joshd2012

Some that haven't been mentioned yet:

Street Spirit - Radiohead
Hurt - Nine Inch Nails
The Man Who Sold the World - Nirvana

There are a bunch of others, but I don't have them in mind. This is a great thread.

auto

Saw a list of the top eleven saddests songs ever as compiled by Ryan Adams in the newest issue of Spin (The List Issue).

Some I can remember are The Smiths "That Joke Isn't funny Anymore" and Alice In Chains "Down In A Hole".

What does everyone think are the saddest songs ever?


Thanks,

BBP

RevLiver

Nine Inch Nails - Something I Can Never Have

Nirvana covering Leadbelly - Where Did You Sleep Last Night

Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven

The Verve - The Drugs Don't Work

REM - Everybody Hurts

Pearl Jam covering J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers (who covered Wayne Cochran) - Last Kiss

Nick Drake - Just about anything he ever wrote

Rebekah Del Rio covering Roy Orbison in Spanish - Llorando (Crying)

Godspeed You Black Emperor - The Dead Flag Blues

Sigur Ros - Svefn-g-englar

Spiritualized - Out of Sight

Joy Division - just about everything they recorded

Interpol - NYC

Cowboy Junkies covering Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane

Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat

Radiohead - High and Dry

There's tons more but that's a good start.

zak52

The Replacements - Here Comes A Regular

fallow

(not in any particular order)

1. A Silver Mt. Zion - 13 Angels Standing Guard 'Round the Side of Your Bed
2. Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
3. Radiohead - Exit Music (For a Film) and Motion Picture Soundtrack

Rebekah Del Rio is a good call RevLiver. Very good call.

Jepthah

The only one to ever make me bawl like a little kid was Time by Tom Waits.

I'll never forget that song. He must have been channeling something when he wrote it.

lesterlong

No song has ever made me cry or teary eyed. Maybe I just don't get into them but I can't start crying with only a 3 or 4 minute headstart.

jk4w

Bob Dylan : Sara
Black Sabbath : Solitude
Ringo Starr :Beaucoups of Blues

jk4w

The entire Ringo Starr album called Beaucoups of Blues.
Its a Country record & I believe it may be out of print.
I highly recommend it if you can find it.
Also the Bob Dylan track "Sara" about his Ex,He really loved that woman.There is also a track off of that album (Desire) called Joey thats pretty sad too.

woofman

Coldplay: Trouble
Amazing Grace
Alice in Chains: the first 6 songs on "Jar of flies"
Dolly Parton: Mountain Angel
Martin Sexton: The way I am

Tyler_Durden

"A Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum and "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen are among the saddest and most beautiful I've heard.

Andalusia

"Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton definitely. Very sad song.

"If You See Her, Say Hello" by Bob Dylan. Not the kind of song you'd wanna listen to after breaking up with somebody.

"Watching the Wheels" by John Lennon. Not really a sad song in it's own right, but in my mind it's too closely connected with his murder (which happened soon after recording this tune).

Rogue588

I'll have to give this one some thought..

I agree with some of the selections on here..but out of them all, conscience has definitely nailed it with Elton John's "The Last Song". And combine it with the ending of "And the Band Played" on...devastating.

Burnt Alive

For Squirrels - Mighty KC
Something For Kate - Heavy Heart
The Pogues - The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
American Lesion - Cease

RaMMaR

Little Wing - SRV
Not Alone - Patti Griffin
Nothingness (acoustic ver.) - Living Colour
Tick Tock - The Vaughan Bros.
Let Me In - Save Ferris
(untitled) - The Cure
Did You Mean What You Said - Sovory

MaudlinHarold

These do it for me, but not everytime, mind you. But as Forrest Gump said once, "it happens":

Bob Dylan: Anything on Blood on the Tracks, but especially If You See Her, Say Hello and You're a Big Girl Now (also, from elsewhere, Mississippi, Most of the Time, Mr. Tambourine Man [especially that last verse.])

John Prine: Hello in There, Sam Stone

Emmylou Harris: Sweet Old World, Goodbye

Lucinda Williams: Sweet Old World

Steve Earle: Goodbye, Ellis Unit One

Eddie Vedder w/Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: The Long Road

R.E.M.: Find the River, Nightswimming, Why Not Smile

Moby: Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad

Cowboy Junkies: Cold Tea Blues, Lonely Sinking Feeling, Now I Know

Beatles: Dear Prudence, In My Life

John Lennon: Watching the Wheels, Life Begins at Forty (recorded just before he was shot... at forty)

George Harrison: Isn't It a Pity, All Things Must Pass

Diana Darby: Please

Townes Van Zandt: To Live is to Fly, If I Needed You, Highway Kind

and for very different reasons, most everything on Top 40 Radio (or does that format even exist anymore? )

kneijst1

Some I don't think have been mentioned:

Cold w/ Aaron Lewis - Bleed
Aaron Lewis/Staind - Outside(acoustic version)
Goo Goo Dolls - Iris(acoustic version)
Pearl Jam or Aaron Lewis - Black
GNR - Patience

Daytripper

Another vote for Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide". Not only the album version, but the one from "The Dance" too. When Stevie said "This is for you daddy" at the beginning of the song? That just kills me. "Silver Springs" is a very close second to this song. Especially the studio version.

Other sad songs:

"J for Jules" by Til Tuesday

"Steal Me Blind" by Alison Moyet

"Paranoid Android" by Radiohead

"Dog and Butterfly" by Heart - And the long story short behind this. I was a kid when this song/album came out. Came home from school and found my dog dead. Was alone holding him until my parents got home. Ever since then, I cannot listen to this song all the way through......

rocketsauce

most songs by Norah Jones, #41 and Crush by Dave Matthews, the soundtrack to High Fidelity

Giantrobo

Some of Bjork's stuff really touches me.

raKim

Lightning Crashes [live]
Gangsta Lean [DRS]
It's all coming back to me now [celine]
See ya When ya get there [coolio]

cry [faith hill] ............

BDB

Used to be

'Girlfriend in a coma' by the smiths.

edclem

Stevie Ray Vaughan: Life by the Drop, Little Wing

Penny Lane

"Dead of Winter" - Eels (and actually all of Electro-Shock Blues, an absolutely genius cd.)
"So Far Away" - Carole King
"Still Fighting It" - Ben Folds
"Remember the Mountain Bed" - Billy Bragg and Wilco
"Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space" - Spiritualized
"All Mixed Up" - Red House Painters
"Colorblind" - Counting Crows
"Tiny Dancer" - Elton John
"Into the Mystic" - Van Morrison
"Break your Heart" - Barenaked Ladies
"Fade into You" - Mazzy Star
"Top of the World" - Patty Griffin (not the Dixie Chicks verson)
"Come Pick Me Up" - Ryan Adams
"The Long Day is Over" - Norah Jones
"Hey There Mrs. Lovely" - Ryan Adams
"Love is on the Way" - Saigon Kick (I know, ha ha)
"Nójosnavelin" - Sigur Ros
"With or Without You" - U2
"Ashes of the American Flag" - Wilco
"Sweetness Follows" - R.E.M.

I think that's fairly comprehensive.

Aphex Twin

Brian Eno - An Ending
Orbital - Chime, Halcyon+on+on
Aphex Twin - Xtal
Underworld - Born Slippy
ABBA - Knowing Me, Knowing You
Carpenters - Yesterday Once More
Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter