Saddest Songs You've Ever Heard

[IAceI]

Anything by Guns 'n' Roses generally reduces me to tears of depression.

[RPS]

Anything by Elliott Smith. I read somewhere that Smith if he was the fifth Beatle, he'd be the sad one. Sometimes he is pissed at the world, and you can tell in his voice, but its still sad. He's a fucking junked out mess and he is ripping his heart out for everyone to see. Its surreal.

[GRIFT]

The River by Bruce Springsteen- 'Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?'

Marie by Townes Van Zandt

We'll Meet Again by Johnny Cash - His rendition, especially so close to his death was heart wrenching.

You Can Never Hold Back Spring by Tom Waits... there is just something about this song that really tugs at me.

[Jack_Attack]

Some of these don't get me sad in a depressed way. More like sad in a "it reminds me of a good time that's over" way.

I agree with Wish You Were Here. It's just such a thoughtful song.

For such a usually upbeat band, Green Day have written some cracking sadder songs. Everybody's heard Wake Me Up when September Ends, Good Riddance and Boulevard, but some lesser known ones are great as well. Macy's Day Parade is one. Give Me Novacaine and Whatsername on American Idiot are good as well.

4am Forever on the lastest Lostprophets album really gets to me sometimes, as does Broken Hearts, Torn Up Letters.

A great majority of the songs by +44 make me genuinely sad, especiallu Cliffdiving and No It Isn't.

[Hobo]

Marie by Townes Van Zandt

OFE

[Turbo Yannis]

"We're So Far Away" - Mae

"Calafornia" - Copeland

I'll second 4:AM Forever.

Edited August 10, 2007 by Turbonegro

[Boogey131]

That reminds me, Our Lady Peace - 4AM always go me feeling down, though I haven' listened tohe son in a LONG time so I don't know if I'd sill feel the same way.

[Turbo Yannis]

Fuck me, add "Jesus Christ" by Brand New to my list.

I was just on myspace and saw the profile of my friend that died's dad and he had that song on it. It's suddenly hit me like a brick wall of shit again >_<

[Farmer Reil]

Letter to Dana by Sonata Arctica, just because of the subject matter.

Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles isn't a particarly sad song, in a make you cry kind of way. It's just depressingly emo in a "want to kill myself rather than have to listen to it" kind of way

Acoustic #3 by the Goo Goo Dolls I find quite sad, though I'm not sure why...

When A Hero Cries by Edguy is quite sad by Edguy standards. As are Forever and Farewell (although the latter is technically by Avantasia).

[Hobo]

Just heard Bruce Springsteen's cover of Warren Zevon's "My Ride's Here", recorded not long after Warren Zevon died it's really sad compared to Warren's more upbeat orginal.

[TheRyno]

You haven't heard 'Hurt' until you've heard the original Nine Inch Nail's version. Cash's version is good, but nothing beats the passion in Trent's vocals in the NIN one.

[Skummy]

It's quite likely Kate Bush's original version of "Running Up That Hill", or possibly either Within Temptation or Faith & The Muse.

And please don't let people get into a Cash vs. NIN argument again.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Letter To Dana's hilarious more than sad, because it's about a guy who falls in love with motherfucking Dana Scully and then finds out that she posed nudie and gets all sad.

[Renegade]

The Last Emperor - One Life

Everything about this is sad. The beat, the singing in the chorus, the verses, the subject matter. The fact that Poetic, the guy on the second verse, died shortly after he recorded this verse, his last ever, due to cancer makes it even sadder. 'N damn, that violin outro is just unbelievable.

Edited August 11, 2007 by Renegade

[VerbalPuke]

It's hard for me to document a song that I'd classify as sad. It's not to say that I don't listen to bands that can write a heart wrenching song that hits you at a visceral level. It's just me. But with that said, there are a few songs in particular that I would classify as sad, or depressing at the least.

The Jim Carrol Band - People Who Died.

This song is probably one of the saddest I've heard, one that does tug at the heart so to speak. It's written as a tribute to all of Jim's fallen friends, and my god are there many of them. The sheer number of people he befriended in his life that succumbed to death is really depressing. The names he rattles off in the song reads like a grocery list, and you can hear a genuine sadness in his voice through the song. However, the music and lyrics are performed at an upbeat tempo, so the casual listener may not pick up on the meaning at first listen. This is one of his finest songs, and is one of many brilliant lyrical/poetic outputs from him. "Eddie got slit in the jugular vein, and Eddie I miss you more than all the others, and I salute you my brother!"

I'll lump these next two together since they are related.

Johnny Thunders - Chinese Rocks and The Ramones - 53rd and 3rd

Both songs are related to the same subject (heroin), and both were written by Dee Dee Ramone. These songs don't necessarily elicit a sad feeling from me, but more of an empathetic feeling. Listening to these lyrics of being down trodden and selling your soul in so many words is hard to imagine. Both songs detail pawning off items, turning tricks, and the effects heroin addiction has on the user and the loved ones around them. Chinese Rocks is much like People Who Died in that it's a relatively upbeat tune and easy to sing along to, but still manages to rattle the nerves.

Vic Goodard and The Subway Sect - Empty Shell

Yet again, this song is relatively upbeat (not quite like the other songs, but it's not slow and methodical either) but the lyrics paint a melancholy picture. From what I've deduced from this lyrics, Vic is writing about a friend or loved one that he had, and has now lost. The songs illustrates a story of a person waiting for somebody that simply isn't coming back, yet continues to hold out hope for their return. For the record, Vic Goodard and the Subway Sect were a criminally underrated band from the punk era.

Edited August 11, 2007 by VerbalPuke

[Tarheels.]

It may seem like plugging a friends band, but this is legitimately the saddest one. My friends band Adonis wrote a song called "John" about his grandfather who died. It nearly brought tears to my eyes. For those interested: Adonis Myspace

That and "Jesus Christ" by Brand New. I just find it to be a really deep and moving song.

[Guest wwebone]

"Rest in Pieces" by Saliva

[Baddar]

A few that I'd consider "sad" have been mentioned. Johnny Cash - Hurt, Alter Bridge - In Loving Memory and Finger Eleven - One Thing. Mind is totally blank atm, and it will probably take me listening to a song again before I class it as "sad".

EDIT: Come to think of it, Gravity by Embrace is a pretty sad one. David Gray - Freedom, Ain't No Love, Alibi, This Years Love.

Edited August 12, 2007 by BaddarD2k7

[Skummy]

Johnny Thunders - Chinese Rocks and The Ramones - 53rd and 3rd

Both songs are related to the same subject (heroin), and both were written by Dee Dee Ramone. These songs don't necessarily elicit a sad feeling from me, but more of an empathetic feeling. Listening to these lyrics of being down trodden and selling your soul in so many words is hard to imagine. Both songs detail pawning off items, turning tricks, and the effects heroin addiction has on the user and the loved ones around them. Chinese Rocks is much like People Who Died in that it's a relatively upbeat tune and easy to sing along to, but still manages to rattle the nerves.

Just to add to the 53rd & 3rd point, it really goes to show some of the depth of the Ramones' (especially Dee Dee's) lyrical output, something that can be forgotten in lieu of their "dopey punks" image, and some of Dee Dee's less than stellar lyrics in his solo material...the full story of the song is magnificent, not just for a Ramones song, but for any song; it's about a Vietnam vet forced to become a male prostitute to fund his heroin habit, but frustrated because the other prettier hustlers are always picked over him, yet when he finally is chosen, he murders his client "to prove he's no sissy". Beautiful stuff, I reckon.

[Emperor Fuckshit]

Billy Bragg -- Levi Stubbs' Tears.

Just an incredibly sad story, backed with a pretty simple guitar part. The trumpet part at the end, during the solo, gives it a slightly haunting or dream-like quality too. The lyrics "When the world falls apart / Some things stay in place" are delivered fantastically, and sent shivers down my spine when I heard it performed live. It has a unique tone as well... sad, but kind of defiant and grimly hopeful.

Keren Ann -- By the Cathedral.

Another piece of evidence to back up my conviction that trumpets solos are fucking depressing. There's something I find really touching about the lyrics "darling... I've been mellow and tender, darling". Sort of recalls to me the feeling of desperately wanting to show someone how you feel and how you've changed, but being unable to do so for whatever reason.

Big Country -- Chance.

Yeah, alright, Big Country. But the story told by the lyrics is genuinely moving, I think, and the bagpipe-esque guitars have a certain sorrowful quality. And whilst crude and sort of 'do you see?', the closing "Oh, Lord, I never felt so low" repetition is sang well enough to work. Like 'Levin Stubbs Tears' it's sort of particularly bleak because it talks about the kind of depression that, rather than being temporary and desperate, just builds up slowly over the course of a life.

Sunny Day Real Estate -- In Circles.

It reminds me of a girl. "I long / to heal your wounds / though I bleed myself / I bleed myself." The lyrics are pretty much the perfect example of effective simplicity, and the beginning couplet of just "sincerity / trust in me" is ace, and allows Enigk to do what he does best... hold notes at a very high pitch. A lot of other stuff from 'Diary' is pretty depressing, really, most notably 'Sometimes'. 'Seven' is sad too, but has a hopeful volta, and is too aesthetically pleasing to be really sad. It's just emotive generally, I think.

The Smiths -- I Know it's Over.

Obvious choice, but fuck it.

I'm sure I'm missing some stuff that has had an affect on me in the past, and I feel remiss for not including a 'Today is the Day' song, but that's what jumps out at me right now.