what is the saddest song you know?

[Mr. Heartbreak]

Phil Ochs-"No More Songs"

-Robert.

Yes indeed, my fellow Phil fan.

I would also add "Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore?" and "I've Had Her" to that list.

[Synthesizer Patel]

anything by Judee Sill

 

you think? i find pretty much everything she wrote very uplifting.

[What Light?]

Wildworld...............Cat Stevens

[Dr. Steve Brule]

Without You - Nilsson

[squarewave]

That song "wild fire" made me cry as a little kid...

 

I think its about a horse that dies...

 

EDIT: found the lyrics... It's a pony!! (sad)

 

The band is America, and likely the first time to be mentioned on this board.

Mind you, when I was a kid in the 70s, we only had AM radios in our family car, and this is the shit thney played on AM radio.

 

She comes down from Yellow Mountain

On a dark, flat land she rides

On a pony she named Wildfire

With a whirlwind by her side

On a cold Nebraska night

 

Oh, they say she died one winter

When there came a killing frost

And the pony she named Wildfire

Busted down its stall

In a blizard he was lost

 

Chorus

She ran calling Wildfire

She ran calling Wildfire

She ran calling Wildfire

 

By the dark of the moon - I planted

But there came an early snow

There's been a hoot-owl howling by my window now

For six nights in a row

She's coming for me I know

And on Wildfire we're both gonna go

 

We'll be riding Wildfire

We'll be riding Wildfire

We'll be riding Wildfire

 

On Wildfire we're gonna ride

Gonna leave sodbustin' behind

Get these hard times right on out of our minds

Riding Wildffire

[isadorah]

"it's all over now, baby blue" bob dylan (the 1966 royal Albert hall concert version)

 

 

i also find the entire time out of mind album to be quite depressing.

someday i'm going to put a mix together "bob dylan's most depressing tunes."

[What Light?]

Sometimes When We Touch..................Dan Hill

[stooka]

That song "wild fire" made me cry as a little kid...

 

I think its about a horse that dies...

 

EDIT: found the lyrics... It's a pony!! (sad)

 

The band is America, and likely the first time to be mentioned on this board.

Mind you, when I was a kid in the 70s, we only had AM radios in our family car, and this is the shit thney played on AM radio.

 

 

I think the performer is Michael Martin Murphey and not America, unless they too recorded it. It was a huge hit for MMM in 1975.

 

Oh, and my pick.............................Neil Young - It's a Dream

[radiokills]

something by the national.

[squarewave]

I think the performer is Michael Martin Murphey and not America, unless they too recorded it. It was a huge hit for MMM in 1975.

 

Well, I was 4 in 1975...

 

The credit to America came from one of the myriad lyric sites who appeared to have the lyrics of the song I remembered.

 

Either way, it still presses that little "sad memories" button in the back of my head.

 

Another couple tracks from my teen years are "With or Without You" from U2, and "Badge" from Cream (that's when I got into Cream).

 

Most of the songs on the past 12 pages have been lyrical content, with a few Radioheads and other thrown in to represent the music.

 

Musically, Kent and Sigur Ros are sad sounding CDs for me... I love them, but there is a fine line vetween relaxing music and depressing music that these pass over from time to time.

 

Early Catherine Wheel and My Bloody Valentine are also on that list for me.... (shoe gazer??, how about "don't get out of bed for a couple days"??)

[winter party person]

I remember me by silver jews is ultra sad but it doesnt really have a sad tone at all.

 

I love that song; Death of an Heir of Sorrows is also a great sad song

[brettac1]

Elliott Smith - "Georgia, Georgia"

 

georgia georgia

it's been many miles

since i've seen your fallen smile

close up and personal

your arsenal of excuses

you never told her

when you walked out on this vanished shoulder

with your veins all full of beer

thinking well at least now everything is clear

oh man

what plan

suicide

it's just not that much different from my own affair

always cussing and crying

how about if you

tell me something new

tell me what will make you happy

oh you

so deserve to be

there were protests and contests

actions to cop

i want it all to stop

three weeks ago you were all grace and charm

and now i know it was just a false alarm

georgia georgia

i can't understand your sins

you have no forgiveness

no attention left to pay

the quiet way you leave

and just forget it all

just takes my breath away

how's that supposed to make me feel?

yeah, well, how'm I suppossed to feel?

[willywoody]

Can't Cry Hard Enough

 

Performed by Victoria Williams

Written by David Williams & Marvin Etzioni

 

I'm going to live my life

Like every day's my last

Without a simple goodbye

It all goes by so fast

 

And now that you're gone

I can't cry hard enough

No I can't cry hard enough

For you to hear me now

 

I'm going to open my eyes

And see for the first time

I've let go of you like

A child letting go of his kite

 

There it goes up in the sky

There it goes beyond the clouds

For no reason why

I can't cry hard enough

No I can't cry hard enough

 

For you to hear me now

I'm going to look back in vain

And see you standing there

When all that remains

Is just an empty chair

 

And now that you're gone

I can't cry hard enough

No I can't cry hard enough

For you to hear me now

[squarewave]

Also check out

 

Pete Yorn-Same Thing

Crazy enough, I was listening to this EXACT song when I saw this post....

 

Sad?? Jury's still out on that for me...

There is definitely some interesting production.

 

The cover of Warren Zevon's Splendid Isolation from that Yorn disc elicits a little more emotion from me, just because it reminds me that Warren is gone.

[Edie]

"Honey" -- Bobby Goldsboro

 

Seriously,

"Dead Man Walking" Bruce

"Biko" Peter Gabriel

"you made me the thief of your heart" Sinead O'Connor

 

Didn't read the whole 12 pages but these came to mind.

[thermocaster]

Some that I didn't see mentioned:

 

Ain't Wasting Time No More - Allman Brothers Band (how has this not been mentioned yet???)

Borrowed Tune - Neil Young

Any World (That I'm Welcome To) - Steely Dan

When You're A Free Man - Moody Blues [actually, pretty much everything off Seventh Sojourn]

Nobody's Fault But My Own - Beck

No Problem - Local H

Hey Jealousy - Gin Blossoms (yes, seriously)

Plush - STP

Train in the Distance - Paul Simon

Needle of Death - Bert Jansch

[airtaco]

How has no one mentioned Sinatra?? Have you people no class??? Anything off of In The Wee Small Hours; Only the Lonely; Where Are You; No One Cares, ETC.

[brittboas]

PATCHES

Clarence Carter

 

I was born and raised down in Alabama

On a farm way back up in the woods

I was so ragged that folks used to call me Patches

Papa used to tease me about it

'Cause deep down inside he was hurt

'Cause he'd done all he could

 

My papa was a great old man

I can see him with a shovel in his hands, see

Education he never had

He did wonders when the times got bad

The little money from the crops he raised

Barely paid the bills we made

 

For, life had kick him down to the ground

When he tried to get up

Life would kick him back down

One day Papa called me to his dyin' bed

Put his hands on my shoulders

And in his tears he said

 

He said, Patches

I'm dependin' on you, son

To pull the family through

My son, it's all left up to you

 

Two days later Papa passed away, and

I became a man that day

So I told Mama I was gonna quit school, but

She said that was Daddy's strictest rule

 

So ev'ry mornin' 'fore I went to school

I fed the chickens and I chopped wood too

Sometimes I felt that I couldn't go on

I wanted to leave, just run away from home

But I would remember what my daddy said

With tears in his eyes on his dyin' bed

 

He said, Patches

I'm dependin' on you, son

I tried to do my best

It's up to you to do the rest

 

Then one day a strong rain came

And washed all the crops away

And at the age of 13 I thought

I was carryin' the weight of the

Whole world on my shoulders

And you know, Mama knew

What I was goin' through, 'cause

 

Ev'ry day I had to work the fields

'Cause that's the only way we got our meals

You see, I was the oldest of the family

And ev'rybody else depended on me

Ev'ry night I heard my Mama pray

Lord, give him the strength to face another day

 

So years have passed and all the kids are grown

The angels took Mama to a brand new home

Lord knows, people, I shedded tears

But my daddy's voice kept me through the years

 

Sing

Patches, I'm dependin' on you, son

To pull the family through

My son, it's all left up to you

 

Oh, I can still hear Papa's voice sayin'

Patches, I'm dependin' on you, son

I've tried to do my best

It's up to you to do the rest

 

I can still hear Papa, what he said

Patches...

[brittboas]

For Mama

Ray Charles

 

She said,

[brittboas]

Angel Eyes

Frank Sinatra

Writen by: Dennis/Brent

 

Hey drink up all you people

And Order anything you see have fun you happy people

The drink and the laughs on me

 

Try to think that love's not around

Still it's uncomfortably near

My old heart ain't gaining any ground

Because my angel eyes ain't here

 

Angel eyes, that old Devil sent

They glow unbearably bright

Need I say that my love's mispent

Mispent with angel eyes tonight

 

So drink up all of you people

Order anything you see

And have fun you happy people

The drink and the laughs on me

 

Pardon me but I got to run

The fact's uncommonly clear

I got to find who's now the number one

And why my angel eyes ain't here

 

Excuse me while I disappear

[brittboas]

Cannonball

Damien Rice

 

there

[Calexico]

Don't know if this has been mentioned but it breaks my heart every time.

 

 

 

 

Damien Jurado - Medication

 

 

It just so happens I have many conerns

My brother's down the road and my lover in town

They both need affection

And some kind of love

 

Well I'm the one who gives it at any given time

From two in the morning to six

Call me up and cry

 

My lover keeps it secret that we meet under covers

When asked by her man if we two are lovers

She says, "I hardly know him.

Besides, he's not my type."

 

Her man's a policeman with a keen sense of trouble

He's known just by danger

And all kinds of liars

 

Brother called this morning in a terrible panic

Spies in the closet, bugs in the attic

He screams bloody murder saying,

"We're all gonna die.

 

Death is upon me, I know 'cause he showed me

Pictures of graveyards and us underneath."

 

I'm losing my hearing from my brother screaming,

"They're coming to get me and

Someone call the police."

 

Two in the morning, the phone disconnected

Her man knows I'm calling, it's what I expected

A note on my backdoor saying, "Baby not tonight."

 

So I sit with my brother who is nursing a cut wrist

He's mumbling "Forgive me."

And "Don't let them take me away."

 

I can be a good boy and stay out of trouble

Jackie I love you and

Don't let them take your brother

 

Strapped to a table, go in electrodes

"Jackie come save me the doctors will kill me."

"No, they're here to help you

Straighten out your mind."

 

The TV is blaring with some preacher saying that

God is among us and he hears our cries

 

Lord, do me a favor

It's wrong but I ask you

Take my brother's life

 

'Cause he's sick of the suffering

The pills he's inhaling

The cross he is bearing

That is his trouble mind

[boywiththepoetrypower]

My Sad Bastard Music

 

Drive All Night - Bruce Springsteen

Take It With Me- Tom Waits

Thirteen- Elliott Smith (Big Star cover)

I Could Have Lied- Red Hot Chili Peppers

Black-Pearl Jam

Let's Dance-M. Ward (David Bowie cover)

Used To Be Lucky- The Wallflowers

South Central Rain- REM

I Want To Vanish- Elvis Costello

Knot Comes Loose- My Morning Jacket

Restraining Order Blues- Eels

Wedding Song- Bob Dylan

Atlanta- Stone Temple Pilots

Bob Dylan's 49th Beard- Wilco

[hummingBERG]

Bell Bottom Blues - Eric Clapton/Derek and the Dominoes

Attics Of My Life - Grateful Dead

Black - Pearl Jam

[dmait]

Dylan's "If You See Her Say Hello" for the heartbreak factor.