The Saddest Songs We've Heard: An Exploration

[BobG]

Hurt - Johnny Cash version of Nince Inch Nails'

Here's a link to that song:[MEDIA=youtube]lEZCkyQLAIE[/MEDIA][/URL]

I always thought Johnny Cash's [PLAIN][MEDIA=youtube[/URL] was sad. The background music is an almost bizarre contrast to the song.

This song has a bizarre story to it. It was written by Kris Kristofferson who was working as a janitor at Columbia Records. If he annoyed any more of the real musicians by trying to get them to listen to his songs he was going to be fired, so he tried an alternative approach. He flew helicopters in the National Guard, so he landed his helicopter in Johnny Cash's front yard to get Cash to take a sample tape of Kristofferson's songs, including this one: "Sunday Morning Coming Down".

 

[Gokul43201]

Can't have a sad songs thread without the blues!

Gary Moore - [MEDIA=youtube[/URL]

Boy, does that guitar wail or what?

 

[turbo]

Actually, "Millworker" by James Taylor is pretty sad.

Now my grandfather was a sailor
He blew in off the water
My father was a farmer
And I, his only daughter
Took up with a no good millworking man
From massachusetts
Who dies from too much whiskey
And leaves me these three faces to feed

Millwork ain't easy
Millwork ain't hard
Millwork it ain't nothing
But an awful boring job
Im waiting for a daydream
To take me through the morning
And put me in my coffee break
Where I can have a sandwich
And remember

Then it's me and my machine
For the rest of the morning
For the rest of the afternoon
And the rest of my life

Now my mind begins to wander
To the days back on the farm
I can see my father smiling at me
Swinging on his arm
I can hear my granddad's stories
Of the storms out on Lake Erie
Where vessels and cargos and fortunes
And sailors lives were lost

Yes, but its my life has been wasted
And I have been the fool
To let this manufacturer
Use my body for a tool
I can ride home in the evening
Staring at my hands
Swearing by my sorrow that a young girl
Ought to stand a better chance

So may I work the mills just as long as I am able
And never meet the man whose name is on the label

It be me and my machine
For the rest of the morning
And the rest of the afternoon
Gone for the rest of my life

You can hear a short sample here:
http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/taylor_james_1_/85880/album.jhtml

 

[Hootenanny]

Tears in Heaven by Clapton, only because of the fact that he wrote it for his son who'd died when he fell from a high rise.

I would agree with you there, if anyone has not listened to the unplugged version I urge you to get your hands on it. There is so much emotion in Clapton's voice it is unbelievebale.

 

[SpaceTiger]

Oh and that song by Pearl Jam (I think)...I can't remember what it was called though.

"[MEDIA=youtube[/URL]

It was originally done in the '60s by Wayne Cochran (in an upbeat tone that was really disconcerting). Certainly one of the saddest songs ever written.

Note: My apologies if the linked version of the song is crappy, the sound just cut out on my computer.

 

[devious_]

Here are a few that come to mind:
12 Stones - Stay
[MEDIA=youtube[/URL]
Cold - Wasted Years [PLAIN][MEDIA=youtube[/URL]
[PLAIN][MEDIA=youtube[/URL]

But the saddest song of all time is surely
[PLAIN][MEDIA=youtube[/URL]
I always tear up when I hear it.

Also, ditto on Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt. Very moving.