Poll: Saddest song of all time

Bob-Dubery · 2012-02-01T10:44:55+00:00

According to the Telegraph it's REM's "Everybody Hurts" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9051673/REMs-Everybody-Hurts-voted-most-depressing-song-of-all-time.html I find it a bit of an unsatisfying thing actually. They say that "84 per cent of men men aged between 18 and 24 have become tearful to music", but that's not really the same as finding the piece of music in question to be sad or depressing. The headline talks about the most depressing song of all time, but the survey asks us to consider the saddest song. "Sad" and "depressing" are not the same thing. Finally the actual poll only presents us with a list of well known (in the western world) pop songs. Maybe it has to be that way. You can't list every obscure sad song of all time.

Bob-Dubery

PeteM wrote
X-rated Bob wrote
deefstes wrote
PeteM wrote
lindsmuse wrote 'Tears in heaven' is pretty sad ... altho I know it's been sung/done taught to death.
I refuse to sing it or to teach it because I think it can only be done by Eric... it's too personal for anyone else to do it justice.
'sactly!
I think that if people put a song "out there" then it's up for grabs.
I'm not suggesting that it's wrong to cover it. It's just the way I feel about that particular number.

I wasn't trying to suggest that you were laying down some law, Pete. Your post, and Deefstes's reply got me thinking, because there's so many songs that are (or appear to be) cries of personal anguish, and I thought the subject was worth exploring.

Averatu

Isis wrote This gets my vote. I actually cried the first time I saw this video.

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They have a few.

Airguitar

The wedding march ?

But seriously, here are some that hit me between the eyes..
Vincent (starry starry night)
Shooting star (Bob Dylan's one) The line where he says "I'll never get to say the things you needed to hear me say" .. Eina

deefstes

Airguitar wrote The wedding march ?

:roflmao:
Well played.

Airguitar wrote But seriously, here are some that hit me between the eyes..
Vincent (starry starry night)
Shooting star (Bob Dylan's one) The line where he says "I'll never get to say the things you needed to hear me say" .. Eina

Yeah, +1 on Vincent.

Oh, another two that just sprung to mind, both by the Bee Gees:
I Started a Joke
New York Mining Disaster 1941

Jack-Flash-Jr

deefstes wrote
Airguitar wrote The wedding march ?
:roflmao:
Well played.

Airguitar wrote But seriously, here are some that hit me between the eyes..
Vincent (starry starry night)
Shooting star (Bob Dylan's one) The line where he says "I'll never get to say the things you needed to hear me say" .. Eina
Yeah, +1 on Vincent.

Oh, another two that just sprung to mind, both by the Bee Gees:
I Started a Joke
New York Mining Disaster 1941

Faith No More does a great cover of I Started A Joke... off kilter but still on the money sadness wise...

deefstes

Jack Flash Jr wrote Faith No More does a great cover of I Started A Joke... off kilter but still on the money sadness wise...

Just Youtubed it, very very good.

Squonk

Just remembering when I was in the army....

There is this song of the first Fame Movie Album - "Is it Okay if I call You Mine" Which in itself doesn't have a sad lyric, but in the context of the Film is quite sad.
Paul McCrane sings it, very melancholic, simply arrangement for guitar and voice.

One of the Suicide attempts left the lyrics of this song in a note.....

Also "Suicide is Painless" , from "Mash: always depressed the hell out of me

dee

Squonk wrote Also "Suicide is Painless" , from "Mash: always depressed the hell out of me

Ever heard The Manic Street Preachers' version?

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Zulublues

For me it has always been Art Garfunkel's "Bright Eyes". listen closely to the lyrics Sob.................!!

Squonk

Zulublues wrote For me it has always been Art Garfunkel's "Bright Eyes". listen closely to the lyrics Sob.................!!

Those poor Rabbits, Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig....

domhatch

dee wrote
Ever heard The Manic Street Preachers' version?

most superb. it's on the one and only preachers album i have - forever delayed. never been a big fan, but purchased their greatest hits for that one track. and a few others that i will listen to occasionally...

dee

A late entry:

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Jimmy Eat World - Hear You Me

flatfourfan

hmmmmmmmm, some really good ones here, (actually some DAMN good ones).

My first choice would be Last Kiss - Pearl Jam.

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Bob-Dubery

RJN

"What a wonderful world" by Louis Armstrong :'(

Chabenda

For me ☹ - He ain't heavy, he's my brother.

Warren

Mi Mancherai - Josh Groban

(srs)

flatfourfan

RJN wrote "What a wonderful world" by Louis Armstrong :'(

good choice.

how did I miss this one.......

Hurt - Johnny Cash

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Stubbs

I have quite a few to add (I won't try to rank them):

Sweet Thing (live cover) - Jeff Buckley
Little Bird - Angus & Julia Stone
Skinny Love - Bon Iver
Fisherman's Wife - Matthew and the Atlas
Seven Curses - Dylan
Forever Young - Dylan
If Only I Could - Jack Johnson
Zombie - Cranberries (watch the music video)

Oh, and any Tracy Chapman song ?

Sebber

For me it's Kathy's Song by Simon & Garfunkel, for two reasons: back in '98 a very dear friend of mine (Kath) committed suicide, and in 2003 my then girlfriend, who I was seriously in love with, dumped me... for various reasons the lyrics of Kathy's Song just fit my emotions and sense of abject devastation from both events perfectly, so, for me Kathy's Song is, and will always be, the saddest, most melancholic, song of all time.

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