top 100 saddest songs of all time

64. if drinking don't kill me, her memory will - george jones

I'd attempt to repost the stuff I wrote before, but each and every thread is one of a kind and history can never be repeated. What is lost, is lost, and shall never be again, and trying to reassemble it bit by bit is fruitless.

So, let's create new history with songs we didn't cover last time:

59. Yo La Tengo -- Nowhere Near. A devastating portrait of loneliness. A perfect song in every way, from the way the drums slink into it midway through, to the sighing harmonies, to the sustained organ tones that slow the passing seconds to a crawl ...

You otmfm, MIR.

51. Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
50. R.E.M. - Perfect Circle
49. Rush - Losing It
48. The Cure - Sinking
47. David Sylvian & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Forbidden Colours
46. New Order - In A Lonely Place
45. Brian Eno - Spider & I
44. Japan - Night Porter
43. Robyn Hitchcock - I Used To Say I Love You

I still say the very saddest songs ALWAYS have piano in them. Even

42. Joy Division - The Eternal

and my vote for saddest song ever goes to:

41. This Mortal Coil - Holocaust (no I haven't heard the original but I can't see how it could possibly be any more sad - "your mother's dead", the rise and fall of strings and piano and one excellent performance by Howard Devoto)

38. Beatles - For No One
And in her eyes you see nothing
No sign of love behind the tears
Cried for no one
A love that should have lasted years

They say that you will always be the last to know
They say that all that glitters is not gold
It’s not just that you’re never coming back to me
It’s the bitter way that I was told

Remember hearing this after some romantic disaster and it slayed me.

29. End of the Rainbow - Richard & Linda Thompson

28. Hospital - Modern Lovers

a hot summers day and sticky black tarmac
feeding ducks in the park and wishing you were far away

26. Crossroad Blues - Robert Johnson
25. Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground - Blind Willie Johnson
24. River of Sorrow - Antony & the Johnsons

(My mother listened to far too many 70s complilations when I was a kid... which is why I know all these)

Not precisely sad, or funny, or disturbing, but some sort of middle ground - the chord arrangement and Jamie's delivery, though, make it strangely mournful.

Zabelle Panosian, Groung (The Crane)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GizgyxGSrFs

The Train by Sinatra, off Watertown, a brutally sad album all told.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXP-417oiv0

Franz Schubert - 'Der Leiermann' (from Winterreise):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIIS-UgixGE

The Band - It Makes No Difference

the winner

Bruce Springsteen, “Brilliant Disguise”

Randy Newman - “Marie”

just thinking about that song, christ..

The Last Ride- Todd Rundgren

Kathleen Edwards - "Alicia Ross"

Josh Ritter - "The Curse"

Rickie Lee Jones - "Skeletons"

also legit surprised not to see John Prine’s “Hello in There” in this thread.

Sandy Denny - "All Our Days"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsxeL-59GbM

also legit surprised not to see John Prine’s “Hello in There” in this thread.

It's here.

Peter Hammill, "This Side of the Looking-Glass"

Everybody's Been Burned by the Byrds
so sad it's haunted

billy Bragg - tank park salute

Jason Isbell - "Elephant"

The Perfect Disaster - Down (Down)

Dory Previn - "Beware of Young Girls" or "Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign"

anything by sibylle baier. colour green is the darkest LP i've ever heard, and that's coming from a regular elliott smith listener.

A couple days ago, my daughter was singing "Maybe" from Annie, and I actually irl teared up. That song is inappropriately sad. It should be illegal except under tightly controlled circumstances.

41. This Mortal Coil - Holocaust (no I haven't heard the original but I can't see how it could possibly be any more sad - "your mother's dead", the rise and fall of strings and piano and one excellent performance by Howard Devoto)

― Bimble..., Wednesday, December 22, 2004 6:20 AM (fourteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Fucking hell, I can't imagine knowing this song without being aware of the Big Star original. It's the pinnacle of devastation.

The Specials - I Can't Stand It

most of the "sad songs" people talk about are to me encouraging and uplifting, which i guess says a lot about me. people with the saddest voices in the world like robert wyatt singing about how it'll be ok, no really, just make me think "yeah, they have a point, it will be ok". to me a really sad song is something like "you can make it if you try" by sly and the family stone.

I think I sort of know what you mean. Like, “what a wonderful world” fills me with deep deep despair

Sad songs say so much, even when they’re in another language (Turkish, in this case):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdngjh5cy5E

Sezen Aksu • Kavaklar

seasons in the sun