What's the 7 saddest songs on this poll?

What's your picks?

  • Total voters
    93
I didn't vote for anything on the list.
Feel sad songs are just the ones you associate with troubled times in your life or sad events.
Example being songs played at a funeral.

Ima throw out these 2

Apologize - One Direction - Forever linked to Chris Benoit, probly used it for his tribute show.

Road to awe - The Fountain OST - Clint Mansell
Hard to forget this OST just like Requiem for a dream, add to that I'm a fan of the graphic novel and first saw the film fresh after a break up so really smashed me in the feels.

Let's just say I don't go outa my way to listen to either song ever.
 
Konquest said:
There is a song by Phish (yes, Phish) called "Brian and Robert" that is about a person living in a city while having crippling social anxiety/phobia. It's kind of brutal.
Click to expand...

I've posted this song a couple of times over the years here but I just assume people see Phish and automatically scroll past it :p

I agree its a great song and I always viewed it as being about being lonely even amongst a crowd. But I can see the social anxiety/phobia angle as well.

Good choice.
 
From the list I'd probably go with

Nothing Compares 2 U
Time After time
Mad World (Tears for Fears version for me)
Everybody Hurts
Landslide
Candle in the Wind
Hallelujah
 
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I find very few songs in the polls to be sad. Most carry somber melodies, and many convey some sense of loss, but the only one that I think really reaches into your chest and tears your heart out is "Tears in Heaven", and a huge part of that, obviously, is the context for the song's existence. Only one that I gave a vote.

I think songs that convey a sense of hopelessness or lifetime disappointment are more saddening that ones that simply meditate on the inevitability & pain of loss. Examples:





Alternatively, in the case of Tears in Heaven, the sense of loss is compounded by the grief that one lost something which was unjustly taken, or a loss which most agree one shouldn't have to naturally face (i.e. a parent shouldn't outlive their child). Another example of this kind of loss:



We're talking about despair. That is sadness in its most extreme form. Put simply, the two most powerful drivers of despair are injustice and regret. In my opinion, almost all of the saddest songs I've ever known draw their power from one (or both) of these two themes.
 
Madmick said:
This isn't Pearl Jam's song, and it isn't their saddest. This is:



Runner-up:

Click to expand...

Yeah, I know they weren't the original. Just something about eddies voice and those lyrics get me... Reminds of a girl I was involved with that died in a crash 24 years ago.
And now with your links, I'm probably stuck in a pearl jam/eddie vedder kick the rest of the day lol.
I think I'll start with the "Into The Wild" soundtrack.
 
Another one I've shared about a billion times. Bruce Springsteen covers James Taylor at a tribute concert for the latter. Song starts at 1:56 if you want to skip to it:

 
Tears in Heaven, Hurt, Candle in the Wind, The Sounds of Silence and Streets of Philadelphia were easy choices for me.

The rest I had a hard time picking. There a ton of other songs which are much more heartfelt and impactful that you could have added

Charles Bradley's cover of Black Sabbath's Changes is insanely heartbreaking. He recorded it back in 2013 while his mother was very ill. She would end up passing away in January of 2014. The live version he did for the Toronto Star Newsroom Concert Series in September of 2016 will bring a tear to even the manliest of men.

Charles Bradley has since passed on September 23, 2017 of stomach cancer
 
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One of my all-time favorite covers. It surpasses the original:
 
I'm surprised I didn't see Whiskey Lullaby mentioned. I'm not a big country fan and I'm not usually one for heartbreak songs, but this is a good one imo. The subject matter isn't as sad as some of the others ITT, but fuck that chorus hits hard.



Edit: just saw that @Krixes included it in his country compilation post
 
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From the list I'll go Tears in Heaven and Hurt .

Song I think it's really depressing in retrospect is Hey Jealousy by the Gin Blossoms. The line "if you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down" is crushing and relatable. Doug Hopkins has to be one of the saddest stories in music.
 
Gotta post this one again because I associate so much with my wife, Jana & her passing back in March:


Fact is, while we're on the subject every sad or melancholy song reminds me of her these days & I can't imagine that ever changing.







 
Stay together for the kids
Song for Zula
One
Purple rain
The rose
Into the west
The warmth
Every Rose has its thorn
You never know/the dreaming tree DMB
Civil war
Glory days
Break up in the end/you should be here
 
For me Radiohead have the absolute best sad songs by far. Nothing ever spoke to the sadness inside me like they did.



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