Saddest Song in all Genres of Music?

Pearl Jam's cover of Wilson Frank & the Cavaliers' song "Last Kiss" is, in my opinion, sadder than the original version, and also in my opinion, the saddest song ever.

Don't Cry by Guns 'n Roses is the runner-up.

thats a pretty sad song. also a very sad song is

cats in the cradle, by katz.

drunkenhyena wrote:

Cat's in the Cradle is definitely up there, but I still go with "In the Ghetto" by Elvis about the cycle of inner city violence long before anything resembling gangster rap.

That tune was written by Mac Davis who also wrote "Memories".

Two of my faves by The King.

both version so of 'Hurt' definitely make the cute

Also 'It's a Motherf***er' by the Eels is a tearjerker, and I'm surprised nobody has said 'Everybody Hurts' by REM

Are you sure that wasn't Marc Davis who wrote those lyrics????

Anyway hands down is Wildfire by one sad MF'er...

"There's a hootin' outside my window now,

for six nights in a row,

he's coming for me I know,

and on Wildfire,

we're both gonna go..."

I'm ballin'

A close second... The Message by Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five check it out...

Broken glass everywhere

People pissing on the stairs, you know they just

Dont care

I cant take the smell, I cant take the noise

Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice

Rats in the front room, roaches in the back

Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat

I tried to get away, but I couldnt get far

Cause the man with the tow-truck repossessed my car

Chorus:

Dont push me, cause Im close to the edge

Im trying not to loose my head

Its like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder

How I keep from going under

Standing on the front stoop, hangin out the window

Watching all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes

Blow

Crazy lady, livin in a bag

Eating out of garbage piles, used to be a fag-hag

Search and test a tango, skips the life and then go

To search a prince to see the last of senses

Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps

So she can tell the stories to the girls back home

She went to the city and got so so so ditty

She had to get a pimp, she couldnt make it on her

Own

Chorus:

Its like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder

How I keep from goin under

My brothers doing fast on my mothers t.v.

Says she watches to much, is just not healthy

All my children in the daytime, dallas at night

Cant even see the game or the sugar ray fight

Bill collectors they ring my phone

And scare my wife when Im not home

Got a bum education, double-digit inflation

Cant take the train to the job, theres a strike

At the station

Me on king kong standin on my back

Cant stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac

Midrange, migraine, cancered membrane

Sometimes I think Im going insane, I swear I might

Hijack a plane!

Chorus:

My son said daddy I dont wanna go to school

Cause the teachers a jerk, he must think Im a

Fool

And all the kids smoke reefer, I think itd be

Cheaper

If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper

I dance to the beat, shuffle my feet

Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps

Cause its all about money, aint a damn thing

Funny

You got to have a con in this land of milk and

Honey

They push that girl in front of a train

Took her to a doctor, sowed the arm on again

Stabbed that man, right in his heart

Gave him a transplant before a brand new start

I cant walk through the park, cause its crazy

After the dark

Keep my hand on the gun, cause they got me on the

Run

I feel like an outlaw, broke my last fast jaw

Hear them say you want some more, livin on a

Seesaw

Chorus:

A child was born, with no state of mind

Blind to the ways of mankind

God is smiling on you but hes frowning too

Cause only God knows what you go through

You grow in the ghetto, living second rate

And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate

The places you play and where you stay

Looks like one great big alley way

Youll admire all the number book takers

Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers

Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens

And you wanna grow up to be just like them

Smugglers, scrambles, burglars, gamblers

Pickpockets, peddlers and even pan-handlers

You say Im cool, Im no fool

But then you wind up dropping out of high school

Now youre unemployed, all null n void

Walking around like youre pretty boy floyd

Turned stickup kid, look what you done did

Got send up for a eight year bid

Now your man is took and youre a may tag

Spend the next two years as an undercover fag

Being used and abused, and served like hell

Till one day you was find hung dead in a cell

It was plain to see that your life was lost

You was cold and your body swung back and forth

But now your eyes sing the sad sad song

Of how you lived so fast and died so young

Chorus:

Bittersweet Symphony

Fire Maple Song by Everclear

Also, check out this version of Hey Ya. Seriously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-8nkkOA_AM

Never realized what a sad song this was until I saw this

the crossroads - bone thugz

yesterday - beatles

still fighting it - ben folds

stay together for the kids - blink 182

jesus christ - brand new

willie mcbride - clancy brothers

no son of mine - genesis

late for the sky - jackson browne

family business - kanye west

a slow descent - straylight run

god of wine - third eye blind

sunday bloody sunday - u2

the freshmen - the verbe pipe

'The Last Goodbye' by Jeff Buckley

Forever Walking Alone - Dragonland

Always will be - Hammerfall

Tangerine - Led Zep

I was referring to Pearl Jam's version. A song isn't just lyrics.

And thanks ohxc.

circle game - joni mitchell

Good to see some Ben Folds mentioned ("Brick" & "Evaporated"), but there are many more. Funny how a guy who so often goes for the "wacky" and "manic" can write such sensitive stuff too.

I agree that it is not just the lyrics, nor even the melody, that count, but the arrangement too. It may well be that Tears for Fears' original of "Mad World" is superior in the eyes of so many, but is it really sadder?

Context makes a big difference too. With the eg. above, consider that many were linking the song with the movie (Donnie Darko). That made it sadder, I think - the emotions from the movie carried over.

When allowing for context, I don't see how anything can beat Clapton's "Tears in Heaven". I remember reading about the boy's mother coming in, seeing the open window, the cleaner's face and just realising and collapsing. The image in my mind that that created as I read about it will never leave me. Not the greatest song of all time, but surely the saddest.

Finally, Counting Crows do many sad songs too. Duritz is a great songwriter. I think "Another Horsedreamer's Blues" is most worth a mention.

Yes, I agree. I think there is a strong difference between just a song with sad lyrics and a sad song, so in considering the ultimate sad song I think we must not only look at what a song was saying but how it was said or what emotions it stirs up inside of us.

Bobby GoldsboSee the tree, how big it's grown

But friend, it hasn't been too long, it wasn't big

I laughed at her and she go mad

The first day that she planted it, was just a twing

Then the first snow came

And she ran up to brush the snow away so it wouldn't die

Came running in, all excited

Slipped and almost hurt herself and I laughed till I cried

She was always young at heart, kind of dumb and kind of smart

And I loved her so

And I surprised her with a puppy

Kept me awake all Christmas Eve two years ago

And it would sure embarrass her when I came in from working late

'Cause I would know

That she'd been sitting there and crying

Over some sad and silly late late show

And honey, I miss you and I'm being good

And I'd love to be with you if only I could

She wrecked the car and she was sad

And so afraid that I'd be mad, but what the heck

Though I pretended hard to be

Guess you could say she saw through me and hugged my neck

I came home unexpectedly

And caught her crying needlessly in the middle of the day

And it was in the early spring, when flowers bloom and robins sing

She went away

And Honey, I miss you and I'm being good

And I'd love to be with you if only I could

One day while I was not at home

While she was there and all alone, the angles came

Now all I have is memories of Honey

And I wake up nights and call her name

Now my life's an empty stage

Where Honey lived and Honey played

And love grew up

And a small cloud passes overhead

And cries down on the flower bed that Honey loved

ro "Honey and others too, King the Sobs

Get Lonely by the Mountain Goats

pretty much anything by Skip James

(surprised more blues hasnt been mentioned on this thread)

Come on, somebody has to mention Ryan Adams.

September

When Will You Come Back Home

Come Pick Me Up

La Cienga Just Smiled

and of course his live version of Wonderwall

All of those are pretty sad songs, but I'm also going to have to agree with Empty by Ray Lamontagne.

(edit) LaMontagne