― billstevejim, Tuesday, 4 January 2005 20:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― karlz, Sunday, 28 May 2006 04:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― bkjj40a (bkjj40a), Sunday, 28 May 2006 04:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― Carlos C., Sunday, 28 May 2006 10:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― shorty (shorty), Sunday, 28 May 2006 10:54 (seventeen years ago) link
Remember hearing this after some romantic disaster and it slayed me.
29. End of the Rainbow - Richard & Linda Thompson
28. Hospital - Modern Lovers
― Stew (stew s), Sunday, 28 May 2006 12:42 (seventeen years ago) link
a hot summers day and sticky black tarmacfeeding ducks in the park and wishing you were far away
― Dave Bush (davebush), Sunday, 28 May 2006 12:50 (seventeen years ago) link
26. Crossroad Blues - Robert Johnson25. Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground - Blind Willie Johnson24. River of Sorrow - Antony & the Johnsons
― max (maxreax), Sunday, 28 May 2006 18:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― JTS (JTS), Sunday, 28 May 2006 20:22 (seventeen years ago) link
(My mother listened to far too many 70s complilations when I was a kid... which is why I know all these)
― JTS (JTS), Sunday, 28 May 2006 20:23 (seventeen years ago) link
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.
― Simon H. (Simon H.), Sunday, 28 May 2006 20:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 28 May 2006 21:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 28 May 2006 21:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― andy dale (andy dale), Sunday, 28 May 2006 21:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dwango, Friday, 2 June 2006 10:07 (seventeen years ago) link
― PB, Friday, 2 June 2006 10:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― eyesteel (eyesteel), Friday, 2 June 2006 11:43 (seventeen years ago) link
12. "the bitterest pill" - the jam
11. "wise up" - aimee mann
― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Friday, 2 June 2006 12:11 (seventeen years ago) link
― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― PB, Friday, 2 June 2006 15:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― Joe (Joe), Friday, 2 June 2006 16:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― Billy Pilgrim (Billy Pilgrim), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:18 (seventeen years ago) link
I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard by Tom Reynoldshttp://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1860746284/203-7908214-9069500
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Saturday, 3 June 2006 18:40 (seventeen years ago) link
0. hardly getting over it - husker du.-1. borrowed tune - neil young
― simon 803 (simon 803), Saturday, 3 June 2006 20:22 (seventeen years ago) link
Donny died during recording and Roberta's lyrics just go on and on without him... for about 10 minutes actually.... there is a lot of "I miss you" and futile language in this song.... it is really really sad in context.
― JTS (JTS), Saturday, 3 June 2006 21:33 (seventeen years ago) link
I just put this up, if anyone's interested: The Walrus Magazine picks 30 of the saddest songs ever.
Includes contributions from sometime-ILX-person DaveM and, er, me. Feel free to leave some comments/abuse/recommendations.
Thanks, sorry, whorishness over.
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 18 April 2008 20:18 (sixteen years ago) link
mozart's requiem lol
― davie, Friday, 18 April 2008 20:25 (sixteen years ago) link
Great list. FWIW, another good sad (rock) song is Grant Hart's You Don't Have To Tell Me Now, which is unsettling in how direct it is.
― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 18 April 2008 20:32 (sixteen years ago) link
Some more that come to mind: Gregg Allman's All My Friends and his version of Jackson Browne's These Days, both of which are on the Laid Back disc; Chris Bell's You And Your Sister; The Clientele Dreams Of Leaving; Pernice Bros.' Number Two; Sun Kil Moon's Carry Me Ohio (not entirely sure about this one, but it feels right); Bruce Springsteen's One Step Up; Jimmy Cliff's Many Rivers To Cross; Richard Hawley's The Ocean (Again, I'm not totally sure about this one. In some ways, Hawley sounds hopeful and content; in others, he sounds like he's lost so much time and he's saying goodbye); and 2/3 of Billie Holiday's catalogue (and a good deal of Iron & Wine's early catalogue).
― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 18 April 2008 20:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Gnossienne No. 5, Modéré
― Michael White, Friday, 18 April 2008 21:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Biz Markie - Alone Again (Naturally) [Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records, Inc.]
― PappaWheelie V, Friday, 18 April 2008 22:00 (sixteen years ago) link
Hello In There--John Prine
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 18 April 2008 22:21 (sixteen years ago) link
Did I see "Thousand Dollar Wedding" upthread? Not sure.
― ellaguru, Friday, 18 April 2008 22:48 (sixteen years ago) link
KATY SONG - RED HOUSE PAINTERS - shush
― Fer Ark, Saturday, 19 April 2008 00:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Can't believe this wasn't metioned: "I Know it's Over" - Smiths
― Pillbox, Saturday, 19 April 2008 00:14 (sixteen years ago) link
"It Never Entered My Mind" - Rodgers/Hart "You're A Big Girl Now" - Bob Dylan "So Long" - Rickie Lee Jones
― iago g., Saturday, 19 April 2008 00:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Michelle Shocked - "Stillborn"
Since I just finished the 33 1/3 book on Swordfishtrombone:
Tom Waits - "Soldier's Things" "And this one is for bravery And this one is for me And everything's a dollar in this box"
― Hideous Lump, Saturday, 19 April 2008 02:37 (sixteen years ago) link
"How I Long to Feel that Summer" - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
EMO, I know, but even when I was IN that summer this song felt sad and nostalgic.
― Z S, Saturday, 19 April 2008 04:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Roads - Portishead All Things to All Men - Cinematic Orchestra and Roots Manuva
― chap, Sunday, 20 April 2008 02:03 (sixteen years ago) link
"Smalltown Boy", The Bronski Beat
― daavid, Sunday, 20 April 2008 02:44 (sixteen years ago) link
to broadly echo stuff from immediately upthread, so much of mark koz's or ricki lee's catalog brings on the sad
― dell, Sunday, 20 April 2008 02:52 (sixteen years ago) link
62. "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins -- Fuck you. It's the best song he ever pulled out of his ass. And it's a great, soppy, tear-jerker.
yeah. why this one works, i don't pretend to understand. but, it does, against all odds, even.
― dell, Sunday, 20 April 2008 02:57 (sixteen years ago) link
"Teddy Bear" - Red Sovine *sniffle*
― gigabytepicnic, Sunday, 20 April 2008 03:04 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06MfMaxp8RU
― gigabytepicnic, Sunday, 20 April 2008 03:05 (sixteen years ago) link
Well you better believe I took my turn at riding Teddy Bear
― Curt1s Stephens, Sunday, 20 April 2008 03:11 (sixteen years ago) link
*stifles a laff*
― gigabytepicnic, Sunday, 20 April 2008 03:24 (sixteen years ago) link
― davie, Sunday, 20 April 2008 05:09 (sixteen years ago) link
i think we need to re-do this because nobody mentioned "halah" by mazzy star, which i can't listen to without crying (esp the line "you're leaving before my time").
― Treeship, Wednesday, 19 June 2013 02:46 (ten years ago) link
I have the same experience with Hope Sandoval's "Down the Steps", a portrait of someone who's in denial after the death of a friend. there's something very convincing in the way she avoids using the word "death" or any of its synonyms, slips confusedly between past and present tense, and mixes matter-of-fact observations about the body with incoherent musings about where the soul has gone. her quavering, uncertain delivery of the last line ("wake up, make us some tea") is just devastating.
― ☉.☉☂ (unregistered), Wednesday, 19 June 2013 04:30 (ten years ago) link