A musical poll!

[theweaselking]

From a discussion between me and torrain over dinner: "Saddest Song Ever" - difficulty, no "The Last Unicorn" by Kenny Loggins, because some of us remember the 80s and that's cheating.

Suggestions so far are things like Meatloaf's "I'll do anything for love", Bowie's "Space Oddity", some of the covers of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", the William Orbit version of Barber's Adagio For Strings, Sentenced's "Mourn", and John Williams' "Theme To Schindler's List"

If Eleanor Rigby wasn't such a happy, poppy melody, I'd count it, too but yeah.

So! What's your pick, for Saddest Song Ever?

Comments

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh - songs to slash your wrists by:

"Sorry seems to be the hardest word"- Elton John.

"Everybody hurts" - REM

And I know what you mean about sad songs with happy music - DAMN YOU TMBG!

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

dcharlton suggests "Puff The Magic Dragon".

Which leads me into "One Tin Soldier" and "Cats In The Cradle", by association.

Unrelated to that: Alice Cooper, "Only Women Bleed".

[dglenn.livejournal.com]

If you wanted to go for creepiest instead of saddest, I'd pick Alice Cooper's "Steven" (... uh, from the same album?).

On the phone just now, 'Bang suggested "Leaning on a Jet Plane" as well as "Cats in the Cradle".

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

"Pale Blue Eyes."

[cosmiccat.livejournal.com]

"Shadow of Michael" by Yoko Kanno is pretty sad, in a sort of bittersweet way. But I have a well-documented obsession with her music.

Also now I'm listening to cover after cover of The Last Unicorn. It's like a distillation of everything that makes fantasy inherently sad; we live in the crumbling world described, except we don't get a last unicorn. Just ruin.

[speck.livejournal.com]

Xmas shoes ;)

But for real - Golden Slumbers.

[anthophilous.livejournal.com]

Golden Slumbers is guaranteed to make me cry, because it's when they are carrying the casket in the Sgt Pepper movie *sniffle*

[lordbleys.livejournal.com]

Ever since I was a kid.

http://youtu.be/ryEjm3k6uY0

I'm going to go back there someday.
Gonzo, the Muppet Movie 1979


And I saw the movie at the Drive In

[mhoye.livejournal.com]

That's a great, great choice.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Pah! Nothing beats "Goddamn the Sun" by the Swans. The title is probably the most cheerful element.

"Life is Shit" by The Dead Milkmen is good for a depressing laugh.

[dreamshade.livejournal.com]

Echo for Goddamn the Sun.

[wyldsatyr.livejournal.com]

I'm going to say Valse Triste by Sibelius

If you want to know why, find an old Italian animated spoof on Fantasia called Allegro Non Troppo... My god, the cat! *sobs uncontrollably*

EDIT: Hoh! Found it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Oc_J1Lu-o

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Wow. The music really isn't all that sad without the video, but the video is amazingly well done!

[aeduna.livejournal.com]

Some contenders...

Hurt - NIN (I would argue that the Johnny Cash cover is sadder than the original, which has a more "well, fuck" feel.)
The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned) - The Decemberists
Mad World - Gary Jules

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Johnny Cash's Hurt really should be on the list! Excellent choice!

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

"Tom Dooley"
"The Unquiet Grave"

[anthophilous.livejournal.com]

Leonard Cohen "Hallelujah"
Beatles "Long & Winding Road"

[graethorne.livejournal.com]

a few contenders:

Too Much Love Will Kill You -Brian May http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUn3_cdxkT0

The Show Must Go On -Queen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrenWuUjl2s&feature=related

My Shit's Fucked Up -Warren Zevon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2aUJF3gdog&mode=related&search=

Don't Let Us Get Sick -Warren Zevon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELe4vC3oM5E

[stormfeather.livejournal.com]

The Show Must Go On is sad enough as it is, but it's so much sadder when taken in context, re: Freddy Mercury.

[tacomonkey.livejournal.com]

My first thought is Billie Holiday doing Gloomy Sunday (http://youtu.be/48cTUnUtzx4).

Also:
The Mountain Goats - No Children (http://youtu.be/wRP6egIEABk)
Brand New - Play Crack The Sky (http://youtu.be/6A9W0qymZuc)
Alkaline Trio - Donner Party (http://youtu.be/AwqpJXtFg5E) or Blue In The Face (http://youtu.be/0xl0EjR-PkA)
aaaaand of course
Radiohead - Creep (http://youtu.be/jzjUjNPYzLg)


..I could be here for some time..

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

"Is this something you would listen to on your... radio-head?"

Big Bang Theory quotes aside, I don't find Creep sad - the music itself is too happy even if the lyrics are sad. I'd be way more likely to go with STP's "Creep" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2japzHavL0)

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Two from opposite extremes:

Apoptygma Berzerk, Non-Stop Violence" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1daAHmYuqow), CNN Version.

Dmitry Shostakovich's 8th Symphony (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKshbAYacnA&feature=related), aka "The Battle Of Leningrad Suite"

[tjackson.livejournal.com]

shostakovich's 5th, largo movement.

[hawkhandsaw.livejournal.com]

Fire And Rain, James Taylor

[allysonsedai.livejournal.com]

Gods, yes.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

Pearl Jam's Black always makes me want to drive off a bridge (and I say this despite loving the song).

[lordbleys.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Black kicks like a mule

[jaarronn.livejournal.com]

Don McLean - Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

Check.

[jasmine-koran.livejournal.com]

Tori Amos' "Me and a Gun" always breaks my heart a little. Particularly the lyric: "Me and Jesus, few years back, used to hang...and he said, 'It's your choice, babe, just remember: I don't think you'll be back in three days' time, so you choose well.'"

But the all-time prize-winner for me has to be the Cowboy Junkies' song, "A Horse in the Country". It's a very different song, faster in tempo, and with a very different theme..."Me and a Gun" is about a specific, and extremely traumatic, event. "A Horse in the Country" is about realizing that your life is slipping away, that your childhood dreams have been put away, that all that stretches before you is a dead-end job and miserable routine.

I remember the first time I heard it...a friend and I were at a bar, and when the song came on it caught both our attention. When it ended, my friend opined that the "horse in the country" described by the narrator was metaphorical, likely a metaphor for an adulterous relationship. But I (almost fucking crying) said that wasn't true...I was still riding at that point, see, and spending a lot of time out at the stables. I knew women like that narrator. Business women, working women, stay-at-home moms...they'd put their dreams of changing the world, of globe-trotting, of power and joy...they'd put all of them aside for stability and safety. But the one thing they'd held onto, the one little-girl dream they'd made come true...was that they had a horse. And on the weekend, they could come see that horse, they could groom him and saddle him and ride down the forest trails...and for that hour or whatever it was, they could become children again. It broke my heart then, and it breaks my heart now.

[mckenzee.livejournal.com]

On my current playlist?

A Good Year for the Roses, either original or Elvis Costello version
Phosphorescent's cover of Willie Nelson's The Last Thing I Needed (First Thing This Morning), he sounds like he's choking on tears.

[mckenzee.livejournal.com]

and People Who Died, Jim Carroll Band

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Bob Mould has the claim on this, either "Thumbtack" or "Too Far Down" (with Hüsker Dü).

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

The Beatles' "Let It Be".

I can't exactly explain why, but it makes me bawl every time I hear it.

Maybe it's just me.

[dscotton.livejournal.com]

Lots of great songs have been mentioned in this topic. A few others that get me:

"An Epitaph to War" - James Horner / The Boys Choir of Harlem (from the Glory Soundtrack) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm3InmFnkfQ

"Where Are You Now" - Janet Jackson - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHkw_qFYZVA

"Streets of Philadelphia" - Bruce Springsteen - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z2DtNW79sQ

"Out of Tears" - The Rolling Stones - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LrwksXX-yA

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

The Rolling Stones, "Biggest Mistake". (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gedzgZqNdxE)

[laplor.livejournal.com]

The Grave by Don McLean: