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

[mushroom]

She Moved Through The Fair

A traditional Irish folk song done by a lot of people over the years but……. the version by All About Eve is…. just beautiful.

 

[DougH]

Post

 

[guitarslinger]

 

[davismanLV]

That's just moving and beautiful!!

 

[WaltW]

I'll go first. I know the lyrics and I know the chords. But honestly I just can't get through this song without breaking down.

So do you have a song like that?? Please share....

Yes, A great song by a one of a kind singer song writer. It's difficult for me to acknowledge her on this thread, knowing that she is gone from us now 2 years. Nanci was my last great love in music. Saw her in Newport two years in a row and other concert venues. Her music is always playing in my head! davismanLV: You teared me up just mentioning her!

 

[davismanLV]

Okay, here's another one. Tom Waits is an amazing songwriter. His lyrics and tunes are poignant and driven. However, I can't listen to him with that gravelly voice. I just can't. But then when you give one of his songs to one of the best vocalists ever, say Valerie Carter, then magic happens!!



I've grown up here all of my life
But I dreamed someday I'd go
Where blue-eyed girls and red guitars
And the naked rivers flow
I'm not all I thought that I'd be
I've always stayed around
I've been as far as Mercy and Grand
Frozen to the ground.

But I can't stay here and I'm scared to leave
So kiss me once and then
And I'll go to hell, I might as well
Be whistlin' down the wind
Bus is at the corner
The clock on the wall
The broken-down windmill
There ain't no wind at all
And I yelled and I cursed
"If I stay here I'll rust"
I'm stuck like a shipwreck out here in the dust

The sky is red
And the world is on fire
And the corn is taller than me
And the dog is tied
To a wagon of rain
And the road is wet as the sea
But sometimes the music from a dance
Will carry across the plains
And the places that I'm dreaming of
Do they dream only of me?

There are places where they never sleep
And the circus never ends
So I will take the Marley Bone Coach
And be whistling down the wind
So I will take the Marley Bone Coach
And be whistling down the wind

 

[WaltW]

Thank you davismanLV! Never heard of Valerie Carter(related to June Carter Cash?) What a lovely Voice she has and really did Tom Waits lyrics some justice. I'm going to have to research her music. There are two songs that Tom recorded that I prefer his to others that have recorded them, Downtown Train and Jersey Girls. There's just something that he gives to those songs that the others don't. Rod Stewart = Downtown Train and The Bruce = Jersey Girls

 

[Prince of Darkness]

Thank you davismanLV! Never heard of Valerie Carter(related to June Carter Cash?) What a lovely Voice she has and really did Tom Waits lyrics some justice. I'm going to have to research her music. There are two songs that Tom recorded that I prefer his to others that have recorded them, Downtown Train and Jersey Girls. There's just something that he gives to those songs that the others don't. Rod Stewart = Downtown Train and The Bruce = Jersey Girls

I don't think she is related to June Carter Cash (The Carter Family), unless distantly.
Apparently Steve Winwood's song Valerie and Jackson Browne's That Girl Could Sing were written about her.

 

[davismanLV]

Valerie Carter is not related to June. She is primarily a background singer. Carter began her career singing in coffeehouses as a teenager, and eventually became one-third of the country-folk band Howdy Moon. Though they debuted at the legendary Troubadour in Los Angeles, California, in 1974, their one album is now fairly obscure. It is notable, however, for the Carter-penned song "Cook with Honey", later a hit for Judy Collins, and for the introduction of Carter to Lowell George, who produced the next album. He would be a mentor to her until his death in 1979 and introduced her to Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and many of the artists she would work with throughout her career.

Her first solo album, Just a Stone's Throw Away, featured an impressive array of guest artists from the 1970s Southern California music scene including Maurice White, Lowell George, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, and Denice Williams. The album was well received and garnered favorable reviews and placed her as the opening act for the Eagles in Europe. Two years later, she released another album Wild Child, and began touring with various artists, primarily James Taylor, Jackson Browne, and Linda Ronstadt.

She also appeared on the Trio album with Dolly, Emmylou, and Linda. Her constant touring with different bands and artists took it's toll and she used a lot of drugs. She got clean a couple of times, and James Taylor helped a lot in that area. But she'd usually fall back into her old habits.

Carter died of a heart attack on March 4, 2017, at the age of 64. So sad. As Jackson Browne wrote, "That Girl Could Sing"!!

 

[WaltW]

davismanLV, I researched her last night and I was dumbfounded on the list of who she collaborated with, omg it was literally a Who's who in the music industry through the decades , song writing as well as performances. What an unbelievable talent and another musical gift to us that's gone too soon!. She was born 6 days after me. Thanks so much for the YouTube link and introducing her to me. I'll be on the hunt for some CDs of her recordings. Hopefully I can find some, I no longer have a turntable so vinyl is out of the question.

 

[CA-35]

This one is not the saddest but it will get you a little lump right in the throat. Father John Misty "Goodbye Mr Blue"

 

[davismanLV]

Since we brought up Valerie Carter, I figured I'd post this one, too. While not gut-wrenchingly sad, it's melancholy as hell. Doing a John Sebastian song.... she does it JUSTICE!!

 

[WaltW]

Thank You is all I can say.....................found a CD of it on ebay and 2 others!

 

[tonepoet]

Okay, here's another one. Tom Waits is an amazing songwriter. His lyrics and tunes are poignant and driven. However, I can't listen to him with that gravelly voice. I just can't.

Agree on his songwriting. Especially early Tom Waits. I had the same reaction to his voice back in the 1970s and my brother said "Here. Take this album and listen to it cover to cover and then see what you think." It was Waits' first album called "Closing Time". I listened to it twice in a row, all the way through and was sold on him.

When the "Heart Attack and Vine" album came out in 1980, I said to my Dad "Hey Dad, listen to this tune" I played "Jersey Girl" for him. When the song was over he said "Play that again". After the second listen, my Dad said "There is no one who will ever sing that song better than that guy". I think my Dad was right on that one.

 

[Bill Ashton]

There are probably better recordings of this (too much hall "reverb?"), but here 'tis this one...

 

[Neal]

Surprised this tune has yet to be discussed.

 

[Neal]

Also this one by Tom Waits. Every time I hear it, I get freezing cold, no matter the actual weather.

 

[davismanLV]

Also this one by Tom Waits. Every time I hear it, I get freezing cold, no matter the actual weather.

Another BRILLIANT Tom Waits song, and one of my favorites. However, I like this version.

 

[twocorgis]

Jason asked folks to send photos of loved ones that passed on from cancer for videos of this song. I sent one of my mom, who passed from uterine cancer at almost 91, and that's her at the 1:59 point.

One of my favorite sad songs is this gem by Jackson Browne. It's just aching. Here with Bonnie Raitt and her JF100 for some Guild content.

 

[CA-35]

Son of a b_tch....... Sandy that pick of her on the rock........ all those pics............. made me hurt.