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I have to admit a fondness for sad songs. The more lugubrious and lachrymose the better. I mean "get out the razor blades and start shredding your wrists" sad. It's the Irishman in me, I think.
Hanan at growabrain has a link to this feature of the so-called "Twenty-Five Most Exquisitely Sad Songs In The Whole World".
Because it comes from a rock music blog, which probably doesn't employ a single person over the age of 25, the list is a little too heavy on songs written in the last five years to really be a comprehensive list. Still, they pick out a few winners: Frank Sinatra singing "In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning" absolutely belongs on this list, though probably a few notches higher than #12. And Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" really ought to be the top choice, but #4 is respectable.
Some of the omissions are glaring. Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey", cheesy as it is, has got to be one of the saddest songs EVER. Dion's "Abraham, Martin and John" instantly recaptures the confusion and grief of the spring of 1968 and makes it fresh all over again. Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven", sad enough as it is, is actually a song I haven't been able to bear listening to since I became a father. Mike And The Mechanics "The Living Years" is another one that is hard to listen to without a Kleenex handy.
What are your favorite sad songs?
Yep, good list.
I'd add The Winner Takes It All (ABBA, 1980) and Cat's in the Cradle (Harry Chapin, 1974). Also Dangerous (1997) and Yellow Piper (1998), both by Kristina Olsen. Let me know if you'd like to hear them.
Posted by flerdle [URL] at 05/23/07
Ooh, yeah, Cat's In The Cradle, for sure.
I don't know either of those last two, so, yes, please.
Posted by Brian [URL] at 05/23/07
I completely agree with Sinatra's Wee Small Hours of the Morning. It gets me every time. For me the saddest song of all is "Tears in Heaven" especially when you know the back story. It kills me.
Posted by Karan [URL] at 05/24/07
Freddie Fender, Before the next teardrop falls, especially when he sings the verse in Spanish.
Tom Jones - Green Green Grass of Home
Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman
Amelia - joni mitchell
Husband contributes - my mummy's dead - John Lennon
Posted by jo [URL] at 05/24/07
"Green Green Grass Of Home" ranks right up there with "Honey" on the cheesy meter, too.
Posted by Brian [URL] at 05/24/07
Oh, I am such a sucker for songs like these. "Honey," "Green, Green Grass," "Tears in Heaven," and "The Living Years." I get teary-eyed just thinking about the lyrics. Thanks a lot! ;-)
Here's another, though it may only qualify for the "cheesy" category for many: The Last Farewell by Roger Whittaker.
Posted by Tony [URL] at 05/24/07
Tony said: "The Last Farewell" by Roger Whittaker.
Euwww, that's school choir territory.
How about Two Little Boys (Rolf Harris)? Sure, poor old Rolf usually gets put in the "too daggy" basket, but it's really a touching song.
Posted by flerdle [URL] at 05/24/07
(note, he didn't write it, it was much older, but it became a hit for him around 1970 or so)
Posted by flerdle [URL] at 05/24/07
I've never thought of "The Last Farewell" as especially sad, even though it's about leave-taking and the prospect of dying on the battlefield. I guess it just reminds me too much of a Horatio Hornblower novel to be sad. But it also ranks up there in the Tres Grand Fromage category.
The only Rolf Harris song I know is "Tie Me Kangaroo Down", I'm afraid. Rolf is much better known in Australia than in the U.S.
Posted by Brian [URL] at 05/24/07
And the UK, actually.
Posted by flerdle [URL] at 05/24/07
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