What's The Saddest Song Ever?

"I Can't Make You Love Me" by Bonnie Raitt

"This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush

"One Step Up" by Bruce Springsteen

...

totally agree with Holly - "One Step Up" by Bruce. I'm crying just thinking about it. Okay, not really

Ah. You're not asking the question but rather asking for feedback on the video. The vid wasn't up when I posted...

Space Oddity - David Bowie (which was inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey NOT the Apollo 13 tragedy)

Fire and Rain - James Taylor

Ben Harper "Walk Away"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVXFP89EeqU

"Breath Me" - Sia (maybe because i associate it with the best/saddest TV/film ending of all time: the final ep. of Six Feet Under).

"Tears in Heaven" - Clapton (I mean, c'mon, the man's kid fell out of a freakin' window)

"Guess I'm Doin' Fine" & "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" - Beck (serious depression inducers ...)

and the majority of Elliot Smith's catalog.

all tied.

Fire and Rain, too. Goddamn that is a sad song.

Boz Skaggs - We're All Alone
Eric Carmen - All By Myself

*sniff*

Careless Whisper, George Michael

"There's no comfort in the truth, pain is all you'll find"

- so cheesey good

Send in the Clowns

Anything Elliot Smith ever recorded. Makes me want to stab myself in the heart. In a healthy way.

"Luchin" by Victor Jara

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRVUF7--yuM

This is perhaps the most precious song or lullaby ever written is about a little boy who has pleuresy and lives in the squatter settlements... Victor was shot 40 times and his hands were broken by the Chilean Military on September 11th 1973

or

"Santiago de Chile" by Silvio Rodriguez

A tribute to those who were tortured and killed in Chile

or

"Cuando me acuerdo de mi pais" by Patricio Manns

A memorial in exile.

my vote goes for "ain't no sunshine" by bill withers, "i'd rather go blind" by etta james, and "virtute the cat explains her departure" by the weakerthans. and "mr. tanner" by harry chapin.

http://teargasandplateglass.imeem.com/music/RElurMCO/teargas_plateglass_one_day_across_the_valley/

go to the link above to listen to teargas and plateglass's song "One day Across the valley", you will cry...

First ... great way to pose a ? Champ !

Second ... my picks:

Rape Me - Nirvana

Pretty much the whole Gin Blossoms album New Miserable Experience

you can feel the pain of each songwriter in both ... and ... well ... lets say the songwriters were not happy with life

Mad World written by micheal stipe and sung by Gary Jules

Ellanor Rigby by the Beatles.

I second aint no sunshine when she's gone.

Gravedigger by Dave Mathews, powerful and tragic

The Ballad of Irah Hayes by Johnny Cash

Another man done gone by the Carter Family and Johnny Cash on the album blood sweat and tears.

@gel

omfg. i just watched that Toy Story scene with that sarah mclaughlin 'when she loved me' song and just totally balled my eyes out...again. i must be a real sap.

As for saddest instrumental song, a contemporary one would be anything from Clint Mansell. Dead Reckoning, Work, and Requeim For a Dream. From Smokin Aces final scene, the them from Requiem, and the title sequence for the fountain resectively. All very emotional string ensemble pieces.

Hurt - Johnny Cash
Julia - The Beatles
Fire and Rain - James Taylor

aferraro had my idea too, "This Song is You" by gavrillo the great in -Saddest Music in the World.

"Buckets of Rain" by Bob Dylan

"The Origin of Love" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Songs that get me every time:

Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley's version
Hold On - Sarah McLachlan
Daniel - Elton John
I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You - Colin Hay

Streets of Philadelphia by Bruce Springsteen

The Power of Love by Yes

You're Still You by Josh Groban (this one is a real tear jerker)

Through The Eyes of My Friend by Penny Shipp

I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan

I Will Remember You by Amy Grant

YES YES Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton

How many times I cried listening to that song. The loss of a child is so painful; something you never forget.

"exit music for a film" by radiohead

"just another lonely day" by ben harper.

The Verve: The Drugs Don't Work

Gilbert O'Sullivan - Alone Again

http://youtube.com/watch?v=D_P-v1BVQn8

Even without the words, the arrangement is beautiful and heartbreaking.

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" Or "Pride" by U2 - any songs speaking of turmoil amongst an entire people rather than a song speaking of only self reflection is always sadder to me. It speaks of hurt from all sides. There are more songs that do this of course, "Winds of Change" by Scorpion, was another one. One song that does sort of speak on hurt in 1st person perspective, "Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum, that song is the saddest fucking song ever!


P.S.

"Strangefruit" by Billie Holiday is also a pretty fucking sad song because it reflected a time that was atrocious, as is Bessie Smith's "Poor Mans' Blues", because the lyrics still ring true to this day.

Some of you are mistaking sad with depressing... there is a difference you know. Haha.

Wait, mine are probably the most depressing, so I take the former comment back. Haha.