Sad songs

Family Life by The Blue Nile (from Peace at last).

The saddest song in the world.Has me in tears every time.



Stephen

ELP - 'The Sage' on Pictures At An Exhibition
Manfred Mann's - 'Questions' on The Roaring Silence
Grateful Dead - 'Death Don't Have No Mercy' on Live/Dead ... Jerry's high-pitched last note of the second guitar solo just leaves yoiu emotionally shattered

Cheese

Duke Ellington's solo piano version of "Lotus Blossom" on the ...and his mother called him Bill album.

-- Ian

... say so much.

Farewell,Farewell -Fairport Convention.Sandy Denny starts off and you think that it is a typical folksong ;boy and girl being parted and then you realise that it is about child abuse.Brings a lump to my throat every timeand I have to go and cuddle my kids,they think that I'm a nut.

Tom Waits is the only singer that can make me cry:

A Little Rain from Bone Machine

"She was 16 years old and she'd never seen the ocean
She crawled into a train with a vagabond
And the last things that she said was " I Love you mum,"
A little rain never hurt no-one...."

There's at least one on every record. Such beautiful songs.

Kevin

How about D. Shostakovich's 13th Quartet? Or am I confusing sadness with utter, hopeless nihilism?

If not Shos., then I'm afraid Fred's right; it's gotta be Neil Diamond. Now there's an artist who plumbed the depths of the human condition.

"I can't make you love me" - Bonnie Raitt

Steve D

Has to be "Gloomy Sunday". A song with a macabre and fascinating history. Once banned by the BBC and others for its alleged tendency to encourage suicide. There's a numerous cover versions out there - I particularly rate the Sarah McLachlan one though - it's on some odds & sods CD the name of which escapes me and that I've lost (Doh). Same CD has a great cover of Andy Partridge's Dear God too.

Phil

Nick Drake's "Fruit Tree" must be the saddest and most poignant song ever written. To foresee that your fame and regard will only happen after your death is truly sad.

Jono

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Originally posted by steved:
"I can't make you love me" - Bonnie Raitt

Steve D

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So true. Or even like Bonnie Raitt.



Stephen

I definitely 2nd 'Lotus Blossom' from '...and his mother called him Bill' the fact that it was taped accidently as the other muisicians were packing up only adds extra poinancy; very a much a personal tribute. I think there are a number of contenders on that album, 'Blood Count' especially. On a less cerebral note there is a song on the last Ben Folds album (I think it is called 'it hurts/sucks to grow up'); it just get s me every time.

"All by myself" (no not with C***n D**n), but sung by someone else (who?) in the film "Bridget Jones diary".

It's about not being so young anymore, and belive me, IT IS sad.

JohanR

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Originally posted by ejl:
If not Shos., then I'm afraid Fred's right; it's gotta be Neil Diamond. Now _there's_ an artist who plumbed the depths of the human condition.

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Am I the "Fred" to whom you refer? Are you talking about my comment " ... say so much"?

If so, I was just completing the lyric left hanging by this topic's subject. However, it's not Neil Diamond, it's Elton John.

They really do, you know.

Has anyone else heard "Tne Kids", on Berlin by Lou Reed?

Its about a junkie mother who had her chidren taken away.

I actually cannot play it: it features young children sobbing for their mum: rumour has it that the producer told some kids that their mum had died, and recorded the result..

Utterly harrowing.

Oh, and anything by Robson and Jerome.

Regards

Mike

Spending money I don't have on things I don't need.

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Oh, and anything by Robson and Jerome.

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Its not because they are sad songs that people are crying

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Originally posted by kj burrell:
Tom Waits .... There's at least one on every record. Such beautiful songs.

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Agreed! In particular, I really like "Take It With Me" on "Mule Variations". Anne Sophie von Otter and Elvis Costello do a cover of this which is OK, but it doesn't have that heart wrenching impact of the original. There something about Wait's broken-down voice that makes it feel so much more real.

Another sad song (although I'll probably be accused of serving up the cheese) is Alan Parson's "Old and Wise" from "Eye in the Sky".

And I'll second the recommendation for Eric Carmen's "All By Myself". Even though it was based upon the 2nd movement of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto #2, I think that Carmen's version is more moving (or at least sadder ).

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Johnny Cash' version of "We'll meet again" on the American IV album. Enough said, really.

I Can't Cry Hard Enough by Victoria Williams.

If I Were Brave by Shawn Colvin.

The Lobby by Jane Siberry.

Top Of The World by Patty Griffin.

Solitude - Black Sabbath (!)

Bye Bye Baby- The Ramones (!)

Where do we go now but nowhere - Nick cave and the Bad Seeds

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Originally posted by kj burrell:
Tom Waits .... There's at least one on every record. Such beautiful songs.

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Add "A Soldier's Things" to the list. Not the Paul Young version, though.

Surprised nobody has mentioned two cheesy candidates from 70s pop radio:

"Alone Again, Naturally" - Gilbert & Sullivan
"Seasons in the Sun" - Terry Jacks

Tragic kitsch was a mainstay of the whole decade. Yee-ikes.

Eleanor Rigby.

"Motorcycle Emptiness"

by Wales' finest.

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by Wales' finest.

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finest what?

Meer dan een ander by Van dik hout.