Random. The saddest songs you've ever heard....

[beecee]

Not sad but Beethovens 7th, second movement.

For some reason it evokes images of WW II soldiers marching in winter.

 

[midnightright]

 

[Zelja]

Brain's not working now, but I'll offer this one up.

 

[Guilderland21]

This one is certainly on my short list - Matthew 25:21 by the Mountain Goats:



And since a few others have posted classical pieces - the 3rd movement of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony:

 

[Balderdash]

Kathy Mattea - “Where’ve You Been?”

 

[davidbeinct]

Pretty sure I haven’t seen Sam Stone from John Prine in here yet. “After serving in the conflict overseas…” gets me every time.

 

[Westerly Wood]

Pretty sure I haven’t seen Sam Stone from John Prine in here yet. “After serving in the conflict overseas…” gets me every time.

incredibly sad song, indeed...

"sweet songs never last too long on broken radios"

and while this song is so simple music wise, I really dig what he does repeating the pre-chorus one more time. you cannot really teach that. But with Prine, it's always more about the lyrics.

 

[jwsamuel]

The last song on his last album:

 

[plaidseason]

 

[tonepoet]

with Prine, it's always more about the lyrics.

And Prine's lyrics can pack a punch. Like these from his song "Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)" from the 1978 album "Bruised Oranges"

"I been brought down to zero, pulled out and put back there
I sat on a park bench, kissed the girl with the black hair
And my head shouted down to my heart
"You better look out below!"

It ain't such a long drop, don't stammer, don't stutter
From the diamonds in the sidewalk to the dirt in the gutter
And you'll carry those bruises to remind you wherever you go

You can gaze out the window, get mad and get madder
Throw your hands in the air, say, "What does it matter?"
But it don't do no good to get angry
So help me, I know

For a heart stained in anger grows weak and grows bitter
You become your own prisoner as you watch yourself sit there
Wrapped up in a trap
of your very own chain of sorrow"

 

[Bill Ashton]

Bonnie Rait won a grammy for this last year; if you have not heard it, the subject matter is
a shocker, a mother's lament...



Priscilla Herdman had one, years ago, again a mother's lament by poet Henry Lawson, "The Water Lily"
Herdman did many of Eric Bogles pieces.



Although not really a tear-jerker, Gary Moore's "Still Got The Blues For You" resonates deeply...Not sure if
his Parisian Walkways should be played before or after...

 

[GAD]

Probably outside the realm of what most here listen to, but this song by Evanescence is not like their popular hits:



There are no "official" videos and no live recordings. The song is about Amy Lee finding out that her three-year old sister had died while she was in school (Amy Lee was six at the time). To this day she will not perform the song live.

 

[Prince of Darkness]

 

[Ross]

When my mother died I was moved to write something, catharsis I suppose. The subject of the song was her living room, and the chair that she always used.
I've never been able to play it all the way through, even though she's been gone 12 years.

 

[GardMan]

"The Jeannie C" by Stan Rogers...

 

[GardMan]

Another of my favorite Stan Rogers: "The Last Watch"...

 

[zulu]

 

[Uke]

This one always gets me. Here's a great live version.



Update:
How could I forget this one.

I think Billie Holiday's life may be the saddest song I've ever heard.

 

[Maguchi]

I know the title says saddest songs (plural). But when you select more than one song per post, I may completely agree with one choice, while I never heard of or don't agree with the other choice(s) in the post. So I can't click like or love on many of the posts here where I absolutely agree with one choice and not with another choice in the same post . Just one of my pet peeves on these types of posts. Oh well, proceed.

 

[davismanLV]

I know the title says saddest songs (plural). But when you select more than one song per post, I may completely agree with one choice, while I never heard of or don't agree with the other choice(s) in the post. So I can't click like or love on many of the posts here where I absolutely agree with one choice and not with another choice in the same post . Just one of my pet peeves on these types of posts. Oh well, proceed.

Exactly. I'm like agree, disagree, disagree, disagree.... so I just don't respond. Seems I've created another time suck post.... jeeze!!