late to do anything about it is among the worst sadnesses of all.
I've long since retired and my son's moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind."
He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu,
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad.
It's been sure nice talking to you."
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,
He'd grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.
My top 10-
These Days- Jackson Browne or Nico
I Wish It Would Rain- The Temptations
In My Room- The Beach Boys
Casimir Pulaski Day- Sufjan Stevens
I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You- Colin Hay
Runaway Train- Soul Asylum
Tears In Heaven- Eric Clapton
Mercy Mercy Me- Marvin Gaye
King's Crossing- Elliott Smith
The Boxer- Simon & Garfunkel
Some more sad songs:
Wait - Sarah McLaughlin
Lost Soul - Bruce Hornsby
Hush, Hush, Hush - Herbie Hancock & Annie Lenox
The Scientist - Coldplay
Box of Rain - The Grateful Dead
Hello Young Lovers (from The King & I)
The music of Ralph Vaughan Williams
...and almost any song with "rain" in it.
top 10 saddest songs ever written
Elliott Smith is the definition of depression
1. The Biggest Lie by Elliott Smith
2. Another Lonely Day by Ben Harper
3. Between the Bars by Elliott Smith
4. Fast Car by Tracy Chapman
5. Mad World by Gary Jules
6. Pink Moon by Nick Drake
7. Brick by Ben Folds
8. Single File by Elliott Smith
9. Stickman by Elliott Smith
10. Not Half Right by Heatmiser or Elliott Smith
How about a couple late entries?
Matthew Sweet's "Don't Go":
"There is so much I have left to say
Come back! You know I wrote another song
They keep telling me the past is gone
But it looks like
My evil deeds are coming 'round
I can't watch them put you in the ground
Oh don't go"
Smashing Pumpkins' "Crestfallen"
"And all I ask you
Is for another chance
Another way around you
To live by circumstance, once again"
Joseph Arthur's "Invisible Hands"
"There are things we cannot know
Invisible hands which guide the show from up above
And sometimes you are forced to go
Far away and shut the door
On the one you love
Well I don't know now where you are
Your photograph sits like a scar against my wall
Such a pretty face
The sunshine in your eyes
Taken on that day
When all we had was love"
the scientist is the saddest song ever. in the movie, wicker park, it makes you have goosebumps. the movies good but with that song it made the movie's finale FANTASTICCCC!! you haveee to download this song. it has meaning.
remember the scientist by coldplay <3 :)
Good Woman - Cat Power
3 Libras - A Perfect Circle
Society - Eddie Vedder (Into the Wild)
My Skin - Natalie Merchant
A Sorta Fairytale - Tori Amos
Here's my take on the sad song list:
http://zen-denizen.blogspot.com/2008/11/suicide-watch-list.html
some of the saddest songs I know are:
Hello-Evanescence
Angel-Sarah Mclachlin
Coma White-Marilyn Manson
Everything Burns-Ben moody feat. anastacia
Cancer-My chemica Romance
I don't love you-My chemical romance
Man, country is the master of depressing, why isn't there more on here????Heres my list of sad songs, country on the end....
Say It to Me Now - Glen Hansard
How's It Gonna Be - Third Eye Blind
Big Yellow Taxi - Counting Crows
Adrian - Jewel
Angels Among Us - Alabama
What If She's An Angel - Tommy Shane Sneider
Just a Dream - Carrie Underwood
You Can Let Go Now - Crystal Shawanda
Stupid Boy - Keith Urban
Concrete Angel - Martina McBride
Whiskey Lullaby - Brad Paisley
Moments - Emerson Drive
some of my favorite sad songs are:
My Immortal - Evanescence
Does Anybody Hear Her - Casting Crowns
Family Portrait - Pink
The Reason - Hoobastank
Soulmate - Natasha Bedingfield
Surrender - Billy Talent
Teardrops on my Guitar - Taylor Swift
Who Knew - Pink
and several others I can't think of...
Almost Lover - A Fine Frenzy
This one means a lot to me. I can relate to every lyric in the song. The opening piano is hauntingly beautiful and makes me cry every time.
"...the sweetest sadness in your eyes, clever trick...."
Some other super sad ones:
Champagne High - Sister Hazel
Speedway - Counting Crows
Say Hello Wave Goodbye - David Gray
Late for the Sky - Jackson Browne
All But One - Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Already Gone - Blue Rodeo
The Promise - Tracy Chapman
Same Mistake - James Blunt
Anna Begins - Counting Crows (This one might not be sad to everyone, but it breaks my heart even more than it is already broken.)
Think of Laura by Christopher Cross is completely sad and also very beautiful. His voice is the perfect tenor for this kind of song and its somewhat haunting. Written for a friend who was killed by a stray bullet, driving in her car. He writes, 'Think of Laura, but Laugh, don't cry, I know she'd want it that way'.
This is my list....makes me cry like the end of the world everytime. http://www.playlist.com/playlist/2287617803
You may miss much by limiting yourself to too recent a period. May I suggest a few older items?
* "Lili Marlene" by Marlene Dietrich (brave cheerfulness in the face of despair).
* "Hey, That's No Way to Say Good-Bye" by Leonard Cohen. Judy Collins covered it. Try not to cry!
* "I Am...I Said" by Neil Diamond.
* "Willie Boy" by Seldom Scene (neo-bluegrass).
* "Everything I Own" by Bread.
* "Ballad of Spider John" by Willis Alan Ramsey. (Hard to find.)
* "Spanish Johnny" by David Bromberg.
* "Don't Let Your Good-Bye Stand" by Honk.
* "Goin' Nowhere Blues" by Robert Earl Keen.
* "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" traditional; try to find Ralph Hunter Chorale version.
the saddest songs i ever heard are
1- a walk to remember-only hope
2- damien-rice-9-crimes
3- sorry seems to be the hardest word
"Sweet Song" - Blur
"No Distance Left To Run" - Blur
"Out Of Time" - Blur
"To The End" - Blur
"Tender" - Blur
"Dying Isn't Easy" - Damon Albarn
"I Go To Sleep" - The Kinks
"Someone Else, Not Me" - Duran Duran
"Starting To Remember" - Duran Duran
Dear Mr Jesus by Powerhouse
Hurt by Johnny Cash— I personally don't like the Nine Inch Nails version
Running up that Hill by Placebo
I've seen a lot of repeats on lists. Or you see where someone is stuck on a certain band like blur. Here are some personal sad songs for me.
What hurts the most, Rascal Flatts
Don't cry, Guns and Roses
every rose has it's thorn, Poison
Into the west, Annie Lennox
The Outlaw torn, Metallica
Shadow of the day, Linkin Park
Colder weather, Zack Brown
Say hello to heaven, Temple of the Dog
Kristy are you doing okay, The Offspring
Drops of jupiter, train
Wake me up when september ends, Greenday
He calls home, candlebox
Someone like you, Adele
No Rain, Blind Melon
Outside, stained
Pretty Maids all in a row, Eagles
Purple Rain, Prince
Stricken, Disturbed
you'll think of me, Keith Urban
And last but not least CNR by Weird Al
I'm sure there are many more, but it seems that these get passed over a lot.
Can't believe nobody else thought of 'Bright Eyes' by Mike Batt. A haunting meditation on the transition from life to death made devastating by Art Garfunkel's transcendent vocals and the tearjerking orchestral arrangement. That oboe gets me going everytime. And the message is a great one.
