top 100 saddest songs of all time

Treeship, it was LD & Dudley Klute. (w/ SM, The Three Terrors)

that is a great one too. she is easily one of my favorite singers of all time. her voice is just so beautiful, clear and youthful yet darkened always by this palpable weight of despair, like she could just break down and start crying any second.

― Treeship, Wednesday, June 19, 2013 12:39 AM (Yesterday)

hmm, I don't really get an "on the verge of a breakdown" feeling from her music, apart from "On the Steps" and a few of the quieter Mazzy Star songs ("Look on Down From the Bridge"?). if anything it sounds like she could fall asleep any second, and the constant, low-level moodiness is perfect for when you're feeling tired and depressed but aren't in the mood for anything properly weepy.

when i imagine the breakdown, it is like she is on the verge of quietly walking out of the studio and driving calmly back to her apartment and lying in bed lightly but ambivalently crying.

but i agree, there is a numbness there, which is familiar to anyone who has experienced really significant depression for a prolonged period of time. she sounds like she is suffering to me, i guess. but i still enjoy listening to the music and find it very beautiful.

well she does have a habit of quietly walking offstage in the middle of concerts, so you may have a point there (I kid). I've listened to her solo stuff so often while falling asleep that it's hard for me to hear it as anything but chill-out music — it's like I've conditioned myself to tune out the content/lyrics/emotions in favor of the vibes, maaaan. the same thing happens when I listen to certain music regularly while exercising. using music for purely functional purposes has its drawbacks.

oddly I don't like most of Mazzy Star's stuff, especially when they're in retro-psych mode, and I don't like Opal's heavier material (on Happy Nightmare Baby). Rain Parade completely bores me. sorry, Dave Roback, but I don't think I like you.

Man, Taking Tiger Mountain brings the tears every time. Every time! And I'm mostly unemotional? Sort of?

No xpost

Carol - "So Low"

"Flooding" by Kristin Hersh, the piano demo.

"In This Hole" - Cat Power
"Holding" - Grouper
"For Martha" - the Smashing Pumpkins
"My New Freedom" - Elliott Smith
"Something in the Way" - Nirvana
"The End of the Rainbow" - Richard & Linda Thompson
"Sawdust & Diamonds" - Joanna Newsom
"God" - John Lennon
"This Night Has Opened My Eyes" - The Smiths
"Buzz Saw" - Xiu Xiu

People have some odd ideas on what constitutes a sad song.

A harder challenge would be coming up with some sadder than any of the songs on Mount Eerie's A Crow Looked at Me.

Yeah :-(

I mean, Phil abandons/dismisses any attempt at making "art" on that record, because it's been rendered completely meaningless and useless to him. understandably. I couldn't get through 4 songs.

Sufjan Stevens - Carrie and Lowell is probably a contender for saddest album.

otm, I could listen to that one twice all the way through, and haven't revisited it since. songs are good, I just can't sink into that mood.

Little Green, Joni Mitchell – The wistful optimism is just heartbreaking

oh man, I was gonna mention that one. "A Case of You" as well, even if it's more bittersweet. "Little Green" is similar to "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" - the complicated emotions that come with having an abortion / giving up a child for adoption.

River too -- subject matter is kind of run-of-the-mill as far as sad songs but the treatment is especially heartbreaking.

joni mitchell - other people's parties

Inconsolable - Jonatha Brooke

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

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