Saddest Song in all Genres of Music?

Auld Lang Syne...Robert Burns

I can't believe no one has mentioned Portishead. "Dummy" is one of the saddest albums ever. However, there's no saddest song of all-time. There are simply too many genres and song styles to fairly narrow it down to one.

Annabelle - Gillian Welch

"I had a daughter called her Annabelle

She's the apple of my eye

Tried to give her something like I never had

I didn't want to ever hear her cry

When I'm dead and buried I'll take a hard life of tears

For every day I've ever known

Anna's in the churchyard, she's got no life at all

She's only got these words on a stone"

Useless Desires - Patty Griffin

"every day I take a bitter pill to get me on my way to the little aches and pains the ones I have from day to day to help me think a little less about the things I miss, to help me now to wonder how I ended up like this"

End of the World- Skeeter Davis

What Becomes of the Brokenhearted-Jimmy Ruffin

Dry Your Eyes- Brenda and the Tabulations

Puff the Magic Dragon-P,P& Mary

"i want candy" by bow wow wow

i get misty every time. *sniff*

Since the subject asked for all genres, there are some arias and character pieces from the 19th century that would easily take the cake. But I'll put one out there a bit more in line with the way the thread developed.

"Return to Oz" by the Scissor Sisters.

Allusion after allusion to the film to describe the devastation wreaked upon Seattle's gay community by crystal meth. One particular verse really hits hard, especially if you've ever seen a meth addict (I think the patchwork girl also refers to the AIDS quilt)...

The wheelies are cutting pavement,

And the skeksis at the rave meant to hide

deep inside their sunken faces and their wild, rolling eyes.

But their callous words reveal

That they can no longer feel -

Love or sex appeal.

The patchwork girl has come to cinch the deal.

Death Cab For Cutie

What Sarah Said

And it came to me then that every plan

Is a tiny prayer to father time

As I stared at my shoes in the ICU

That reeked of piss and 409

And I rationed my breaths as I said to myself

that I'd already taken too much today

As each descending peak of the LCD

Took you a little farther away from me

Away from me

Amongst the vending machines

And year old magazines

In a place where we only say goodbye

It stung like a violent wind

That our memories depend

On a faulty camera in our minds

And I knew that you were a truth

I would rather lose

than to have never lain beside at all

Then I looked around at all the eyes on the ground

As the TV entertained itself

Cause there's no comfort in the waiting room

Just nervous paces bracing for bad news

Then the nurse comes round

And everyone lifts their heads

And I'm thinking of what Sarah said

That love is watching someone die

So who's going to watch you die?

So who's going to watch you die?

So who's going to watch you die?

Also:

Death Cab For Cutie

I Will Follow You Into The Dark

Love of mine some day you will die

But I'll be close behind

I'll follow you into the dark

No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white

Just our hands clasped so tight

Waiting for the hint of a spark

If heaven and hell decide

That they both are satisfied

Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you

When your soul embarks

Then I'll follow you into the dark

In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule

I got my knuckles brusied by a lady in black

And I held my toungue as she told me

"Son fear is the heart of love"

So I never went back

If heaven and hell decide

That they both are satisfied

Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you

When your soul embarks

Then I'll follow you into the dark

You and me have seen everything to see

From Bangkok to Calgary

And the soles of your shoes are all worn down

The time for sleep is now

It's nothing to cry about

Cause we'll hold each other soon

In the blackest of rooms

If heaven and hell decide

That they both are satisfied

Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you

When your soul embarks

Then I'll follow you into the dark

Then I'll follow you into the dark

The saddest song is He Stopped Loving Her Today by George Jones.

Just look at the lyrics.

I LOVE THIS SONG!...and I am not Parrot Head!..Surprised no one has mentioned it yet! I remember many years ago the first time I heard it. I was drunk and I listening carefully to the words and began to cry. A Jimmy Buffett classic for me. I guess it is a sad song for some of us.

He Went To Paris by JIMMY BUFFETT

He went to Paris

looking for answers

to questions that bothered him so

He was impressive,

young and aggressive,

saving the world on his own

Warm summer breezes

and french wines and cheeses

put his ambitions at bay

summers and winters

scattered like splinters

and four or five years slipped away

He went to England

played the piano

and married an actress named Kim

they had a fine life

she was a good wife

and bore him a young son named Jim

and all of the answers

to all of the questions

locked in his attic one day

he liked the quiet

clean country living

and twenty more years slipped away

well, the war took his baby

bombs killed his lady

and left him with only one eye

his body was battered

his whole world was shattered

and all he could do was just cry

while the tears were a' fallin'

he was recallin'

the answers he never found

so he hopped on a freighter

skidded the ocean

and left England without a sound

Now he lives in the islands

fishes the pylons

and drinks his green label each day

he's writing his memoirs

and losing his hearing

but he don't care what most people say

"Through eighty six years

of perpetual motion,"

if he likes you, he'll smile and he'll say,

"some of it's magic,

and some of it's tragic,

but I had a good life all the way"

Needle in the Hay - Elliott Smith

kilkelly ireland

http://n.ethz.ch/student/fischerk/kilkelly.html

A recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N00kVNZeHU

was just about to mention elliott smith, needle in the hay. to be honest alot of his stuff could be classed as sad. others on my list would be:

Radiohead- Exit Music (For A Film)

The Smiths- I Know It's Over

Portishead- Roads

gary jules cover of mad world definitely takes the cake

Elliot Smith was once voted the saddest man alive. That was before he killed himself. Have to agree with Needle in the Hay.

Elliot Smith is right on, and Nick Drake can be categorized in the 'lots of sad music' genre too.

Other sad songs--

Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt

Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven

Peter Gabriel's Grieve

Definetly Tears in heaven

The saddest music of all is Gorecki's 'Symphony No.3' also known as the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. It's got 3 movements each one accompanied by a song performed in Polish. The best version is that recorded by the soprano Dawn Upshaw.

The first songs lyrics are the final words spoken to Jesus on the cross by his mother. The second song consists of words scratched on the inside of a concentration camp cell wall by a Polish girl. The third movement is based on a Polish folk song about a son who never returns to his mother due to being murdered by robbers.

The music is incredibly powerful. You don't need to understand Polish for it to bring tears to your eyes and for the hair on your neck to stand up.

Almost anything by Billie Holliday. Music to commit suicide to.