This just makes me want to boot up limewire
Jun 12, 2005 Music
Got any to add? The Top 25 Saddest Songs of All Time
My sister’s favorite from her K-Tel Golden Hits was Run Joey Run. I vote for Jane Siberry’s song about sitting by her mother’s deathbed, The Vigil (The Sea), which I adore (although I admit that the woman could make armpit noises into a microphone and I’d gush but this is really good).
June 12th, 2005 at 8:20 pm
Oh, the horror I am reliving!
Run Joey Run!
aaagh.
Okay…Billy Don’t Be A Hero used to make me sad, not in the same league as Run Joey Run, though.
One Tin Soldier
eek.
June 12th, 2005 at 8:20 pm
oh lord, I totally forgot about Run Joey Run! Ha!
June 12th, 2005 at 8:38 pm
My two votes:
Secondhand Flowers by Tom T. Hall
I Can’t Make You Love me if You Won’t by Bonnie Raitt (her performance of it makes it heartbreaking, IMO)
June 12th, 2005 at 9:21 pm
Oh, and i also love Jane Siberry
June 13th, 2005 at 2:16 am
I’ve got two — both by Annie Lennox: The Saddest Song I’ve Got and Why. (I Can’t Make You Love Me is also a good choice.)
June 13th, 2005 at 6:44 am
Last Kiss by….ummm…..somebody.
But it’s even better when Eddie Vedder does it.
June 13th, 2005 at 11:39 am
How about
Goodnight Saigon - Billy Joel
June 13th, 2005 at 12:27 pm
They Dance Alone by Sting (but I prefer the cover by Holly Near and Mercedes Sosa)
They’re Called Bui Doi and I’d Give My Life for You from Miss Saigon
My Daughter’s vote is Concrete Angel by Martina McBride (I think)
June 13th, 2005 at 1:12 pm
how about “Hello in There” by John Prine, singer of myriad genuine weepers like the listed “Sam Stone”–of older people, he sings: “If you see a pair of hollow, ancient eyes, don’t stop and stare, say hello in there…hello.” Or another sad holiday treat, his song, “Christmas in Prison.” “It was Christmas in prison, and the food was real good, we had turkey, and pistols, carved out of wood.” Prine is the king of sad…with a great face to match.
June 13th, 2005 at 2:50 pm
Harry Chapin is already on the list for the Shortest Story (truly tragic), but a less obvious choice is Cat’s in the Cradle - I have seen several adolescents burst into tears over the distance they feel from their parents when listening to this song. He also has one about the UT sniper that’s sad.
From Kris Kristofferson: Jody And The Kid ranks up there with Honey for dead wife songs, IMO. And Epitaph (Black and Blue) about Janis Joplin makes your teeth hurt it’s so sad. Both are on his generally gloomy silver Tongued Devil album.
When I left my husband, he played Comfortably Numb over and over again. I shared this with my first girlfriend who then played it over and over again when we were breaking up. That song gives me a headache. throw in the smell of cheap wine, and I’ll run for cover.
Sorry to dominate these comments, but I have always wanted to do a K-Tel type compilation album of the saddest songs. I also want to do one where all the songs have the F-word!
June 13th, 2005 at 3:29 pm
Ok, ok, I’ll stop after this one. Everyone’s sick here (including me), so I’m a bit restless and this has been entertaining me.
At 17 by Janis Ian
Noting Compares 2 U by Sinead O’Connor, mostly sad because you fear that she will kill herself any minute
Everybody Hurts by REM
Miriam and Esther by Phranc (senile grandma songs gotta make ya cry)
Prison Trilogy (Billy Rose) by Joan Baez
Joey by Concrete Blond
as I expected before I searched, people beat me to my compilation album, but these are some I would add. the things I wallow in when I just want to be sad!
June 13th, 2005 at 11:18 pm
What about that ‘Seasons in the Sun’ song? I remember hearing it on the radio as a wee totlet in the 70’s–it seemed so tragic and scary, like the ‘found a peanut’ song. You know the part about the peanut being rotten, eating it anyway and then dying from it. Used to make me so sad. A weird kid, yes, I know. I come from sad stock apparently. My grandmother (now 85) tells a funny story about standing over the phonograph in her aunt’s livingroom, playing ‘Danny Boy’ over and over and crying about it. She was about four or five at the time. She says she loved making herself sad (which is just totally unlike her now–I guess we really do change as we age)
So, in planning this fabulous K-tel album, I must ask that we include: Seasons in the sun
Danny Boy
and let’s throw in Found a
Peanut for good measure
June 14th, 2005 at 10:04 am
Travelin’ Soldier by the Dixie Chicks is blatently manipulative and schmaltzy and it makes me weep Every. Single. Time. I hear it. I listen to too much country radio — there’s this awful one about a mom who’s little girl is dying and “who’s gonna hold her hand when she crosses the streets of Heaven” and then of course there’s the even more blatantly manipulative “Letters from Home” and gah, I have to go drink bleach now.
June 15th, 2005 at 12:10 am
Anything by Dory Previn from her Mythical Kings and Iguanas album. Also Carol Bayer Sager, Sometimes Late at Night. Yes my stepfather was morose.
June 15th, 2005 at 12:13 am
Janis Ian, Between the Lines- another album to drink to.
June 15th, 2005 at 12:14 am
Ruby by Kenny Rogers