Sad songs

[shenmue]

I didn't see a recent thread on this, and it seems to be an appropriate time for one.

Go ahead and post names or videos of your favorite tearjerker tunes. I'll start with some of mine.


"I Know It's Over," the Smiths
"The Last Day of Our Acquaintance," Sinead O'Connor
"Fool in the Rain," Led Zeppelin
"Misunderstanding," Genesis
"It Doesn't Matter," Depeche Mode
"Whatever," Husker Du
"Skyway," the Replacements
"How Fortunate the Man With None," Dead Can Dance
"Say Hello, Wave Goodbye," Soft Cell
"Can't Stand Losing You," the Police
"Pictures of You," the Cure
"Like the Weather," 10,000 Maniacs
"Running," Information Society
"Rosealia," Better Than Ezra
"Love's in Need of Love Today," Stevie Wonder
"Baby Love," the Supremes
"The River," Bruce Springsteen
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," Elton John
"Stay Free," the Clash
"When You Were Mine," Prince

Let's hear 'em.

[ailsagirl]

1. Remember Don McLean?

He wrote American Pie.

He also penned Starry Starry Night about Van Gogh, where he writes
(close to the end of the song):

And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night
You took your life, as lovers often do

But I could have told you Vincent
This world was never meant
for one as beautiful as you

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

2. Shannon- Henry Gross

[Shrek]

3. "Sad Songs" by Elton John

[kwassa]

4. Someone left my cake out in the rain.

Need I say more?

[ailsagirl]

5. You know, I never understood that line!!

Or the song, for that matter.

Something like

It took so long to make/bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again!!!!!

Then it goes on about the

sweet green icing pouring down

WTH??

[CBGLuthier]

18. According to Jimmy Webb, the guy who wrote it

"It's clearly about a love affair ending, and the person singing it is using the cake and the rain as a metaphor for that. OK, it may be far out there, and a bit incomprehensible, but I wrote the song at a time in the late 1960s when surrealistic lyrics were the order of the day."

The love affair Webb speaks of was with Susan Ronstadt, Linda Ronstadt's cousin. Said Webb (in the Los Angeles Times), "MacArthur Park was where we met for lunch and paddleboat rides and feeding the ducks. She worked across the street at a life insurance company. Those lyrics were all very real to me; there was nothing psychedelic about it to me. The cake, it was an available object. It was what I saw in the park at the birthday parties. But people have very strong reactions to the song. There's been a lot of intellectual venom."

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. Angel

The lyrics seemed to have anticipated his untimely death.

[cemaphonic]

7. "Pancho & Lefty" - Townes Van Zandt

&list=RD8SjwO17gsqU#t=109

Really, at least half of his songs are pretty damn sad.

"Georgia Lee" - Tom Waits

He has lots of great tearjerkers too, but this one always really gets me.

"Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" - Blind Willie Johnson

This one is so good, they put it in space

[orleans]

8. some of my favorite sad songs:

the last ride by todd rundgren

i am the blues by laura nyro

still got the blues by gary moore

the long and winding road by the beatles

the end by the doors

[GReedDiamond]

10. Also from Todd Rundgren...

It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference

[orleans]

12. ah yes--that one too. n/t

[GReedDiamond]

14. And another one from Todd that exudes the sad...

Can We Still Be Friends

...as performed by Todd Rundgren and Daryl Hall

[Skittles]

9. "You Were Always on My Mind"

Willie Nelson

[AllenVanAllen]

11. and there's this...

and it makes me cry.

[orleans]

13. well, if it's gonna make you cry now then don't listen to it! it's too late--wait till morning.

&list=PL2r9CjQGp00gsme06yNbCdBfwRiB67NzW

[easychoice]

15. kleenex?

[CanSocDem]

16. This one....

...makes me weep openly.

&feature=player_detailpage

.

[hifiguy]

17. 10,000 Maniacs alone could comprise a pretty good list

"Eat For Two" (though quiet panic may be a better descriptor)
"Don't Talk"
"Cherry Tree" (more bittersweet than truly sad)
What's The Matter Here?

Moody Blues - Watching and Waiting
Phil Manzanera's 801 - Postcard Love
Michael Johnson - This Night Won't Last Forever
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
King Crimson - Exiles (more of an existential sadness)

On the classical side of the ledger

Vaughan Williams Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus
Barber - Adagio for Strings

Many more, I am sure, but those came immediately to mind.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

19. Love the classical ones, don't know the others.

Let me add this one to the classical collection: Alan Hovhaness, "Prayer of St. Gregory."

[hifiguy]

20. Huge fan of Hovhaness here!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

21. He's one of my all-time favorites.

His music is wonderfully ethereal without any treacly new-aginess.

[hifiguy]

24. Fifty to 100 years from now

I think history will record Ralph Vaughan Williams and Alan Hovhaness as the greatest symphonists of the 20th century.

[Doc_Technical]

22. George Jones

[Danmel]

23. Mr. Bojangles

Makes me weep like a baby.


The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Mr. Bojangles - YouTube
m.youtube.com/watch?v...

[KamaAina]

25. More Elton:

"Empty Garden", written for John Lennon.

"Candle in the Wind", written for Marilyn Monroe, and later dedicated to Princess Di.

[Rowdyboy]

26. John Prine's "Sam Stone" brings me to tears whenever I hear it....

Sam Stone came home,
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerves,
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
But the morphine eased the pain,
And the grass grew round his brain,
And gave him all the confidence he lacked,
With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back.

There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Mmm....

Sam Stone's welcome home
Didn't last too long.
He went to work when he'd spent his last dime
And Sammy took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.
And the gold rolled through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains,
And eased his mind in the hours that he chose,
While the kids ran around wearin' other peoples' clothes...

Sam Stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death
With an overdose hovering in the air
But life had lost its fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the G. I. Bill
For a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill.

[Brigid]

27. And The Master weighs in . . .

[GoCubsGo]

31. This one, too.

[likesmountains 52]

28. Townes has alot that could make this list but....Marie

[likesmountains 52]

29. A few more

and

[Arugula Latte]

30. A few I like

Sting's song "Fields of Gold" was recorded by Eva Cassidy, who knew she was dying:

Elliott Smith has many beautiful sad songs, but this is a favorite:

Mazzy Star -- Into Dust:

A friend died unexpectedly and all I could think of was the line from this song: "I always thought that I'd see you again" -- Fire & Rain:

Natalie Merchant wrote this for River Phoenix:

[CTyankee]

32. will the inclusion of Bach be OK in this list?

The 2nd movement of his Double Violin Concerto is the most sad/beautiful
piece of music,