top 100 saddest songs of all time

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.

12. "the bitterest pill" - the jam

11. "wise up" - aimee mann

I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard by Tom Reynolds
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1860746284/203-7908214-9069500

0. hardly getting over it - husker du.
-1. borrowed tune - neil young

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.

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.

mozart's requiem lol

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.

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).

Gnossienne No. 5, Modéré

Biz Markie - Alone Again (Naturally)
[Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records, Inc.]

Hello In There--John Prine

Did I see "Thousand Dollar Wedding" upthread? Not sure.

KATY SONG - RED HOUSE PAINTERS - shush

Can't believe this wasn't metioned: "I Know it's Over" - Smiths

"It Never Entered My Mind" - Rodgers/Hart
"You're A Big Girl Now" - Bob Dylan
"So Long" - Rickie Lee Jones

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"

"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.

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