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[trolley]

Not sad as in "boo hoo my girlfriend left me and my guitar string snapped", but as in "wow, thats beautiful, but i think i'm gonna cry at it's awesomeness".

For me, at the moment, Fix You by Coldplay is the most beautiful  and sad song, puts a bloody great lump in my throat everytime I hear it. I may be biased as it was  in a particularly poigniant death scene on tv the other day, but it really is a tear-jerker.

[KharBevNor]

I may be biased as I am currently listening to it, but:

Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows - Hades Pluton

I dreamt that I was lying on the bottom
of the dark and never-ending sea,
on a bed that my dead lover was preparing
with his own skeleton for me ...

("...bring us a goat and we'll show you the way
straight through the realm of the fallen and slain ...")

I sensed the wretched spectres of the drowned
staring across from some distant shore,
and in my sadness I drew closer,
to console and somewhat to implore ...

I am like the doubtful kiss of a corpse
or maybe the kiss of an ancient stone.
Yes, it's like kissing some marble statue
that has neither warmth nor life of its own....

("...down, further down, where the gloom becomes sound, on the cell where your love might be found ...")

COVER THE MIRRORS, FRAGILE HAS DIED,
LEAVING BUT A STARLESS RUIN BEHIND!
SHATTER THE MIRRORS, SO THAT HE CAN NEVER BE CALLED
BACK FROM THE BLESSED SILENCE OF HIS SCARED VAULT ...

No, no, no...- put an end to the show!
I'm going back to the land where the bone-flowers grow,
to "the wild, weird clime that lieth, sublime,
out of Space and out of Time" ...

See the shape, but can't see through,
no-one can ever hate me as well as I do.
Know when to throw a laugh, know how to force a smile,
whatever the intention ...- I'm such a "friendly" lie!

("...bring us only this goat and we'll lead you to him, it shall open the gates, so we can sneak you in...")

"Bring us a goat and we'll show you the way straight through the realm of the fallen and slain. Down, further down, where the gloom becomes sound, on to the cell, where your love might be found ... Bring us only this goat and we'll lead you to him, it will open the gates, so we can sneak you in. Oh, it's cold and so dark here, and you must keep in mind, no-one can get you out, if you overstep time...!"

Bloody beautiful.

[heretic]

nothing to lose by Billy Talent
very sad, but a little cliche

Need more friends with wings
All the angels I know
Put concrete in my veins
I’d always walk home alone
So I became lifeless
Just like my telephone

There’s nothing to lose
When no one knows your name
There’s nothing to gain
But the days don’t seem to change

Never played truth or dare
I’d have to check my mirror
To see if I’m still here
My parents had no clue
That I ate all my lunches
Alone in the bathroom

There’s nothing to lose
When no one knows your name
There’s nothing to gain
But the days don’t seem to change
There’s nothing to lose
My notebook will explain
There’s nothing to gain
And I can’t fight the pain

Teachers said "it's just a phase"
When I grow up my children
Will probably do the same
Kids just love to tease
Who'd know it put me underground at seventeen

There’s nothing to lose
When no one knows your name
There’s nothing to gain
But the days don’t seem to change
There’s nothing to lose
My notebook will explain
There’s nothing to gain
And I can’t fight the pain
There’s nothing to lose
When no one knows your name
There’s nothing to gain
But the days don’t seem to change
My notebook will explain
There’s nothing to lose
When no one knows your name
There’s nothing to gain
And I just died today

after reading through the lyrics, it seems like the dude's voice probably has a lot to do with it

EDIT: it the lunches alone in the bathroom line that gets me, i can picture how aweful that would feel...think about it, you'll get it

[Mikendher]

Elliott Smith - Twilight

[Kai]

People have told me Pearl Jam's Jeremy is really sad. These people tend to be wrong.

[bucky_2300]

This one Dimmu Borgir song is absolutely awesome. Usually I hate black metal, but it was great. One part of it almost made me cry.

[Signum_Tenebrae]

Anything off of Xasthur's "Nocturnal Poisoning" album.  

Very sad bands (and specific albums by them):

Abyssic Hate (Suicidal Emotions)
Beatrik (The Requiem of December)
Shape of Despair
Nortt
Krohm
Ningizzia
Forest of Shadows
Mournful Congregation
Abysmal Grief
Deinonychus
Wyrd (Songs of the Northern Gale)
Wigrid

[Praeserpium Machinarum]

Low springs to mind here, In Metal and others and no matter how cliched it sounds, I think Mad World is a really sad song in its newest permutation anyway... The The - TheWhisperers is fairly sad..

[amok]

Joy Division's New Dawn Fades is really beautiful in a 'makes you want to die' kind of way.

People have told me Pearl Jam's Jeremy is really sad. These people tend to be wrong.

Ya, I'd say Black or Indifference are far more harrowingly depressing PJ songs...

[blindsuperhero]

I've noticed recently that the phrase "the saddest song" crops up a lot, it seems as though a lot of bands/musicians are on some sort of quest to find 'the saddest song', in a similar way to 'the lost chord' or whatever. It's strange.

I actually made a playlist of sad/melancholy/depressing songs, it's quite cool. Included on there are such songs as:
Blur - No Distance Left To Run
Leonard Cohen - The Partisan
R.E.M. - Diminished
Billy Bragg - My Youngest Son Came Home Today
Streetlight Manifesto - A Moment of Silence
Manic Street Preachers - Small Black Flowers That Grown In The Sky
and a lot of Eels...

[Condition Oakland]

Illogic - Hate in a Puddle

Its a bit wordy, but I love it. Illogic sounds so hopeless and lost when he sings it too.

I hate when it rains, cause in puddles I encounter this guy
Unable to give a rebuttal but swift as the pain flood his eyes
wonderin why he's a gift with no purpose
A priceless one-of-a-kind piece that's worthless
Grounded with no surface
And when he shows one, it's of sod
Cause inside he fights feelings that he was mistake by God
I see his confusion and self-deception
Questions of relevance and intelligence
He holds an illusion of self-acceptance
that he shows to those outside lookin in
He's outside lookin in to his own life; lookin for strength
to carry on as a pawn in this chess game of existance
In his mind he wants to go on to the dawn
and leave the stress that came with existance
Hopin in death he'll find life
Cause as he lives, he roams the dark, tryin to find light
He's made his heart so hard, he doesn't even cry anymore
Cause he's confronted sorrow frequently
His heart's been broken frequently
It's like he's lost some part of him and just haven't found it
yet
So in his search, he's left with nothin but questions and regret
All he wants to know is how one day, he's content
and the next day he's cryin
cause his life isn't what he thought life meant
He just wants to be happy, with his love and all
But too often I get messages through telepathic calls
He's askin me through a puddle what more must he endure to
continue
But for some reason he knows he most endure to continue


When I walk past puddles, my reflection calls beggin me
to answer his questions about life and his perceptions
and tell him why I hate him so much
And you wonder why I hate him so much?
Now when I walk past puddles, my reflection calls beggin me
to answer his questions about life, and his perceptions
and tell him why I hate him so much
Damn, I wonder why I hate him so much

Why did I hate him so much?  I wondered, pondered on the
question
What in my mind caused me to despise my reflection?
I didn't know I just knew when I saw him, how I felt
and hated the fact that he had to play with the cards that he
was dealt
He's come in contact with some ill things that can't be
explained
Life's extracted his energy to where the pain can't be contained
So to me he comes, sheddin tears like skin
Intimate with some, only the ones he calls friends
 
If he even exists, he only exists in pain
It's like his life is a myth
and he's been blessed with the gift of shame, I mean
From birth to love he's been betrayed
He's an unknown in how to cope with that pain and dissapointment
he's come to know as he's grown
He feels he stands alone in this world of puddle images
And he awaits the time for when, time finishes
He tries to elevate thought, but he's still chillin in the
basement
Awaitin a rebirth of his soul as it fears it's spiritual
placement


God I pray you can give me a purpose or help me find it
Cause on this narrow path of self-damnation, I can't find it
Is it somethin I need to know, some way I need to grow
to get out of this rut, God give me some self-trust
Love is somethin I'm lookin for but I've found it, or have I?
I wanna live but can I, or do I have to die to?
I try to, have life but my life seems kinda worthless
as I'm starin at this puddle

[/size]

[Jolouie]

Anything by Atom and His Package.



On a more serious note,

Mogwai - I Know You Are, But What Am I?
A Silver Mt. Zion - Sow Some Lonesome Corners, So Many Flowers Bloom.
Deerhooh - Heart Failure
Tom Waits - Alice

That is all.

[Signum_Tenebrae]

This one Dimmu Borgir song is absolutely awesome. Usually I hate black metal, but it was great. One part of it almost made me cry.

Which one?

(Dimmu Borgir is not black metal. . post-Stormblast Dimmu, anyway)

[Me And The Moon Car]

I've always found Patty Griffin's Stolen Car makes me shiver with anguish. As does Nick Drake's A Place to Be, Spiritualized's Feel So Sad (7" version) and broken heart and Lou reed's solo version of Berlin.

[zekterellium]

gloomy sunday by billie holiday. it actually ruins my mood when i listen to it.

[bucky_2300]

Which one?

(Dimmu Borgir is not black metal. . post-Stormblast Dimmu, anyway)

Well, I know it's on Stormblast. :p

I'll check.


EDIT: It's Alt Lys Er Svunnet Hen. The whole song is like that, but around 1:35 it really gets going, and there it's absolutely great.

[Signum_Tenebrae]

I agree about that!

Alt Lys is a great song.

[Me And The Moon Car]

Ah, Dimmu Borgir.

[Signum_Tenebrae]

Ah, Dimmu Borgir.

Haha, too fucking grim \m/

[Merkava]

Lief Erikson (Interpol)

It's beauty made me tear at first listen and still chokes me up on later listens.

The City (The Dismemberment Plan)

Travis' singing, the chimey guitars, the quick, polyrythmic drumming, and that humming keyboard make a combination that sends chills down my spine. It peaks with "All...I...ever...say...now...is...good...BYYYYE!"

I know there are more...

[Revenge_Therapist]

The Saddest Song

by Streetlight Manifesto

well, It doesn't really matter if you lead or follow
Everybody's laughing like there's no tomorrow and even if there was,
Would you still go following your friends?
I don't know where we went wrong, we're still singing those same sad songs
"It's my life, not your life, I'll end it when I want"

And now I'm off to save the world once again
But I don't know how I'll pull it off this time
I think I'm going to drown
Now he's off to save the world once again
But he don't know how he'll pull it off this time
I just know I'm going to drown

And it's the saddest song you'll ever hear
The most pain you will ever feel
But you grit your teeth because it don't get better that this (know this)
And you'll try to explain as the blood leave all your veins
And you can't think of anything that you would change

Stop!
"Look and you will see" is what I think she said to me
I'm not too sure because it could have easily been a million things
But I don't know what she said
I still don't know what she said
Years passed since I've seen her face, 14 years were just erased
If my life was your life, would you ever take it back?

And now I'm off to save the world once again
But I don't know how I'll pull it off this time
I think I'm going to drown
Now he's off to save the world once again
But he don't know how he'll pull it off this time
I just know I'm going to drown

Yeah you will try to explain as the blood leaves all your viens
And you can't think of anything that you would change


And it's the saddest song you'll ever hear
The most pain you will ever feel
But you grit your teeth because it don't get better that this (know this)
And you'll try to explain as the blood leave all your veins
And you can't think of anything that you would change

[MrTeapot]

Hollies - He Aint Heavy

Only song to make me sniffle.

[Condition Oakland]

The Saddest Song

by Streetlight Manifesto

well, It doesn't really matter if you lead or follow
Everybody's laughing like there's no tomorrow and even if there was,
Would you still go following your friends?
I don't know where we went wrong, we're still singing those same sad songs
"It's my life, not your life, I'll end it when I want"

And now I'm off to save the world once again
But I don't know how I'll pull it off this time
I think I'm going to drown
Now he's off to save the world once again
But he don't know how he'll pull it off this time
I just know I'm going to drown

And it's the saddest song you'll ever hear
The most pain you will ever feel
But you grit your teeth because it don't get better that this (know this)
And you'll try to explain as the blood leave all your veins
And you can't think of anything that you would change

Stop!
"Look and you will see" is what I think she said to me
I'm not too sure because it could have easily been a million things
But I don't know what she said
I still don't know what she said
Years passed since I've seen her face, 14 years were just erased
If my life was your life, would you ever take it back?

And now I'm off to save the world once again
But I don't know how I'll pull it off this time
I think I'm going to drown
Now he's off to save the world once again
But he don't know how he'll pull it off this time
I just know I'm going to drown

Yeah you will try to explain as the blood leaves all your viens
And you can't think of anything that you would change


And it's the saddest song you'll ever hear
The most pain you will ever feel
But you grit your teeth because it don't get better that this (know this)
And you'll try to explain as the blood leave all your veins
And you can't think of anything that you would change

Thats what I was thinking at first too, but the song can't really reach its sadness potential because its upbeat and sounds happy until you get to the lyrics.

[Johnny C]

-Old school jazz can be tearjerking.
-"Leif Erikson" is sad. Hell, that whole album is melancholy.
-"Calculation Theme" by Metric. Don't know why, but it chokes me up.
-"All Is Full Of Love" by Bjork.

That's all I can think of now, but I listen to a lot of post-punk so a lot of my stuff is unnecessarily sad.

[salada]

radiohead's hunting bears.
yeah it's only 2 minutes long and it's instrumental, but still...

[Inlander]

"The Mountain" by Steve Earle:

I was born on this mountain a long time ago
Before they knocked down the timber and strip-mined the coal
When you rose in the morning before it was light
To go down in that dark hole and come back up at night.

I was born on this mountain, this mountain's my home
She holds me and keeps me from worry and woe
Well, they took everything that she gave, now they're gone
But I'll die on this mountain, this mountain's my home.

I was young on this mountain but now I am old
And I knew every holler, every cool swimming hole
'Til one night I lay down and woke up to find
That my childhood was over and I went down in the mine

There's a hole in this mountain, it's dark and it's deep
And God only knows all the secrets it keeps
There's a chill in the air only miners can feel
There's ghosts in the tunnels that the company sealed.

Of course, the lyrics only tell half the story.

[La Creme]

and a lot of Eels...

Yes... The first time I heard "If You See Nathalie", I just fuckin' broke down (didn't cry, wish I had) and was awed by the beauty.

Alice is a generally depressing album. "I'm Still Here" is a great sad song off it. Waits is an extremely emotional songwriter, which is funny, because he also did "The Black Rider".

The saddest song I have ever heard is an instrumental called "Will" by The Sugarplastic. It is the theme song for a rainy funeral. It is beautiful and lonely and awesome and I love it.

For saddest song with lyrics, I'd have to say either "Electro-shock Blues" or "Elizabeth On The Bathroom Floor" both by Eels, or "Black Flowers" by Fishbone (which is very odd, because they are usually either free-form hard rock or a.d.d. ska).

[boeuf]

Khar, you actually know about sopor aeturnus?

Wow...

I love Velveteen Knight.
Man, those guys are awesome. I haven't listened to them in a while.

[Revenge_Therapist]

condition_oakland,
A I always love me a jawbreaker reference.
B Yeah you have to love ska's ability to be totally fucking depressing yet still leave you with a smile on your face.

[Mikintosh]

Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees (acoustic)

I got the Clueless soundtrack out from the library when I was twelve, and I remember as the first "good" song I'd heard, and for good reason. No idea what half the lyrics mean, but that's par for the course with me.

[normz]

Pushit (live version) by Tool (you can literally hear the anguish in the singer's voice)

and

3 Libra's by A perfect Circle .... that song can make me cry especially one line which my friend says reminds him of me and its sung so beautifully 'eyes of a fallen angel; eyes of a tradgedy'

yeah cbf posting all the lyrics up to both songs

[Inlander]

Pushit (live version) by Tool (you can literally hear the anguish in the singer's voice)

Problem is, the instant I read that the Salt 'n' Pepa song popped into my head, and . . . it's many things, but sad it is not.

[normz]

damn now my fave song is tainted.... damn you inlander *shakes fist*

[Jeridus]

I'm all with heretic about the Billy Talent... but also, Jezebel, by Iron and Wine... it's not even fully the lyrics, but the tone of the song in its entirety

[JLM]

Bjork - New World, but only because it invokes memory of the saddest film I've ever seen.
The Album Leaf - Moss Mountain Town
Broken Social Scene - Lover's Spit (Beehives Version)
The Delgados - The Light Before We Land
The One A.M. Radio - Away, Into The Light

I generally prefer my sadness with a dash of melancholy, but if you want the saddest music in the world (still need to see that film...love Guy Maddin), You need turn no further than the vocal prowess of Ms. Tracy Thorn:

Massive Attack - Protection
Everything But The Girl - Single
Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded

[Spirit Stereo]

neutral milk hotel - two headed boy pt. 2

Daddy please hear this song that I sing
In your heart there's a spark that just screams
For a lover to bring a child to your chest that could lay as you sleep
And love all you have left like your boy used to be
Long ago wrapped in sheets warm and wet

Blister please with those wings in your spine
Love to be with a brother of mine
How he'd love to find your tongue in his teeth
In a struggle to find secret songs that you keep wrapped in boxes so tight
Sounding only at night as you sleep

And in my dreams you're alive
And you're crying
As your mouth moves in mine
Soft and sweet
Rings of flowers round you eyes
And I love you for the rest of your life

Brother see we are one in the same
And you left with your head filled with flames
And you watched as your brains fell out through your teeth
Push the pieces in place
Make your smile sweet to see
Don't you take this away
I'm still wanting my face on your cheek

And when we break we'll wait for our miracle
God is a place where some holy spectacle lies
When we break we'll wait for our miracle
God is a place you will wait for the rest of your life

Two headed boy she is all you could need
She will feed you tomatoes and radio wires
And retire to sheets safe and clean
But don't hate her when she gets up to leave

[KharBevNor]

Khar, you actually know about sopor aeturnus?

Wow...

I fucking love Sopor Aeternus.

This is just a general point, but do people really believe that just lyrics can make a song sad? In my opinion it has to be a combination of lyrics and music. For example, that SA song has an incredibly melancholic violin arrangement, and many bands have created incredibly sad arrangements with no vocals. I for one, always find violins and bagpipes, or snyth approximations thereof, to be the saddest instruments.

[jeremy]

Chimera "Peter" is probably one of the saddest songs I've ever heard. I tried to translate the lyrics so that I could post them here, but they don't come out very well (or I probably just suck at translating things). Besides, the delivery is really what makes it hurt extra good. And the fact that the guy who wrote/sang it killed himself about 5 years after it was recorded. Russians don't fuck around, I guess.

Петр живет в тайге
Вот уже третий год
Петр ушел от людей,
Он ушел от мирских хлопот,
Он просто устал от жизни
И не держит зла на людей
Но было время
Он был носителем великих идей
Теперь лес стал его домом
Он здесь может спокойно спать
Он пьет тишину,
И тишину у него не отнять
А по ночам он приходит ко мне
Он зовет меня с собой
Он идет к луне
Он видит ночь, как никто другой
К нему в гости никто не приходит,
Кроме птиц и зверей,
Он поет им свои песни –
Его голос стал чист, как ручей
А на смену зиме приходит весна,
Лес меняет свои одежды,
Петр умывается росой
Весна вселяет надежду
Для людей он был никто
Для зверей он как Дед Мазай
Может, он вернется к людям,
Когда на землю придет рай

(Basically, this guy is sick of life, moves into the forest and sings songs to animals and shit. I know, I know...what a hippie. Well, it's still sad!)

[Coolhanderik]

Tangerine - Led Zeppelin
Ten Years Gone - Led Zeppelin
Sometimes - My Bloody Valentine
The Fairest of The Seasons - Nico
Staralfur - Sigur Ros

That's all for now...I know theres more...I'm just to tired to find them

[McTaggart]

It's not just the lyrics that do it. The way the singer sings (ie. how close they get to crying) and the music surrounding it are close to more important. The presence of violins helps a lot.

I'm not sure if it was because I was in a bit of a state the first time I heard it, but Bright Eyes' Digital Ash in a Digital Urn album could be the saddest album I've got (only 'could be' because of the stack of Eels I've got sitting to my right). Every song struck a chord with me. Not just sad though, I remember it frightening the hell out of me at the time.

[zekterellium]

dnd by semisonic, despite basically being about having sex in a hotel room, is one of the saddest songs i've ever heard. i'm sick of saying thaw by converge everytime a topic like this crops up, but that really is a terribly sad song. also, in flames make me sad, but for entirely different reasons.

[Kelamin]

Powderfinger - Since You've Been Gone

It's about the death of the singer's brother a couple years beforehand.

The only song known to man that can make me cry.

[boeuf]

How about The Ballad by Millencolin..?


Haha, or pretty much anything by the Smiths.

And I'd also have to say that 'Enslavement Blues' By T(I)NC is pretty sad.

[Sophi]

I've always found Patty Griffin's Stolen Car makes me shiver with anguish.

Patty will always be at the top of my sad songs list. She's so good.

[SeanBateman]

Any song off of electro shock blues by the eels has the capacity to make grown men weep like little children. Especially dead of winter.

Standing in the dark outside the house
Breathing the cold and sterile air
Well I was thinking how it must feel
To see that little light
And watch it as it disappears
And fades into
And fades into the night

So I know you’re going pretty soon
Radiation sore throat got your tongue
Magic markers tattoo you
And show it whare to aim
And strangers break their promises
You won’t feel any
You won’t feel any pain

And the streets are jammed with cars
Rockin’ their horns
To race to the wire
Of the unfinished line

Thought that I’d forget all about the past
But it doesn’t let me run too fast
And I just wanna stand outside
And know that this is right
And this is true
And I will not
Fade into
Fade into the night

Standing here in the dark

Also, I am trying to break your heart by wilco made me cry when I heard them play it live, and continues to do so now everytime I hear it

[Jeridus]

Hallelujah, by Jeff Buckley (Rufus Wainwright's version is okay, too)
Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead always seems really sad to me...
The Cure - Lovesong
Rolling Stones - Angie
Simon And Garfunkle - Bridge Over Troubled Water, and Sounds of Silence
Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven

along with the songs I'd mentioned before

[Merkava]

ARGH! That's what I was trying to remember!

Tears in Heaven = Kleenex moment

[Azathoth]

Fugazi - Long Division.  For some reason a song about the dissolution of friendship is much sadder than romantic failure.
Bert Jansch - Needle of Death.  The Yo La Tengo version is nearly as devestating.
Joy Division - Insight.
My Bloody Valentine - No More Sorry.
Nick Drake - Pretty much the entire Pink Moon album.

[Signum_Tenebrae]

Fugazi - Long Division.  For some reason a song about the dissolution of friendship is much sadder than romantic failure.
Bert Jansch - Needle of Death.  The Yo La Tengo version is nearly as devestating.
Joy Division - Insight.
My Bloody Valentine - No More Sorry.
Nick Drake - Pretty much the entire Pink Moon album.

Interesting user name. . are you an HP Lovecraft fan?

[Johnny C]

Bjork - New World, but only because it invokes memory of the saddest film I've ever seen.

If the film you're referencing isn't Dancer In The Dark then I'll be surprised.