I heard today the interesting and somewhat sick statistic that more people have defenstrated themselves to "Gloomy Sunday" than any other song. It got me thinking about what the saddest/most depressing song ever written is. Don't get me wrong - this isn't a morbid thread about what song you'd most like to commit suicide to. I was just wondering what the saddest* song you ever heard is. It doesn't have to be depressing, perhaps something that just made you stop and think "Man, that's bleak". So - saddest song ever written? * Please note - "sad" here does not equate to "lame". I have no interest in your Hanson, or your Backstreet Boys.
You'd have to go along way to beat Johnny Was by Bob Marley. Other nominees:- Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday Song for the Siren - Tim Buckley/ This Mortal Coil
A few that always get me: "Let Me In," by REM "Some Other Time," from the Bill Evans/Tony Bennett album is crushing. "It Makes No Difference," The Band "Condition Of The Heart," Prince "The Melody At Night With You," Keith Jarrett-the entire disc. This was a disc he did as both a gift to his wife and as a reflection after coming out of a long period of illness. Very moving.
I generally despise sad songs since there's no desire for me to us music to make myself feel like ********, but I gotta say that Cash's version of "Hurt", along with the video are prob one of my favorite songs. WHen I saw that for the first time, it pretty much blew me away because you dont see/hear too many things like that nowadays where a song is really felt by the artist so deeply, and translates over to his audiance. Even with the NIN version I sort of just thought it was a cool song but, "here justr another whinny bastard". With Cash I really beleived it and the imagery on the video helped.
Mine's gotta be "Tears in Heaven" by Clapton, it's about his son who died. Also it came out around the time when the duaghter of one of my friends died of a rare heart condition at 6 months old. Whenever I hear it my eyes swell up.
Bob Dylan's "Boots of Spanish Leather", "God on Our Side", "Only a Pawn in their Game" and "Girl of the North Country"
Luther Vandross - "Dance With My Father" Made worse when considering Luther Vandross's current situation of recovering from a stroke.
"The One That Got Away" by Tom Waits well I've lost my equilibrium my car keys and my pride tattoo parlor's warm and so I huddle there inside the grinding of the buzz saw whatchuwanthathingtosay just don't misspell her name buddy she's the one that got away
I was going to say - Pick anything from the Morrissey or Smiths catalogue (although some of it is a bit tongue-in-cheek). If I had to single out one song, it would be either "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" or "Asleep." Music to slash your wrists to.
Here's a few... Famous Blue Raincoat - Leonard Cohen My Man's Gone Now - the Nina Simone version Candidate - Joy Division (really any of their songs would fit this category) I Just Wasn't Made for these Times - The Beach Boys
I love Famous Blue Raincoat. What a magnificent song. And I guess I'll continue the Joy Division wing of this thread. I mean, Candidate is only on Unknown Pleasures. we haven't even gotten to Closer yet. From that album I'll single out Isolation, 24 Hours and The Eternal. Pretty much the entire second side, really.
Forever Autumn - Justin Heyward I Want you - Elvis Costello Babe I'm Gonna Leave you - Led Zeppelin Sara - Bob Dylan
asleep is a good one too. visions of johana by dylan is great, so is the alternate version of idiot wind on the first bootleg series that was put out. take all the vitrol outta the original and in its place put hopeless desperattion with the same lyrics and it kills ya.
For pure pathos, you can do a lot worse than "The Tale Of Patches" by Dickie Lee, 1962. Just slash your wrists and kill yourself now. But if you want a quality sad song, I'd suggest Cash's "The Long Black Veil".
Wow ... I'd completely forgotten about that song. Thanks for nothin. (Heh.) But that reminded me of Nina Simone's "Four Women" which ends with her yelling "My Name is ... PEACHES!" Pretty dark. Maybe more depressing and angry than sad. But "Strange Fruit" was the first thing that popped in my head as well, and is still hard to beat. Some really, really great suggestions on this thread already. I'd also suggest: "Blue Gardenia" -- Dinah Washington "Willing to Wait" -- Sebadoh "Almost Blue" -- Elvis Costello "The Thrill is Gone" -- everybody's done it, but a short list might be: Chris Connor, Chet Baker, and Sarah Vaughn's versions (no, not B.B. King - at least not for this thread)
I guess to each his own, but Tears in Heaven makes me cringe. Tom Waits has several good options. The Boss's "The River" ("On my 19th birthday, I got a union card and a wedding coat") and "Brilliant Disguise" are moving.
There is a fabulous documentary about "Strange Fruit" that was making the festival rounds last year. One of the more interesting tidbits from it was that Billie had claimed for years that SF was written especially for her when it clearly wasn't - it was written by Communist Party member Abel Meeropol as a political rally song. Also, Meeropol was the man who adopted Julius & Ethel Rosenberg's kids after their parents were executed for treason. Anyhow, the song's got an interesting history.