what is the saddest song you know?

[wheelco]

Ok so many noted here already

I'll add:

 

Left a Slide - Son Volt

Muddy Hymnal - Iron & Wine

[Mystik Spiral]

A Stone - Okkervil River

 

Oooh, good call!

 

Also, I can't believe I forgot about Electro-Shock Blues:

 

Electro-Shock Blues

Dead Of Winter

The Medication Is Wearing Off

 

Oh, pretty much nearly the whole damn album!!

[Willkoman]

Neil Young ~ Philadelphia

[cngwms]

Billy Bragg - Tank Park Salute

Bob Dylan - If You See Her Say Hello

Sam Phillips - If I Could Write

Emmylou Harris - Red Dirt Girl

[Mystik Spiral]

Yeah, I just listened to Electro-Shock Blues for the first time in a long time... and I'm pretty sure that Dead Of Winter is the saddest song I know.

[Darkhorse]

dear chicago by ryan adams is a big heartbreaker for me.

even better ryan adams song would be 'please do not let me go' man is that haunting

but i will go with sammy's song by David Bromberg is that the saddest story of acceptance i have ever heard

[jakobnicholas]

Lots of good songs mentioned......Buckner's "Elizabeth Childers" is indeed a sad tune...as is pretty much that whole album.

 

These come to mind:

 

 

R.E.M. - "The Wrong Child"

Tori Amos - "Winter"

Lisa Germano - "The Darkest Night Of All"

Lisa Germano - "Singing to the Birds"

 

(I could name many other sad Germano songs...)

[brittboas]

I can't believe I forgot this one!!!

I don't know if he wrote it, but the version I know, is his! Clarence Carter has a version too, but BB's is unbelievable. Read it all... it is tough not to get a lil choked up!

 

Patches

B.B. King

 

I was born and raised down in alabama on a farm way back up in the woods. oh

I was so ragged folks used to call me "patches". papa used to tease me about

It, but deep down inside dad was hurtin' 'cause he'd done the best he could.

 

My papa was a great old man

I can see him with a shovel in his hand

Education that he never had

But he did wonders when the times got bad

The little money from the crops we raised

Barely paid the bills we made

 

Oh life whipped him

Down to the ground

When he tried to get up

Life would kick him back down

On the day papa called me

To his dyin' bed

Placed his hand on my shoulders

And in tears he said

 

Patches

I'm depending 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

Everyday i had to work the fields

'cause that's the only way

We got our meals

See, i was the oldest of the family

And everybody was depending on me

 

Now the years have passed

And everybody's grown

Mama's been livin'

In a brand new home

Lord knows it took

A lot of sweat and tears

And my daddy's voice

To help us through the years

He said -

 

Patches

I'm depending on you, son

To pull the family through

My son, it's all left up to you

 

Daddy had been sick for a long time, flat on his back. every evenin' after

We'd finish our chores and eat our dinner, we'd all go into papa's room to

Cheer him up a little. and this particular day dad was in good spirits,

Sittin' on the side of the bed, tellin' mama how good she looked. when all

Of a sudden, papa had a pain in his chest. i was too young to understand,

Talkin' about a heart attack here. mama rushed us all out of the room into

The hallway. about ten minutes later she came out with tears in her eyes.

She called out to me, "patches, patches, get in here, boy. your daddy wanna

See you." i went runnin' into papa's room, there papa lay. daddy had tears

In his eyes. i knew something was wrong, daddy was a poor man, but all of my

Life he'd been a proud man. i knelt down on one knee beside the bed, papa

Put his hand on my shoulder. he said, "patches, patches, boy, the hammer of

Life done beat your old papa down to the ground, and i ain't got nobody to

Turn to to take care of mama and the younger. so what i want you to do is

Promise me, son, is that you're gonna do your best to help your mama as much

As you can." i said, "papa, i'm gonna do my best." but little did i know

Then like i know now, that tryin' to climb life's mountains searchin' for a

Top where there ain't no top, sometimes you find yourself frustrated, lazy.

But every time i feel like i can't live my life like i want to, my mind goes

Back to that day when i see those tears in my daddy's eyes. but most of all

I remember his words, "patches, i'm dependin' on you, boy." every time i

Feel like givin' up, i hear his voice. "patches, patches, patches, patches -"

 

I'm depending on you, son

I've tried to do my best

It's up to you to do the rest

 

Patches

I'm depending on you, son

I've tried to do my best

It's up to you to do the rest

Patches

I'm depending on you, son

To pull the family through

My son, it's all left up to you

[redheadedstepchild]

Also check out

 

Pete Yorn-Same Thing

[Doug]

The Wedding Present- "No Christmas"

[redheadedstepchild]

Joy Division-Atmosphere

[Skian]

Lucinda Williams - Blue

Springsteen - I Wish I Was Blind

Dylan - Standing In The Doorway, Not Dark Yet, Dirge

John Lennon - Imagine (I still can't listen to it)

[redheadedstepchild]

Elliott Smith-Let's Get Lost

[lovenmercy]

Hurt--Johnny Cash's version (damn)

How to Disappear Completely--Radiohead

Silence--The Autumn Defense

Lost Cause--Beck

Vincent--Don McLean

Across the Universe--The Beatles

Undertaker--M. Ward

Burn--Ray LaMontagne

All the Wild Horses--Ray LaMontagne

Be Not So Fearful--sung by Tweedy (inspiring, gorgeous, heartbreaking)

Gymnopedie, No.1 (Lent et Douloureux)--played by Moura Lympany

 

Just to name a few.

I also agree with The Golden Age-Beck; For No One-Beatles; Creep-Radiohead

[cryptique]

Gymnopedie, No.1 (Lent et Douloureux)--played by Moura Lympany

[Virgil Caine]

The Band -- "It Makes No Difference" (the version from the Last Waltz)

Lucinda Williams -- "Jackson"

Gillian Welch -- "Hickory Wind" (Gram Parsons cover)

[aceofspades]

I can't believe no one mentioned Cats in the Cradle!! Especially the GnR version!! Gets me every time!!

 

But seriously folks, Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska is a pretty sad tune.

 

They declared me unfit to live said into that great void my soul'd be hurled

They wanted to know why I did what I did

Well sir I guess there's just a meanness in this world

 

That whole album is pretty sad actually.

[WildMercurySound]

this thread is so appropriate, I threw Sea Change on before I came online. my friend had it on in the bar he works at and we DJ at today and it just fitted an overcast autumn day so well... so beautiful. but the sadness really comes out when you listen to it alone at night.

 

anyway, enough waffling:

 

beck - guess i'm doing fine

death cab for cutie - brothers on a hotel bed

elliott smith - angeles

dylan - buckets of rain

eels - railroad man (+half their early discography)

radiohead - gagging order

ryan adams - la cienega just smiled

 

plus a lot more. i love sad bastard music.

[tugmoose]

Replacements: If Only You Were Lonely

 

 

Well, I walked out of work

And I was tired as hell

Another day's come and gone and oh well

Somewhere there's a drink with my name on it

 

Well, I ordered a scotch as I bust through them doors

Spilled half on my jeans

The other half on the floor

When I saw you standing by that video game

 

Well, I ain't very good

But I get practice by myself

Forgot my one line

So I just said what I felt

 

If only you were lonely,

If only you was lonely too,

If only you was lonely

I'd go home with you

 

Twenty push-ups this morning, that was half my goal

Tonight I'll be doin' pull-ups

On the toliet bowl

And somewhere somebody's throwin up

 

Well, I broke the seal on my door

And I poured myself to bed

The whirlpool spinning around in my head

Around in my head

There was liquor on my breath

And you were on my mind

 

And I'll be dreamin of that smile

Without a care in the world

If only you were lonely,

If only you was lonely too,

If only you was lonely

 

I walked out of the kitchen

I was tired as hell

Another day's here and oh well

Somewhere there's a smile with my name on it.

[Loial]

I love sad songs.

Here are some good ones that weren't mentioned yet:

 

Old And Wise - The Alan Parsons Project

I See a Darkness - Bonnie Prince Billy

Two Headed Boy, Pt 2 - Neutral Milk Hotel

A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free - Elliott Smith

I Better Be Quiet Now - Elliott Smith

True Love - Elliott Smith

[Nobody Girl]

"Wish You Were Here" - Pink Floyd. Somebody had to mention it.

 

Also, Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay.

[Synthesizer Patel]

Gloomy Sunday by Rezso Seress and Laszlo Javor is the saddest song ever written. The BBC, for example, banned it for many many years for fear of its power (apparently). It is dubbed the suicide song. Apparently (again, whether this is true or not I don't know) more people committed suicide after listening to this song than any other. Javor's girlfriend apparently committed suicide, leaving a note which simply read - "Gloomy Sunday", and Seress himself jumped from his apartment to his death some time later. Loads of people have covered it, Billie Holiday's version being the most famous.

 

The fact that it was translated into English apparently lost a lot of it's power, but still it's pretty damn gloomy still:

 

Sunday is gloomy, my hours are slumberless.

Dearest, the shadows I live with are numberless.

Little white flowers will never awaken you,

Not where the black coach of sorrow has taken you.

Angels have no thought of ever returning you.

Would they be angry if I thought of joining you?

Gloomy Sunday.

 

Gloomy is Sunday; with shadows I spend it all.

My heart and I have decided to end it all.

Soon there'll be candles and prayers that are sad, I know.

Death is no dream, for in death I'm caressing you.

With the last breath of my soul I'll be blessing you.

Gloomy Sunday.

 

A lot of "apparentlies" there, I know, but all the same - surely this has to be the saddest song ever written.

[M. (hristine]

I see a trend in the writers of sad bastard music.

And it's the lyric combined with the delivery...

 

Gram Parsons ~ Hot Burrito #1

 

Gram's vocal on this is heart wrenching.

[~A~]

The Golden Age ~ Beck

Now That You're Gone ~ Ryan Adams

Ballad in Urgency ~ The Black Crowes

Debris ~ The Faces

Oh Sister ~ Bob Dylan

I Will Sing You Songs ~ My Morning Jacket

Wendell Gee~ R.E.M.

 

M. Christine, I would have picked all the songs you did as well.

[imsjry]

John Lennon - Imagine (I still can't listen to it)