What do you think is the saddest song ever?

"Old Friends/Bookends Theme", especially the latter part. Back in the 80's I worked at a pizza restaurant with a jukebox. This was one of the records it contained. The manager had a button in his office that would reject the currently playing song, in cases of skips mostly. He would never let the whole song play, always rejecting it right before Bookends Theme. Even if he wasn't in his office, he would rush in there at the right time to hit the button.

 

Always found this to be happy song!

 

Happy but a sad rhythm. IMHO

 

"We Built This City"-starship

 

A well written one that noone other than the composer heard.

 

Sylvia's Mother is fairly sad

 

Why? What song did she hear?

 

Its so Mach.

 

Ba-dum-bump!

 

Peter Gabriel - Dressing The Wound
(From Birdy soundtrack)

The vocals in particular.

 

This has to be way up there.

 

I'd like to drill down on this one. I've always loved it, but until I heard William Orbit's respectful synth rendition, I hadn't really felt it in its' full, majestic despair. There is just something so right about taking strings' most mournful opus...and giving it to some other instrument, and in such an unexpected setting. The atrocity of taking that musical statement away from its' intended stewards, and handing the keys over to one of music's most derided, disrespected instruments, is just so obscene. And, in an unexpected smackdown of emotion and relatability, the electronic medium proves itself equal to the challenge, without taking the liberties that so often add insult to injury in the ears of the more conservative, staid traditionalists. Without showing off, or waving the banner of the shock of the new...Orbit just puts it all aside, and respects the piece, standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the dais, never letting the soul off the hook for one measure.

No lyric required. The feeling is universal, and made more pure from the absence of the voice.

It's just notes. Tones following a specific set of instructions, leading the chords and the resolves through the paces according to the whim of the composer. Long, poignant notes, letting the morphing of the melody lines creep around the tears on the cheek, into the ear canal, and wind insideously down towards the heart; where it perches lightly on the muscles as they pine for relief, biding its' time, until the soul is at its' weakest. And then; and then; down, down, into the beating organ, snaking along passageways and neurons to a nook or cranny where it can finally access the emotion, and corrupt it. The hurt made deeper, the emptiness stroked to full bloom, and a bouquet of regret, and loss, and sorrow become the only message the heart is capable of producing. And, all that from "just notes".

From the hands of a master.

 

I know it's most likely been mentioned; however, I do not have time to peruse 47 pages. And it's worth mentioning again. This one always gets me.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will The Circle Be Unbroken

 

about a little girl who will die in a few hours

 

Neil Young--Oh Lonesome Me. After the Goldrush album. Written by Don Gibson.

One of the few songs recorded by Neil back in the day that he did not write.

 

Now usually I am not a country aficionado, and I am not a NGDB homer either, nor are they my favorite band. However, they have released some of the saddest tales in song. You can feel the emotion here.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Mr. Bojangles

 

Jesca Hoop - D.N.R.

 

Brilliantly heartbreaking.

 

'My Man's Gone Now' (from Porgy and Bess). Sinead O'Connor/Larry Adler's version.

 

Dead Can Dance - How Fortunate the Man with None (words by Bertolt Brecht)

 

Thanks for posting this wondrous video , amongst the saddest songs ever written and made even more human by seeing Townes perform it himself .

 

Memory Lane - Van Morrison



Beautiful song

 

LOL!

 

You're welcome. His story telling is so vivid, it makes me wonder if its based on real people/ real events. Wish I could I have seen him live.