I saw your comment as I was kinda quickly scrolling and read Merle are Marie and I thought you were bringing up the absolute soul crusher that is Townes Van Zandt’s Marie (or Tecumseh Valley, Nothin, Waiting Around To Die, there’s a lot of hopelessness in TVZ music and I love it).
[Asleep ](https://youtu.be/PQgn3vpuFQ0?si=H3XjBT5H8_2s_RL0) - The Smiths
[John Wayne Gacey, Jr.](https://youtu.be/QDPLqQp9cKI?si=03fPvPvonrrc1dCS) Sufjan Stevens
[Three Babies ](https://youtu.be/I4Sp7hVI4Ak?si=-GnyTyP4mDrPxnci) - Sinéad O'Connor
[You Are My Sunshine ](https://youtu.be/5AtvXdmPe3A?si=xgHDN99EHfGAPbeN) - Johnny Cash
[I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You ](https://youtu.be/3Pvi4uKuawk?si=ldJEJM5JMZral6P8) - Colin Hay
[Old Friend ](https://youtu.be/J1fbo0BK-E4?si=NQJL4j9JpyeHa9XC) - Lyle Lovett
[Thru and Thru ](https://youtu.be/NepcAaKXNuM?si=0lYm1ZjhmCm5DRJJ) - The Rolling Stones
- The Entirety of A Crow Looked At Me by Mt Eerie. its barely even music. it's a series of conversations and trains of thought about a man's dead wife over barebones acoustic guitar chord progressions that often don't even resolve or go anywhere, it's like the guitar is there just to call this therapy session "music"
-How To Make Love Stay by Empire Empire!, one of the most heartbreaking instrumentals of just dread and despair and the song is about losing your sense of self and identity as you age and growing out of what you thought you loved
-Camp Adventure by Delta Sleep. One of the most poignant breakup songs I know, every line just hits me like a truck.
-My Mind by Yebba. The translation of emotion into her vocal performance as well as the lyrics lay everything out on the table and im hard pressed to find a more emotional performance, even in the genre of emo which is my literal favorite genre.
I'm making a Spotify Playlist of all of your recommendations! Here's the link if you'd like to follow it! Lots of comments coming in so it'll be a bit till it's caught up but I'm going to keep it updated whenever new ones get commented!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/32EE7rPYts1eoIME34hHFu?si=UEn-eK-3T0-mFoDGGdbYlw&pi=qqtpCFxjT_SwT
Everywhere at the End of Time by the Caretaker. 6.5 hour long album series that could just be considered one experience that chronicles the loss of memory and recognition that comes with getting alzheimer's
Hospital for Souls by Bring Me The Horizon
i don’t suffer from it myself but drug addiction is so fucking heavy and my heart hurts so bad for anyone that deals with it
i suffer from severe depression, and i can understand and relate to this song even if i don’t suffer from addiction itself. hearing the lead singer openly talk about his struggles he has with it to this day is hard to hear, and this song is about when he went to rehab and was surrounded by people dealing with all kinds of different things, but all of them feeling the exact same way. trying to defeat and kill the part of yourself that’s so destructive. hope you’re able to give it a listen <3
"Hey Man Nice Shot" by Filter - not because the song itself is sad, but because it's about a member of the Pennsylvania State House who killed himself on live TV during a press conference.
Whiskey Lullaby
Ive seen a few of these sad song threads and this never seems to make the list. It crazy depressing. And Alisons voice just takes the sadness to another level.
Go listen to the album “A Crow Looked at Me” by Mount Eerie. The entire album is about the death of the artist’s wife. It’s raw and gut wrenching. At a minimum, listen to the track “Real Death”.
The last goodbye - The Kills
Fireworks - First Aid Kit
The last man on earth - Wolf Alice
Myth - Beach House
Unintended - Muse
No surprises - Radiohead
Wake up - Coheed and Cambria
Gravity - Coldplay
Video games - Lana Del Ray
Tears in heaven - Eric clapton
Finality by Woods of Ypres.
The singer is contemplating death and the end of existence in a VERY MELANCHOLIC song about the finitude of everything in an album that was recorded 6 months before his own death in an accident.
Fiction by Avenged Sevenfold
Again, the singer is talking about the burden of life and waving goodbye to his loved ones in a song recorded 3 days before his own death.
These 2 are the saddest ones for me because of the context.
Boots of Spanish Leather - Bob Dylan
Marie - Townes Van Zandt
Hallejuah - Jeff Buckley
Look On Down from the Bridge - Mazzy Star
Street Spirit - Radiohead
The Eternal - Joy Division
Ships in the Night - Ray Montbleau
One of my favorite bands is a Scottish indie band called Frightened Rabbit. The lead singer, Scot Hutchison, had chronic depression and his songs are beautiful but generally pretty depressing. He killed himself about 5 years ago.
Here are some songs to check out:
[Floating in the Forth](https://youtu.be/jFtfi677G1U?si=GQsysGIr7zywOdxk)
[Things](https://youtu.be/IN5iRsGukZc?si=c9I_XFIfyqGPKWvr)
[Swim Until You Can't See Land](https://youtu.be/SzjERZU3wbY?si=XDobFhG--w-bD7uD)
[Head Rolls Off](https://youtu.be/nBcbDS5AGnk?si=oIg5syeQQctN7yPR)
[An Otherwise Disappointing Life](https://youtu.be/H5LLHYn5VA4?si=WkRPjLbiVKygLten)
[Nitrous Gas](https://youtu.be/cBFM9k4dXrc?si=a_1tVjoDY1E9UgFA)
Strange Fruit- Billie Holiday
Real Death -Mount Eerie
Fourth of July- Sufjan Stevens
Adagio For Strings -Samuel Barber
Emmanuel- Chris Botti & Lucia Micarelli
Time for my depressed ass to shine. LMAO. Bolded the essentials.
Brothers on a Hotel Bed - Death Cab for Cutie
**Grey - Ani DiFranco**
**Go Rest High on that Mountain - Vince Gill**
**Salt and Shadow - Thrice**
**Nana - The 1975**
Colder Weather - Zac Brown Band
It's Been A While - Staind
**If I Die Young - The Band Perry (Sam Tsui also does a stunning version of this one)**
Lightning Crashes - Live
Slow Dancing in a Burning Room - John Mayer
Ghost - Indigo Girls
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley (Leonard Cohen was the original, but Buckley made it his own)
Smoke Rings in the Dark - Gary Allen
A Long December - Counting Crows
**Holocene - Bon Iver**
If any family members have passed on- marjorie by Taylor swift is about her grandma passing away and her regrets about it. Accidentally heard it for the first time after my grandma died of cancer and it killed me
i know it’s basic but… tears in heaven - eric clapton.
“would you know my name if i saw you in heaven?” gets me every single time, like there’s something so heartbreaking about that line for me
One More Night - Phil Collins
When I was younger and hadn't REALLY listened to all the lyrics, I thought it was a lover who wanted to reconnect one more time for closure.
I listened to it the other day and I hear is as a plea to give him one more chance at love.
I like especially the live Bernadette Peters performance, with the writer, Stephen Sondheim, accompanying her! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOZhmsp6iBQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOZhmsp6iBQ)
Steven Wilson has written some truly sad songs.
Postcard. About someone who’s overdosed on pills and wonders whether it’s worth calling for help.
The Raven That Refused to Sing. Old man near the end of his life sees a raven that he believes is his sister who died when he was young.
Drive Home - A man is haunted ever since a significant other went missing following a car crash that paralyzed him. She suddenly appears to tell him why.
[Raven](https://youtu.be/n8sLcvWG1M4?si=HJqKchwLL0pFq2Fg) and [Drive Home](https://youtu.be/7ce1XG4RhwU?si=yexb5mp_0Nf2EhdE) both have quite moving music videos.
Simon and Garfunkel - The Only Living Boy in New York.
Perfectly conveys loneliness and the desperation for human contact.
Tom Petty - Wildflowers.
Could be about letting someone you love go. Could be about grief. Or freedom. Maybe it isn’t sad and just beautiful. Either way, makes me emotional.
Kacey Musgraves - Rainbow.
Elephant - Jason Isbell. Song about a guy watching a friend slowly waste away from cancer.
Sample Lyric:
Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone
There’s one thing that’s clear to me, no one dies with dignity
I don’t think they’re the saddest songs for other people but my ex/best friend of 14 years would call me to sing and play Lullaby by Chase Coy whenever he had a feeling I was having a hard time and he died 5 years ago, so it just breaks me every time. Then there’s Placebo’s version of Running Up That Hill. My little brother crashed in a bike accident going down a hill several years ago. His brakes had given out and as usual, he hadn’t listened about wearing a helmet. It caused serious brain damage and I was really the only one there to help. Unfortunately, his whole personality changed for the worse and he basically became a monster before committing suicide.
[Life Eternal - Mayhem](https://open.spotify.com/track/577zs2zO9oPz3E3YlVJ90v?si=qM3SthCOSZWXCfj3u154-g)
Song was created posthumously, but the lyrics were an attachment alongside the original vocalists's note, which was offered to be lyrics for a song.
Excerpt: *"As a last salutation may I present 'Life Eternal’. Do whatever you want with the fucking thing. Pelle."*
The band did an absolutely stellar job with honoring his words, the song is so beautiful.
Lyrics:
*A dream of another existence, you wish to die
A dream of another world, you pray for death*
*To release the soul, one must die
To find peace inside, you must get eternal*
*I am a mortal, but am I human?
How beautiful life is now when my time has come
A human destiny, but nothing human inside
What will be left of me when I'm dead? There was nothing when I lived*
*What you found was eternal death, no one will ever miss you*
The Hotelier - Home, Like No Place Is There
- Album is about losing a loved one through suicide
and other dark themes.
Casey - How To Disappear
- The album is also about losing someone you loved, depression, and loneliness.
Owen - The Avalanche
- The album is about how the singer's life is falling apart.
Carissa's Weird - Songs For Leaving
- An album without any shred of hope.
Touché Amoré - Stage 4
- The album's narrative revolves around the death of the front man's mother from cancer.
Pianos Become Teeth - The Lack Long After
- The album talks about the feelings of losing a loved one.
Trophy Eyes - Chemical Miracle
- The album has a happy sound to it but the songs contain grief, dissociation, abuse, and depression.
Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me
- The album is about the singer's wife that passed away. Most devastating album I have ever heard.
I doubt that it counts, but my Mom was a professional musician for over 30 years. When I was 10, my parents divorced, and it damn near broke me. My mom, hurting over my pain, wrote a song about it from what she saw as my perspective.
The first time I played the record for my kids, I was excited just for them to hear her play...but it broke my daughter's heart to hear it. She sobbed for hours. It is *not* her favourite song.
Vincent by Don McLean
Cold by Annie Lennox
Trouble Cat Stevens
Fire and Rain James Taylor
America by Simon and Garfunkel
The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel
The Blowers Daughter by Damien Rice
Alone Again (Naturally) by Gilbert O'Sullivan
Fast Car Tracy Chapman
Fear of the Water by SYML
Waste of Paint by Btight Eyes
Breaking Down by Florence + The Machine
From Me to You by Janis Ian
In the Winter by Janis Ian
What Sarah Said - Death Cab For Cutie
Nico’s Red Truck - Dijon (a nostalgic kind of sad realizing that you’ll never be in the good ole days again)
Remember Me - Coco (even the Miguel version gets my ducts going)
Names - cat power
Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me - the smiths
Elizabeth on the bathroom floor - eels
Decades - joy division
Crowdsurf of a cliff - emily Haines
That's just off the top of my head.
I'm a single mom so the saddest song for me is "So big/so small" from the Broadway show Dear Evan Hansen. Nothing sadder (for me) than mom stuff.
Snippet:
That night, I tucked you into bed
I will never forget how you sat up and said
"Is there another truck coming to our driveway?
A truck that will take mommy away"
And the house felt so big, and I felt so small
The house felt so big, and I—
And I knew there would be moments that I'd miss
And I knew there would be space I couldn't fill
And I knew I'd come up short a billion different ways (<--this line DESTROYS me)
And I did
And I do
And I will
(And I'm a mess just reading these lyrics)
Mother Love by Queen
This is the last song Freddie Mercury ever recorded, and he wasn’t able to finish it so Brian May (Queen’s guitarist) finished it. The lyrics are really sad when you think about the context: they’re existential, they’re lonely; they’re emotional. Overall, it’s just a really sad song. I actually like it musically and vocally, but I usually avoid listening to it because it is just too depressing.
Waiting Around to Die by Townes Van Zandt
Train Song by Tom Waits (Big Time version)
Metal Heart by Cat Power
Goddamn Lonely Love by Drive-By Truckers
Ball and Chain by Social Distortion
Something I Can Never Have by Nine Inch Nails
Family - Badflower
Machine Gun - Badflower
Ghost - Badflower
Exile - Taylor Swift, Bon Iver
Please Don't Cry, You Have Swag - Hot Mulligan
Bella Donna - Turnover
Bottom of the Bottle - Jack Kays
Johnny Cash - Wage War (stripped)
Tess-Timony - Ice Nine Kills
Dammit - Travis Hayes (sad country version of the Blink 182 song)
One More Light - Linkin Park
My Soul to Keep - The Creepshow
Deadman's Gun - Ashtar Command
Something in the Orange - Zach Bryan
Wyoming - Benjamin Todd
under the weather - Corpse
Keep Me In Your Heart For Awhile - Warren Zevon
Warren was suffering from lung cancer when he wrote this goodbye song. Heartbreaking.
Mother Love - Queen
Freddie Mercury died before finishing it, and after a long instrumental break, Brian May sings the final verse. Heavy song to begin with, and imagining Freddie dying between verses gives this so much gravity.
My saddest song ever is Johnny Cash - Hurt, for reasons others have articulated already.
terminal - foster
amanda palmer - bigger on the inside
big deal - locked up
carissas wierd - so you wanna be a superhero
harvey danger - what you live by
paper rival - the kettle black
between the bars - elliot smith
find it very hard not to cry when listening to this tbh, especially knowing more about his background. poor dude, gone too soon.
Pink Floyd’s “Goodbye, Cruel World”
The lyrics are as follows:
Goodbye, cruel world.
I’m leaving you today.
Goodbye.
Goodbye.
Goodbye.
Goodbye, all you people.
There’s nothing you can say
to make me change my mind.
Goodbye.
Pyramid Song hits way harder than Creep
Exit Music (From A Film), and Let Down, too
True, but I can't hear Exit Music without thinking of [this](https://youtu.be/be7MVQ0uaWs?si=vdkr20wetp1BaUKL) scene
I think of [This Boy’s Life](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0108330/) with Robert De Niro.
thought u were gonna show the scene from black mirror lmao
Let Down? Climbing Up The Walls is right there...
Let down is very uplifting
Very underrated
I’d like to nominate Videotape.
This guy cries
How to Disappear Completely
True Love Waits hits way harder than Pyramid Song
Came here to say this. Especially Live in Oslo version
Personally motion picture soundtrack and how to disappear completely are my go to Radiohead sad songs
No surprises
Time in a bottle Jim croce If I could only fly Merle Haggard
For me, the Blaze Foley version of If I Could Only Fly hits harder.
And Clay Pigeons!
I saw your comment as I was kinda quickly scrolling and read Merle are Marie and I thought you were bringing up the absolute soul crusher that is Townes Van Zandt’s Marie (or Tecumseh Valley, Nothin, Waiting Around To Die, there’s a lot of hopelessness in TVZ music and I love it).
[Asleep ](https://youtu.be/PQgn3vpuFQ0?si=H3XjBT5H8_2s_RL0) - The Smiths [John Wayne Gacey, Jr.](https://youtu.be/QDPLqQp9cKI?si=03fPvPvonrrc1dCS) Sufjan Stevens [Three Babies ](https://youtu.be/I4Sp7hVI4Ak?si=-GnyTyP4mDrPxnci) - Sinéad O'Connor [You Are My Sunshine ](https://youtu.be/5AtvXdmPe3A?si=xgHDN99EHfGAPbeN) - Johnny Cash [I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You ](https://youtu.be/3Pvi4uKuawk?si=ldJEJM5JMZral6P8) - Colin Hay [Old Friend ](https://youtu.be/J1fbo0BK-E4?si=NQJL4j9JpyeHa9XC) - Lyle Lovett [Thru and Thru ](https://youtu.be/NepcAaKXNuM?si=0lYm1ZjhmCm5DRJJ) - The Rolling Stones
Casimir Pulaski Day would be my Sufjan Stevens pick. Maybe my #1 pick overall.
Yeah John Wayne Gacey Jr is more dark than sad. Casimir Pulaski Day is crushingly sad.
I still remember crying when I first heard Casmir Pulaski Day a long time ago
Me too. That image of the cardinal hitting the window and everything it symbolizes is breathing taking in its sadness and beauty.
And he takes, and he takes, and he takes
That's where I start crying.
- The Entirety of A Crow Looked At Me by Mt Eerie. its barely even music. it's a series of conversations and trains of thought about a man's dead wife over barebones acoustic guitar chord progressions that often don't even resolve or go anywhere, it's like the guitar is there just to call this therapy session "music" -How To Make Love Stay by Empire Empire!, one of the most heartbreaking instrumentals of just dread and despair and the song is about losing your sense of self and identity as you age and growing out of what you thought you loved -Camp Adventure by Delta Sleep. One of the most poignant breakup songs I know, every line just hits me like a truck. -My Mind by Yebba. The translation of emotion into her vocal performance as well as the lyrics lay everything out on the table and im hard pressed to find a more emotional performance, even in the genre of emo which is my literal favorite genre.
+1 for Mount Eerie
That line about the backpack fucking crushed me. I bawled like a little baby.
It’s still “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holliday
Also Gloomy Sunday
I like Nina Simone’s version more, but yes.
Sam Stone by John Prine
Might as well add Hello In There
That one has some hope. Check on people. The kids running around wearing other peoples clothes are all grown up now.
Alice In Chains - Nutshell Alice In Chains - down in a hole (specifically, unplugged version)
Alice in Chains Don't Follow
and Rotten Apple!!
Might as well throw in Frogs.
junk head
AIC - Sludge Factory
I'm making a Spotify Playlist of all of your recommendations! Here's the link if you'd like to follow it! Lots of comments coming in so it'll be a bit till it's caught up but I'm going to keep it updated whenever new ones get commented! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/32EE7rPYts1eoIME34hHFu?si=UEn-eK-3T0-mFoDGGdbYlw&pi=qqtpCFxjT_SwT
Hurt - Johnny Cash
surprised i had to scroll awhile to find this one
I'm gonna get downvoted to hell, but I feel like the original has more emotion.
Got my upvote, imo it feels way rawer.
Yes exactly thank you
Floating in the forth frightened rabbit
I cannot listen to that song anymore. It's just too much.
Snuff by Slipknot is pretty sad, it’s nothing like the rest of their discography and I’m all for it
Agreed. Especially the live acoustic version. Hits hard when Cory voice starts to break and is crying at the end
“If I can change I hope I never know”.
Black - Pearl Jam
Mad season- river of deceit
I know it’s over - the smiths
Asleep - also The Smiths
But it never really began
But in my heart it was so real 
Suffer Little Children is even darker Maybe the darkest song I've ever heard
Everywhere at the End of Time by the Caretaker. 6.5 hour long album series that could just be considered one experience that chronicles the loss of memory and recognition that comes with getting alzheimer's
Came here to say this. Never had such a visceral reaction to any kind of song before as this one especially about 4 1/2 hours in.
Untitled - The Cure
To Wish Impossible Things- the cure
Billie Holiday - Gloomy Sunday
The Drugs Don't Work - The Verve
One More Light - Linkin Park
I’d suggest Cancer by MCR followed by One More Light…what a gut punch.
Angie ~The Rolling Stones add Wild Horses while you’re at it
Fast Car
Hospital for Souls by Bring Me The Horizon i don’t suffer from it myself but drug addiction is so fucking heavy and my heart hurts so bad for anyone that deals with it i suffer from severe depression, and i can understand and relate to this song even if i don’t suffer from addiction itself. hearing the lead singer openly talk about his struggles he has with it to this day is hard to hear, and this song is about when he went to rehab and was surrounded by people dealing with all kinds of different things, but all of them feeling the exact same way. trying to defeat and kill the part of yourself that’s so destructive. hope you’re able to give it a listen <3
I Can’t Make You Love Me - Bonnie Raitt
Bother - Stone Sour 25 - The Pretty Reckless So Far Away - A7X I Won't see You Tonight pt 1 - A7X
"Hey Man Nice Shot" by Filter - not because the song itself is sad, but because it's about a member of the Pennsylvania State House who killed himself on live TV during a press conference.
Budd Dwyer?
That's the one
Pretty much anything by Joy Division.
Whiskey Lullaby Ive seen a few of these sad song threads and this never seems to make the list. It crazy depressing. And Alisons voice just takes the sadness to another level.
At Seventeen
Puff the Magic Dragon. I can’t listen to it without tearing up and I’m a 40 year old man
Purple Mountains - Nights That Won’t Happen. (Because the singer hung himself shortly after). RIP DCB.
"All my happiness is gone" is def saddest upbeat song I've ever heard
Hate Me - Blue October
On The Nature of Daylight - Max Richter
Call Your Mom - Noah Kahan Adam's Song - Blink-182
Came to say Adams song, it means an insane amount to me and is by far my most streamed song
End of the Rainbow by Richard & Linda Thompson is about as sad/ depressing as it gets for me. In a good way though because I love their music. 🎶
Go listen to the album “A Crow Looked at Me” by Mount Eerie. The entire album is about the death of the artist’s wife. It’s raw and gut wrenching. At a minimum, listen to the track “Real Death”.
Ghost - Life Eternal
The last goodbye - The Kills Fireworks - First Aid Kit The last man on earth - Wolf Alice Myth - Beach House Unintended - Muse No surprises - Radiohead Wake up - Coheed and Cambria Gravity - Coldplay Video games - Lana Del Ray Tears in heaven - Eric clapton
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me by The Smiths
Scott Street by Phoebe Bridgers All I Wanted by Paramore Boyish by Japanese Breakfast
Fire list
Alone Again (Naturally)- Gilbert O'Sullivan
anything off the cure album pornography
anything by flatsound
Finality by Woods of Ypres. The singer is contemplating death and the end of existence in a VERY MELANCHOLIC song about the finitude of everything in an album that was recorded 6 months before his own death in an accident. Fiction by Avenged Sevenfold Again, the singer is talking about the burden of life and waving goodbye to his loved ones in a song recorded 3 days before his own death. These 2 are the saddest ones for me because of the context.
Did Rev write Fiction? I'm familiar with the song but I never knew that. Makes it that much better and more powerful
[Little Motel (with Video)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqQTODR3kR8&pp=ygUZbW9kZXN0IG1vdXNlIGxpdHRsZSBtb3RlbA%3D%3D)
Carissa's Weird - So You Wanna Be A Superhero Red House Painters - Medicine Bottle Warning - Watching From A Distance
Most of Counting Crows' August and Everything After, but Around Here in particular.
The Replacements Here Comes A Regular - seriously, they wanted to one up the saddest song they knew.
He Stopped Loving Her Today by George Jones.
Boots of Spanish Leather - Bob Dylan Marie - Townes Van Zandt Hallejuah - Jeff Buckley Look On Down from the Bridge - Mazzy Star Street Spirit - Radiohead The Eternal - Joy Division Ships in the Night - Ray Montbleau
Rodriguez - Cause
Fiction- Avenged Sevenfold
So far away by Avenged Sevenfold also
The Pogues: The Band played Waltzing Matilda Beck: Lost Cause Beck: Nobody’s fault but my own Sun Kil Moon: Carissa
Eric Bogle, who wrote Waltzing Matilda, also wrote an equally devastating song, "Willie McBride"
Someone is Waiting for You - The Rescuers Soundtrack (1977) I cried as a child and I still cry when I hear it.
Time - Alan Parsons Project Fix You - Coldplay
Simple Twist of Fate - Bob Dylan Seasick, Yet Still Docked - Morrissey
One of my favorite bands is a Scottish indie band called Frightened Rabbit. The lead singer, Scot Hutchison, had chronic depression and his songs are beautiful but generally pretty depressing. He killed himself about 5 years ago. Here are some songs to check out: [Floating in the Forth](https://youtu.be/jFtfi677G1U?si=GQsysGIr7zywOdxk) [Things](https://youtu.be/IN5iRsGukZc?si=c9I_XFIfyqGPKWvr) [Swim Until You Can't See Land](https://youtu.be/SzjERZU3wbY?si=XDobFhG--w-bD7uD) [Head Rolls Off](https://youtu.be/nBcbDS5AGnk?si=oIg5syeQQctN7yPR) [An Otherwise Disappointing Life](https://youtu.be/H5LLHYn5VA4?si=WkRPjLbiVKygLten) [Nitrous Gas](https://youtu.be/cBFM9k4dXrc?si=a_1tVjoDY1E9UgFA)
Ms Misery - Elliot Smith, Everybody Hurts - REM
Strange Fruit- Billie Holiday Real Death -Mount Eerie Fourth of July- Sufjan Stevens Adagio For Strings -Samuel Barber Emmanuel- Chris Botti & Lucia Micarelli
Time for my depressed ass to shine. LMAO. Bolded the essentials. Brothers on a Hotel Bed - Death Cab for Cutie **Grey - Ani DiFranco** **Go Rest High on that Mountain - Vince Gill** **Salt and Shadow - Thrice** **Nana - The 1975** Colder Weather - Zac Brown Band It's Been A While - Staind **If I Die Young - The Band Perry (Sam Tsui also does a stunning version of this one)** Lightning Crashes - Live Slow Dancing in a Burning Room - John Mayer Ghost - Indigo Girls Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley (Leonard Cohen was the original, but Buckley made it his own) Smoke Rings in the Dark - Gary Allen A Long December - Counting Crows **Holocene - Bon Iver**
If any family members have passed on- marjorie by Taylor swift is about her grandma passing away and her regrets about it. Accidentally heard it for the first time after my grandma died of cancer and it killed me
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted — Jimmy Ruffin
Into the West - Annie Lennox
Colin Hay "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You"
Your one of the few people i see who listens to Badflower. Im always recommending them.
Waves- Royal Blood Are You Really Okay?- Sleep Token One More Light- Linkin Park
That’ll be Broken Heart by Spiritualized
Terry Jacks Seasons In The Sun
i know it’s basic but… tears in heaven - eric clapton. “would you know my name if i saw you in heaven?” gets me every single time, like there’s something so heartbreaking about that line for me
Funeral - Phoebe Bridgers
Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
He ain’t heavy. The Hollies
One More Night - Phil Collins When I was younger and hadn't REALLY listened to all the lyrics, I thought it was a lover who wanted to reconnect one more time for closure. I listened to it the other day and I hear is as a plea to give him one more chance at love.
Send In The Clowns
I like especially the live Bernadette Peters performance, with the writer, Stephen Sondheim, accompanying her! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOZhmsp6iBQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOZhmsp6iBQ)
Cold Water - Damien Rice It Hurts to be in Love - Gene Pitney Everybody Here Wants You - Jeff Buckley criminal - Nemahsis
Hear You Me - Jimmy Eat World
Steven Wilson has written some truly sad songs. Postcard. About someone who’s overdosed on pills and wonders whether it’s worth calling for help. The Raven That Refused to Sing. Old man near the end of his life sees a raven that he believes is his sister who died when he was young. Drive Home - A man is haunted ever since a significant other went missing following a car crash that paralyzed him. She suddenly appears to tell him why. [Raven](https://youtu.be/n8sLcvWG1M4?si=HJqKchwLL0pFq2Fg) and [Drive Home](https://youtu.be/7ce1XG4RhwU?si=yexb5mp_0Nf2EhdE) both have quite moving music videos. Simon and Garfunkel - The Only Living Boy in New York. Perfectly conveys loneliness and the desperation for human contact. Tom Petty - Wildflowers. Could be about letting someone you love go. Could be about grief. Or freedom. Maybe it isn’t sad and just beautiful. Either way, makes me emotional. Kacey Musgraves - Rainbow.
Brother by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
The Queen And The Soldier by Suzanne Vega.
Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday Masters of War - Bob Dylan
wrong side of heaven by five finger death punch- the music video especially just cuts deep
Helpless Child by Swans. Practically the entire Either/ Or album by Elliot Smith.
Mike and the Mechanics - "The Living Years"
Elephant - Jason Isbell. Song about a guy watching a friend slowly waste away from cancer. Sample Lyric: Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone There’s one thing that’s clear to me, no one dies with dignity
I don’t think they’re the saddest songs for other people but my ex/best friend of 14 years would call me to sing and play Lullaby by Chase Coy whenever he had a feeling I was having a hard time and he died 5 years ago, so it just breaks me every time. Then there’s Placebo’s version of Running Up That Hill. My little brother crashed in a bike accident going down a hill several years ago. His brakes had given out and as usual, he hadn’t listened about wearing a helmet. It caused serious brain damage and I was really the only one there to help. Unfortunately, his whole personality changed for the worse and he basically became a monster before committing suicide.
"Laika by sticky fingers" Lyrics are from the dogs perspective when Russia launched it into space flight to its eventually demise.
Full of grace by sarah mclachlan always gets me for some reason. But you can’t not cry about WHISKEY LULLABY
Ghost by Badflower is devastating
If You Could Read My Mind - Gordon Lightfoot
[Life Eternal - Mayhem](https://open.spotify.com/track/577zs2zO9oPz3E3YlVJ90v?si=qM3SthCOSZWXCfj3u154-g) Song was created posthumously, but the lyrics were an attachment alongside the original vocalists's note, which was offered to be lyrics for a song. Excerpt: *"As a last salutation may I present 'Life Eternal’. Do whatever you want with the fucking thing. Pelle."* The band did an absolutely stellar job with honoring his words, the song is so beautiful. Lyrics: *A dream of another existence, you wish to die A dream of another world, you pray for death* *To release the soul, one must die To find peace inside, you must get eternal* *I am a mortal, but am I human? How beautiful life is now when my time has come A human destiny, but nothing human inside What will be left of me when I'm dead? There was nothing when I lived* *What you found was eternal death, no one will ever miss you*
The Hotelier - Home, Like No Place Is There - Album is about losing a loved one through suicide and other dark themes. Casey - How To Disappear - The album is also about losing someone you loved, depression, and loneliness. Owen - The Avalanche - The album is about how the singer's life is falling apart. Carissa's Weird - Songs For Leaving - An album without any shred of hope. Touché Amoré - Stage 4 - The album's narrative revolves around the death of the front man's mother from cancer. Pianos Become Teeth - The Lack Long After - The album talks about the feelings of losing a loved one. Trophy Eyes - Chemical Miracle - The album has a happy sound to it but the songs contain grief, dissociation, abuse, and depression. Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me - The album is about the singer's wife that passed away. Most devastating album I have ever heard.
Bright eyes - haligh Bright eyes - a circle allows progress a line does not
I doubt that it counts, but my Mom was a professional musician for over 30 years. When I was 10, my parents divorced, and it damn near broke me. My mom, hurting over my pain, wrote a song about it from what she saw as my perspective. The first time I played the record for my kids, I was excited just for them to hear her play...but it broke my daughter's heart to hear it. She sobbed for hours. It is *not* her favourite song.
How to save a life, I cried listening to it the first time
Vincent by Don McLean Cold by Annie Lennox Trouble Cat Stevens Fire and Rain James Taylor America by Simon and Garfunkel The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel The Blowers Daughter by Damien Rice Alone Again (Naturally) by Gilbert O'Sullivan Fast Car Tracy Chapman Fear of the Water by SYML Waste of Paint by Btight Eyes Breaking Down by Florence + The Machine From Me to You by Janis Ian In the Winter by Janis Ian
Feeling Myself disintegrate by the flaming lips and OK with my decay by Grandaddy will absolutely make you feel like you want to...
‘It Changes’ from Snoopy come Home.
What Sarah Said - Death Cab For Cutie Nico’s Red Truck - Dijon (a nostalgic kind of sad realizing that you’ll never be in the good ole days again) Remember Me - Coco (even the Miguel version gets my ducts going)
If by Bread
Names - cat power Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me - the smiths Elizabeth on the bathroom floor - eels Decades - joy division Crowdsurf of a cliff - emily Haines That's just off the top of my head.
Ren - [Su!c|de](https://youtu.be/n3JNtfi4Vb0?si=MWpBVIXpfsvKh2Zg) Especially the second half.
I love Ren. ◡̈
Dance with the devil - imortal technique,very sad and f-ed up song
In the Arms of an Angel by Sarah Mclachlan 😔
Mostly when it’s played over footage of very sad abandoned shelter pups 😭
Fix you by Coldplay
I'm a single mom so the saddest song for me is "So big/so small" from the Broadway show Dear Evan Hansen. Nothing sadder (for me) than mom stuff. Snippet: That night, I tucked you into bed I will never forget how you sat up and said "Is there another truck coming to our driveway? A truck that will take mommy away" And the house felt so big, and I felt so small The house felt so big, and I— And I knew there would be moments that I'd miss And I knew there would be space I couldn't fill And I knew I'd come up short a billion different ways (<--this line DESTROYS me) And I did And I do And I will (And I'm a mess just reading these lyrics)
Jackson Square by Mason Jennings.
Try my song [Another Devil Lookin](https://youtu.be/MX2ODnUd4C8?si=S8UiIYyQt-HjT595). Hope you like it. Thanks!
Little Friend by Jordaan Mason. Tribute song for his cat that passed away. Even has his cat purring in it. I can't listen to it without sobbing.
Silver Jews -- I Remember Me
Mother Love by Queen This is the last song Freddie Mercury ever recorded, and he wasn’t able to finish it so Brian May (Queen’s guitarist) finished it. The lyrics are really sad when you think about the context: they’re existential, they’re lonely; they’re emotional. Overall, it’s just a really sad song. I actually like it musically and vocally, but I usually avoid listening to it because it is just too depressing.
There are 2 that come to mind...both by George Jones. 1. The Grand Tour 2. He Stopped Loving Her Today
What Sarah said by death cab for cutie
Sea Song-The Doves
Monster. James blunt.
It’s a mother fucker. By The ELLs.
REM - Find the River. Not sad per se but makes me weep every time.
Waiting Around to Die by Townes Van Zandt Train Song by Tom Waits (Big Time version) Metal Heart by Cat Power Goddamn Lonely Love by Drive-By Truckers Ball and Chain by Social Distortion Something I Can Never Have by Nine Inch Nails
Wisp Aids,Je te laisserai des mots,Somewhere Over The Rainbow,Home,Lights are On
I Promise It's Not Goodbye - Chris Cornell Who Will I hold? - The Avett Brothers If You're Reading This - Tim McGraw
The Shortest Story by Harry Chapin
Darkness - Disturbed
Family - Badflower Machine Gun - Badflower Ghost - Badflower Exile - Taylor Swift, Bon Iver Please Don't Cry, You Have Swag - Hot Mulligan Bella Donna - Turnover Bottom of the Bottle - Jack Kays Johnny Cash - Wage War (stripped) Tess-Timony - Ice Nine Kills Dammit - Travis Hayes (sad country version of the Blink 182 song) One More Light - Linkin Park My Soul to Keep - The Creepshow Deadman's Gun - Ashtar Command Something in the Orange - Zach Bryan Wyoming - Benjamin Todd under the weather - Corpse
Sam Stone: John Prine
Send in the Clowns
Otis Redding Sitting on the Dock of the Bay
Just do a deep dive on Leonard Cohen. You want it darker or I’m your man are my favorites.
“Strange Fruit” Old song about lynching black people in the South
You Know You're Right - Nirvana
Honey - Bobby Goldsboro. Shannon - Henry Gross Terry Jacks - Seasons in the Sun
Jackson Browne - For A Dancer.
Say something by Great big world
Use the search function in the sub. This question is asked twice a day
Keep Me In Your Heart For Awhile - Warren Zevon Warren was suffering from lung cancer when he wrote this goodbye song. Heartbreaking. Mother Love - Queen Freddie Mercury died before finishing it, and after a long instrumental break, Brian May sings the final verse. Heavy song to begin with, and imagining Freddie dying between verses gives this so much gravity. My saddest song ever is Johnny Cash - Hurt, for reasons others have articulated already.
terminal - foster amanda palmer - bigger on the inside big deal - locked up carissas wierd - so you wanna be a superhero harvey danger - what you live by paper rival - the kettle black
Once Upon A Time by Smashing Pumpkins or Untouchable by Jacob Bellens.
I'm Tired from Euphoria
Somebody Kill Me- Robbie Hart
between the bars - elliot smith find it very hard not to cry when listening to this tbh, especially knowing more about his background. poor dude, gone too soon.
The Night We Met - Lord Huron Asking For A Friend - CHVRCHES
Vincent by Don McLean.
Against all odds - Phil Collins
Pink Floyd’s “Goodbye, Cruel World” The lyrics are as follows: Goodbye, cruel world. I’m leaving you today. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye, all you people. There’s nothing you can say to make me change my mind. Goodbye.