I think what’s making people sad is that all those songs suck.

Scot on December 12, 2006 at 9:53 PM

I got as far as the “FEELINGS” canopy, and I had to stop. I hope that UPDATE will redeem this sad, sad thread.

hillbillyjim on December 12, 2006 at 9:59 PM

That song isn’t sad..it’s just stupid and badly written. What’s sad is that it DOES affect someone.

I can’t think of a song that really makes me SAD…but some of those patriotic songs make me cry, for sure. ;) In a good way, I mean.

tickleddragon on December 12, 2006 at 10:02 PM

)

hillbillyjim on December 12, 2006 at 10:03 PM

I’ll have to admit, AP, that the update more than made up for the feature.

hillbillyjim on December 12, 2006 at 10:08 PM

Pah. What does science know?

The saddest song ever is “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” by Fleetwood Mac.

Makes me cry every time I hear it.

Slublog on December 12, 2006 at 10:19 PM

How bout Gary Jules - Mad World?!!

danarchy on December 12, 2006 at 10:20 PM

Ray LaMontagne sings some very sad songs. Check him out, he’s great.

zombieshakespeare on December 12, 2006 at 10:25 PM

Ten years gone. Led Zeppelin.

Scot on December 12, 2006 at 10:26 PM

Bonnie Raitt - “I can’t make you love me” If you don’t want to slit your wrist by the end of the song, you don’t have blood in your veins.

E L Frederick (Sniper One) on December 12, 2006 at 10:44 PM

In any case, none of these should be on the play-list for the hold music on the suicide hotline.

(laugh dammit)

E L Frederick (Sniper One) on December 12, 2006 at 10:52 PM

WTF…..The Verve???

My pick would be Johnny Cash’s Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down

That or “The Three Bells” by The Browns.

The Ugly American on December 12, 2006 at 11:05 PM

The saddest songs ever: Jeff Buckey, “The Last Goodbye”; The Smiths, “I Know It’s Over” (unless that counts more as depressing; there’s a Buckley version too just as sad/depressing); Tracy Chapman, “Fast Car.”

You know what’s seriously sad? “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.”

Alex K on December 12, 2006 at 11:14 PM

“Shadow of a Lonely Man” by Alan Parsons Project

If you are in a good mood, it will depress you.
If you are depressed, it will make you suicidal.
If you are suicidal……….

TwinkietheKid on December 12, 2006 at 11:23 PM

THAT’s the saddest song ever?
I cried MORE when the New York Yankees won the world series. (And no, they were definitely NOT tears of joy.)

CyberCipher on December 12, 2006 at 11:39 PM

Oh yeah–isn’t “Danny Boy” pretty much recognized as the saddest song ever? (Needless to say, Cash covered it.)

Blacklake on December 12, 2006 at 11:44 PM

Also “Brother Sleep” by JJ72. And “Ellen and Ben” by Dismemberment Plan.

Oh jeez, and “Downtown Train,” Tom Waits.

And “Pictures of You.”

And “No Woman No Cry.”

Alex K on December 12, 2006 at 11:47 PM

WTF…..The Verve???

The Ugly American on December 12, 2006 at 11:05 PM

Yeah, who the hell are they? Don’t you have to have at least SOME talent to be voted the something-est of anything? That’s not sad-est, it’s just freakin’ SAD.

My vote goes to Layla - Derek and the Dominos.

infidel4life on December 12, 2006 at 11:54 PM

Oh no, wait. It’s this: this is the saddest song ever.

Alex K on December 13, 2006 at 12:47 AM

Saddest song ever? Not even close! George Jones, “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” hands down.

Pretty much all the truly sad songs are country songs. Drinkin’ and cheatin’ and leavin’ and cryin’ — that’s what country’s all about.

To the extent that Old George has any competition for saddest song, it would be Old Hank, “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”:

Hear the lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
Im so lonesome I could cry …

(See? Even the train is a-cryin’ …)

Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves begin to die
That means he’s lost the will to live
Im so lonesome I could cry

(The birds have lost the will to live!)

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
Im so lonesome I could cry.

That there’s sad, I don’t care who you are …

Ali-Bubba on December 13, 2006 at 1:16 AM

The saddest song ever, inexplicably set to video of Battlefield 2… this had Rosie bawling.

DaveS on December 13, 2006 at 1:26 AM

Slu,

The Ciaconna for solo violin, by Bach, is one of the most technically demanding songs ever written for any instrument, and played by the right violinist is can get me a bit teared up (or at least make the hair on my arms stand on end). You’ve gotta let it get a good 4 minutes or so in before it becomes a “holy crap” moment.

The link is to a version that’s only so-so… but keep in mind the absolute brilliance and mastery of the instrument (and its limitations) that would be required to write that, let alone play it.

DaveS on December 13, 2006 at 1:37 AM

Sad is not the same as just depressing.

“Strange Fruit” by Billie Holliday is that.

Or darkly eerie, as “Epitaph” by King Crimson was.

The most poignant melody and lyics, to my mind’s ear, is:

“(You Take the High Road) The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond“.

“For me and my true love
Will never meet again…“

profitsbeard on December 13, 2006 at 2:25 AM

This is the saddest song ever……period…waaahhhh

TBinSTL on December 13, 2006 at 5:24 AM

What are you kidding me? Gilbert O’Sullivan’s Alone Again, has to be the SADDEST of all time.

Besides what about:
Don’t take the girl, Tim McGraw
Then they do, Trace Adkins
If something should happen, Darryl Worley.

I know those last three are country, but you have to admit, country is KING of sad songs.

To think that they ’selected’ a fairly new song is just stupid. Not so much because its new, but because of the wealth of other songs out there that are so much better.

BTW on an unrelated topic. Check out PatDollard.com. He is a great film maker with some great vids of our boys and girls in uniform in Iraq. The best part? He used to be a hardcore elite lib!

PHKing on December 13, 2006 at 7:27 AM

‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas’…..you can hear the snow falling in the Ardennes.

Limerick on December 13, 2006 at 8:34 AM

Sure beats “Ol’e Shep!’ NOT

Dread Pirate Roberts VI on December 13, 2006 at 9:15 AM

My vote for saddest song: “Forever Blue” by Chris Isaak.

Saddest instrumental: “Are You Going With Me” by Pat Metheny. Or theme from “Midnight Cowboy” with Toots Thielmans on harmonica.

Gut-level lonliness. I’m leaking tears just thinking about them.

Gottafang on December 13, 2006 at 9:38 AM

Scot,

If we’re gonna go Zeppelining, howzabout “Gallows Pole”

Swingin’

hillbillyjim on December 13, 2006 at 9:50 AM

Vince Gill’s “Go Rest High On That Mountain,” written for his brother after his death, really does make me cry.

eucher on December 13, 2006 at 9:59 AM

To change the subject somewhat, nominations for worst Christmas song ever:

Johnny Cash’s version of The Little Drummer Boy (grim doesn’t begin to describe it)

That song about the kid wanting to buy shoes for his dying mother so she’ll be properly shod when “meeting Jesus tonight” (dry heaves)

Happy Birthday Jesus (oh for heaven’s sake, what ever happened to dignity)

honora on December 13, 2006 at 10:32 AM

“Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney. Gives me that “change the station as quickly as you can” spasm.

Seconded.

Blacklake on December 13, 2006 at 10:55 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2vyYHFO7jg

VTWaldrup on December 13, 2006 at 10:59 AM

Some of the saddest lyrics ever belong to the all-time champion of the “Were the guys who wrote the musical arrangement and the lyrics on the same PLANET when this thing was written” genre.

Go back to a jazzy, hot little number Bobby Darin recorded in 1960 called “Artificial Flowers” and listen closely. If you can listen to the musical track on its own first, do it. I heard it as a kid on the radio almost 40 years ago and to this day I wonder what Bock and Harnick (or Darin’s arrangers, for that matter) were thinking on this one.

I’ll match a nine year old orphan freezing to death in a cold water flat and a horrible child labor situation to a “cat in a bag waiting to drown” any day. But that’s just me.

52Ranger on December 13, 2006 at 11:02 AM

Sad song. Letters from home When I see a soldier cry, it chokes me up.

ChrisIansNana on December 13, 2006 at 11:34 AM

I’ll match a nine year old orphan freezing to death in a cold water flat and a horrible child labor situation to a “cat in a bag waiting to drown” any day. But that’s just me.

52Ranger on December 13, 2006 at 11:02 AM

This is so bad it’s really funny. The jazzy arrangement is oddly inappropriate.

honora on December 13, 2006 at 12:02 PM

I think the name of the Neil Young song is “Philadelphia,” and yes, it’s really sad.

Another sad song: “Ghost” by the Indigo Girls.

Slublog on December 13, 2006 at 12:24 PM

My vote is for Cats in the Cradle by Harry Chapin.

And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man on the moon.
“When you coming home, son?” “I don’t know when,
But we’ll get together then, dad.
You know we’ll have a good time then.”

I’ve long since retired and my son’s moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, “I’d like to see you if you don’t mind.”
He said, “I’d love to, dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job’s a hassle, and the kids have the flu,
But it’s sure nice talking to you, dad.
It’s been sure nice talking to you.”
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,
He’d grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.

soulsirkus on December 13, 2006 at 12:58 PM

I think it was stated in the article that Dancin’ Queen from Abba was the happiest song.

That is a matter of opinion, to be sure.

I would have a tough time naming the happiest song. Some of them are not songs with lyrics, or the lyric is merely a phrase repeated throughout the tune.

Tito Puente y su orchestra’s “Ran Kan Kan” is a real to tapper, finger snapper, hip swayer of a tune. It makes one want to get up and dance. It is difficult to hear Ran Kan Kan and remain depressed.

Some of the socca music is great as well. It is definitely happy music. Tunes by Sparrow, Beckett, and others puts you in a good mood.

Tunes like Brian Setzer’s rendition of “Jump and Jive” also make it difficult to be sad.

Many of the tunes from Bollywood movies from India can put a smile on your face as well. Some of the tunes from Lagaan, Main Hoon Na, Kabe Kushe Kabe Gum, and others put a smile on one’s face.

Jazz-bee bop sax player Charlie Parker, jazz pianist extraordinairre, Oscar Peterson, some of West Montgomery, George Benson, Jimmy Bruno, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, and other great jazz guitarists play some great happy music. Ella Fitzgerals, Sarah Vaughn, Betty Carter, and others performed some up, happy tunes, and made one feel good, as did Lamber, Hendrix, and Ross, together or as soloists, Mel Torme, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Joe Williams, and others.

Stravinski, Pucchini, Beethoven, Vivaldi, John Williams, and others composed some up, cheerful tunes-music as well.

Yes, it would be difficult to be sad with a lot of the music available, and even more difficult to choose which is the happiest tune.

As far as the saddest tune, who would even think about it?

Sad? I found the tune “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic to be rather sad in context of the movie. Baby, Baby, from Smokey Robinson and the Miracles was sad when I was in high school and the girls I had crushes on seemed to like someone else instead of me. “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” from Jimmy Ruffin, brother of The Temptations’ lead singer, David Ruffin was sad, as was “I Wish It Would Rain” the Temptations.

I know that the article states that they used instruments to check bodily changes during the playing of the tunes in order to measure which tunes produced what they though were the most defined reactions, thus sad, but still, these lists are so arbitrary.

William

William2006 on December 13, 2006 at 2:11 PM

Another one just came up on my iPod: “Christmas Morning” by Lyle Lovett. It was written after he and Julia split up. I remember hearing it for the first time after my ex and I separated. Right before the holidays about 10 years ago.

Gottafang on December 13, 2006 at 3:09 PM

Readymade…ANYTHING by Bruce Springsteen makes me physically ill. ;o)

tickleddragon on December 13, 2006 at 3:59 PM

A device the size of a sugar cube will be able to record and store high resolution video footage of every second of a human life

One lump, or two?

shooter on December 13, 2006 at 5:31 PM

Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings”. If you aren’t into classical music, it’s the music from the movie “Platoon”.

The theme from “Schindler’s List” and Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt” are up there too.

I wish I could get paid for making up stupid lists like that.

irishsquid on December 13, 2006 at 7:22 PM

“Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” always gets me. “She’s Leaving Home,” too.

Good choices, both. For those old enough to remember the days of prismatic tape on cars, I had “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” across the bottom of my rear window using the stuff, on a ‘70 Olds Cutlass W-31. I was always a sucker for the slow songs, though. Like “If” and “Colour My World”.

Yeah, yeah, so I’m old.

Freelancer on December 14, 2006 at 4:07 AM