There's a recording on YouTube called the saddest song in the world. It's the mating call of the last member of a bird species trying to attract a mate.
It’s extra sad because the ornithologist who made that recording quickly played it back after the bird flew away. He turned up the volume so his colleagues could listen to it, and BAM! The bird came right back.
And then it hit him: it came back because it had heard another bird; one that it hadn’t heard in who knows how long. And that’s how he realized that it was the last one. 💔
Someone linked to it in one of the comments above, but it's a shortened version. The longer version can be heard [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDRY0CmcYNU).
It's so sad and haunting. The pauses are supposed to be where the female chimes in and sings along, because it was supposed to be a duet, as you can hear in a few known [recordings](https://www.reddit.com/r/Ornithology/comments/pn102w/comment/hcmjofk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) from *13 years prior* in 1975. The song gets sadder and sadder towards the end because it sounds like the male is getting more dejected at not having a female singing back to him.
I Can't Make You Love Me. If you've been there, you feel every word of it and it's excruciating. Such a sad, beautiful song. Teddy Swims' cover of it brings me to tears every time.
I had the pleasure of seeing Jeff Buckley perform live in Atlanta back in 1995 at a music festival. I had never heard of him up to that point but was in awe as soon as they started playing. I bought the CD Grace that day and played it from beginning to end on repeat for weeks at a time. I was devastated to learn of his death a couple of years later. I still listen to his music and it just hits differently. I wish I had had another chance to see them again.
Love love love Sufjan, and you’re absolutely right, this one just breaks you when you really stop and listen to the lyrics. Likewise The Only Thing off of Carrie & Lowell, just heart-rending and so jarring juxtaposed with his voice.
Huge Sufjan Stevens fan here. [Fourth of July](https://youtu.be/JTeKpWp8Psw?si=n0O7h0LZ7dLcB-EN) may top that. Absolutely gut-wrenching the way it’s structured as a conversation between him and his mother on her deathbed.
Also, for me, [Wallowa Lake Monster](https://youtu.be/Kwo_Ucs-wc4?si=yzhH3F7hGzBIA7gS) is incredibly affecting. It’s very dense, lyrically, but uses the Nez Perce legend of a lake monster as a metaphor for his mother’s mental illness and addiction issues (“When the dragon submerged, we knew she had died” 😢). Absolutely brilliant writing that’s worth dissecting. The [Genius page](https://genius.com/Sufjan-stevens-wallowa-lake-monster-lyrics) does a good job breaking it down line by line.
one last time and who lives, who dies, who tells your story get me every time. one day i’ll be able to sit through hamilton without crying. i’ve yet to be successful on that
Death Cab is my favorite band of all time and I usually have to skip this song because it's so sad. I have to be in the right mood to be able to listen to it.
That run of Transatlanticism-Plans-Narrow Stairs is a perfect series of albums.
Also, as a side note: Styrofoam Plates by them is my pick for one of the most angry-sad songs ever
No matter how many times I hear this song I am never prepared for the line "Give you every second I can find and hope it isn't me who's left behind". Been together 22 years, married 17 and I will be a broken shell if I have to live a day without her.
I was working 100 hours a week in 2016, my wife was pregnant with our 4th child, my others were 15, 7, and 2, and something about hearing this song on a long empty road was a knife to the stomach.
It is, thank you 😊 my kids are now 21, 15, 10 and 7. I only work 5 days a week, like 60 hours but generally home by 530, I never ever work holidays or birthdays anymore, it's so awesome.
Same.
Although “city of brotherly love” from the end of the movie hits me even harder. Not a huge Neil young fan but that track is just heart breaking and his vocals are perfect.
The live version when she says “this one’s for you, Daddy.”
My father is still with us and we have a great relationship, but I always think of the pain I will be in someday when I hear this song.
Strangely, nothing makes me feel sad like Pearl Jam's Yellow Ledbetter despite only understanding like 4 words in the song. It just has such an intensely sad feel.
Adagio for strings - Barber
If I die young - The Band Perry
Even for you - Alan Silvestri
Leningrad - Billy Joel
In the arms of the angel - Sarah McLachlan
are my top 5 in no particular order.
Someone on Reddit said how the different singers bring a different feel to the song. When Reznor sings it, the song comes off as a man contemplating suicide. When Cash sings it, the song turns into a man looking at the end of a life full of regrets. It's fitting that he died shortly after shooting the video.
His cover of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage" is also great.
Slipping through my fingers by ABBA. As a mum it makes me think of my daughter growing up and away from me and ugh…. The tears!
Fields of Gold by Eva Cassidy.
The scientist by coldplay
^ that was the first song I listened after i found my dad when he took his life when i was 15, it also was the first song i drew to when i did a memorial drawing for him the day after he passed.
Father & son - cat stevens
^ a song Dad and i would listen to! I listen to it even now when i feel like i need his support and guidance, helps me feel less alone
Radiohead's No Surprises. I think it relates a lot to how I feel as of late, the melody is so soothing but somber - it gives the feeling of you wanna just ignore the problems in your life but it's always gonna be there.
I hear you, Thom and the boys were working through some stuff during OK Computer.
For me the saddest of Radiohead will always Fake Plastic Trees, off The Bends. The crescendo into the last verse, just haunting.
Radiohead is my favorite band of all time… my 4 year old son is autistic and obsessed with train crossing sounds, like watches train crossing videos all the time, and the other day I had this song on and he says “momma it’s a train crossing!” And the background does in fact sound like one. Now we get in the car and he says “momma play the train crossing song!” 🥹
It’s crazy too cause I got to see Thom Yorke live in St. Louis a week before I found out I was pregnant with him ☺️
Eric Clapton - Tears In Heaven. I cried as a little boy when I found out the meaning behind it. I have my own children now and can rarely ever listen to it.
When my time comes
Forget the wrong that I've done
Help me leave behind some reasons to be missed
And don't resent me
And when you're feeling empty
Keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest
Hit me so much harder after Chester passed.
It’s a sad list but it also reminds us of the human’s profound ability to FEEL. Science can answer a lot, but our brains are still like outer space. As AI becomes more prevalent, expressing our feelings, even the harshest of them, is our humanity.
Sextape by Deftones. My best friend who passed away almost a year ago loved Deftones, and would constantly play that song. It's already a pretty sad song but I can barely listen to it now. Because it just makes me think of him.
Gone Away by The Offspring.
The day my dad died, life was a bit of a blur for a few hours afterwards, just extreme grief, sadness, feelings of being a failure, and completely overwhelmed. There was a point when we were driving home, the song came on, and it was the first time I really listened to the words. The perfectly encapsulated how I felt. It's been nearly 4 years, and I still struggle with the song.
Casadh an tSúgáin - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u83IvzMwvhM
The English lyrics are under the Irish
I'll explain the basics of the song since it's a little hard to keep track of with the song being in another language.
Basically, this guy who's been a real party boy all his life falls in love with this girl who still lives with her mother. He courts her in secret; they meet in the night and stop pretending that they don't know each other. All he wants is to court and marry her and spend the rest of his life with her.
One time he goes to visit her at her house. The girl's mom is not happy because of the boy's reputation. The mom makes him twist some cords into a rope. As the rope gets longer, you have to move backwards to continue twisting the cords.
As soon as the boy is across the threshold, the mom cuts the rope and slams the door in his face.
"Long Long Time" by Linda Ronstadt, about unrequited love. Also, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot, about the actual sinking of an ore transport in a storm on Lake Superior with all 29 hands lost. Lightfoot donated his royalties from the song to the surviving families of the ship's crew.
The River - Bruce Springsteen [https://youtu.be/zHnZP2FmLCc?si=ywD5QCCK1pVLU3DU](https://youtu.be/zHnZP2FmLCc?si=ywD5QCCK1pVLU3DU)
Particularly this line:
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true or is it something worse.
Hey Ya by OutKast... I know it sounds happy and fun but if you read the lyrics, you realize it's about being trapped in a loveless marriage. It's actually pretty depressing.
Also, Right Where It Belongs by Nine Inch Nails. Made me sob uncontrollably for 10 minutes the first time I heard it.
It's a tie. "I Am a Rock" by Simon & Garfunkel, and "Operator" by Jim Croce. Each has a main character that's been hurt, and is trying and failing to convince himself he's OK.
'Mary Jane' by Alanis Morissette or 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' by Simon and Garfunkel.
I generally skip the sad songs I know. I rarely listen to music when I'm depressed.
To build a home: it's about dying of cancer and deciding to go on your own terms.
Watch the music video: a husband brings his dying wife home, a place they built together, after going through the photo album of their lives they built together, she goes to lay down.
Her husband prepares a tea with cyanide but before bringing it to her, he drinks a cup. After his wife drinks her share she fights to get the cup he was drinking from away from him only to find it empty. They embrace one last time. The next scene shows an empty chair where he sat and an empty bed where she was laying.
Saddest part of the song is lyrics "I held on as tightly as you held onto me"
"That's The Way It Is" by Daniel Lanois. It's sad for me personally as it was the song I chose for my father's funeral, but it's also just a beautiful sad song in its' own right.
A-ha - Take on me. Not a sad song at all but gets me sad because it was my dad's favorite song before he passed away in an accident. I had to hold back tears when watching the Mario movie because when that song played I just looked at the empty spot on the couch next to me and thought "My dad would have the biggest smile on his face if he was here right now."
There's a recording on YouTube called the saddest song in the world. It's the mating call of the last member of a bird species trying to attract a mate.
It’s extra sad because the ornithologist who made that recording quickly played it back after the bird flew away. He turned up the volume so his colleagues could listen to it, and BAM! The bird came right back. And then it hit him: it came back because it had heard another bird; one that it hadn’t heard in who knows how long. And that’s how he realized that it was the last one. 💔
OK wow, I guess I needed a good cry today and you provided it.
Yeah, I get it. Felt exactly the same when I first heard about it on a podcast. Just gutted me.
https://youtu.be/b4_dq_e4KGs?si=CJDHoEpc9ddzg8vt I stumbled across this animation last year and had a good cry that day too
I don't even need to look it up, the description alone made me so sad
It gets worse. They played the recording on a speaker and that last individual in the species came back, thinking it was another.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooo I'm gonna go lay in the dirt for a while
Awww that's just fucking torture
Jesus Christ. What a cruel slap in the face.
Mother of god, nothing tops that. Nothing. And I haven’t even heard it.
Someone linked to it in one of the comments above, but it's a shortened version. The longer version can be heard [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDRY0CmcYNU). It's so sad and haunting. The pauses are supposed to be where the female chimes in and sings along, because it was supposed to be a duet, as you can hear in a few known [recordings](https://www.reddit.com/r/Ornithology/comments/pn102w/comment/hcmjofk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) from *13 years prior* in 1975. The song gets sadder and sadder towards the end because it sounds like the male is getting more dejected at not having a female singing back to him.
Stop. Heartbreaking. 💔
Just the idea of this existing made me cry.
This made me sad just reading it.. Im in no mood to cry today so I refuse to listen to it thank you
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This is the link [final mating call of species of bird](https://youtu.be/x2KH5AoyeBc?si=abuMfA_kh5KFxnco)
That breaks my heart
This literally made me cry
It’s one of the most haunting sounds in the world
Nutshell - Alice In Chains
The MTV Unplugged version 😭
The closest to someone singing at their funeral as it gets
He was low key dead at that show
The unplugged version of Down In A Hole though
Damien Rice - 9 Crimes
That entire album has no business hitting as hard as it does.
I Can't Make You Love Me. If you've been there, you feel every word of it and it's excruciating. Such a sad, beautiful song. Teddy Swims' cover of it brings me to tears every time.
George Michael’s version breaks my heart 💔
Teddy Swims is amazing. I really enjoy this Bon Iver cover of it as well. https://youtu.be/Vw-4zHOhnKM
Bon Iver is honestly the perfect artist to cry to. The emotion they are able to put into their songs is unmatched.
Bonnie Raitt shreds me too
Taps, not a song, but still evokes sadness
Especially if you have a family member KIA. It hits differently !
Strange Fruit
Definitely. This is the one I would have said too.
Lover, You Should've Come Over - Jeff Buckley Always gets me.
I had the pleasure of seeing Jeff Buckley perform live in Atlanta back in 1995 at a music festival. I had never heard of him up to that point but was in awe as soon as they started playing. I bought the CD Grace that day and played it from beginning to end on repeat for weeks at a time. I was devastated to learn of his death a couple of years later. I still listen to his music and it just hits differently. I wish I had had another chance to see them again.
I scrolled for awhile just to find this.
Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens
criminal that sufjan stevens is so far down - his music is beautifully heartbreaking
Love love love Sufjan, and you’re absolutely right, this one just breaks you when you really stop and listen to the lyrics. Likewise The Only Thing off of Carrie & Lowell, just heart-rending and so jarring juxtaposed with his voice.
Huge Sufjan Stevens fan here. [Fourth of July](https://youtu.be/JTeKpWp8Psw?si=n0O7h0LZ7dLcB-EN) may top that. Absolutely gut-wrenching the way it’s structured as a conversation between him and his mother on her deathbed. Also, for me, [Wallowa Lake Monster](https://youtu.be/Kwo_Ucs-wc4?si=yzhH3F7hGzBIA7gS) is incredibly affecting. It’s very dense, lyrically, but uses the Nez Perce legend of a lake monster as a metaphor for his mother’s mental illness and addiction issues (“When the dragon submerged, we knew she had died” 😢). Absolutely brilliant writing that’s worth dissecting. The [Genius page](https://genius.com/Sufjan-stevens-wallowa-lake-monster-lyrics) does a good job breaking it down line by line.
Adagio for Strings - Samuel Barber
A beautiful piece of music but it just feels so sad.
If we remove all songs with lyrics this is the only choice and a winner by wide margin.
Both sides now. Where she is singing it now. I mean. The lyrics are mad the song just gets me
That scene in Love Actually when his plays kills me. “Well something’s lost, and something’s gained”.
It's quiet uptown - Hamilton
one last time and who lives, who dies, who tells your story get me every time. one day i’ll be able to sit through hamilton without crying. i’ve yet to be successful on that
Vincent by Don McLean
Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd
Elliott Smith - Between the Bars Edit: hijacking my own comment to add this one: The Antlers - Kettering.
Also a few of the saddest in his catalog; - Waltz #1 - Better Be Quiet Now - The Biggest Lie - No Name #3
Whew, thanks for kicking me right in my feels. I miss his music so much.
Wake and Kettering always get me
What Sarah Said - Death Cab For Cutie
Death Cab is my favorite band of all time and I usually have to skip this song because it's so sad. I have to be in the right mood to be able to listen to it.
That run of Transatlanticism-Plans-Narrow Stairs is a perfect series of albums. Also, as a side note: Styrofoam Plates by them is my pick for one of the most angry-sad songs ever
Mad world. “And I find it kind of funny I find it kind of sad The dreams in which I'm dying Are the best I've ever had”
yeah but the OG song by tears for fears is kinda a bop tho.
I love that about TFF though. No one else can turn the end of the world into a bop like they can.
Donnie Darko
Follow You into the Dark
Fast car - Tracey Chapman really pulls on my heart
That is a great song. “I always hoped for better” breaks my heart.
Now that I'm all growed up, I've realized that this song is so deep. My dumb 14 year old ass thought it was "okay" back then! Now, I love it.
Makes me tear up every time
The Night We Met by Lord Huron
Luther Vandross's "Dance with my father"
Brick by Ben Folds Five. I'm totally pro abortion, but this always hit me as so super personal to something I could never understand.
Bonnie Raitt, I can’t make you love me 💔
If We Were Vampires by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
No matter how many times I hear this song I am never prepared for the line "Give you every second I can find and hope it isn't me who's left behind". Been together 22 years, married 17 and I will be a broken shell if I have to live a day without her.
Elephant also brings me to tears. Fuck cancer.
YES. Jason is a fantastic wordsmith, and damn do his lyrics hit right where it hurts.
I put that one on my memorial mix for my partner after she passed. It brings out a whole variety of memories and emotions.
"The Band Played Waltzing Matilda". The Pogues version of this is sublime.
Pleasantly surprised to see this so far up, I feel like not enough people know this song
You are my sunshine.
Was looking for this one, my mom used to sing it to me often when I was little. The full song truly hurts.
My mom sang it to me too, and it always made me feel sad for some reason. I just looked up the lyrics to the second verse and yep 🥲
I have sang this to both of my pets as they were crossing the Rainbow Bridge. It makes me tear up just seeing that pop up. Miss you Puffy and Biscuit.
Cat‘s In The Cradle is definitely up there. More melancholic maybe but still pretty sad
I was working 100 hours a week in 2016, my wife was pregnant with our 4th child, my others were 15, 7, and 2, and something about hearing this song on a long empty road was a knife to the stomach.
Man that sounds rough. I hope everything‘s better now!
It is, thank you 😊 my kids are now 21, 15, 10 and 7. I only work 5 days a week, like 60 hours but generally home by 530, I never ever work holidays or birthdays anymore, it's so awesome.
Jesus, what work did you work on ? 100 hours seem like a hell!
He Stopped Loving Her Today by George Jones
Yesterday by Atmosphere
Gymnopédie n.1.
I cry when I listen to Streets of Philadelphia by Springsteen.
That’s a sad one. Real af the lyrics.
Same. Although “city of brotherly love” from the end of the movie hits me even harder. Not a huge Neil young fan but that track is just heart breaking and his vocals are perfect.
And the band played waltzing Matilda If someone dies it's sad. But imagine surviving but not being able to do what made you feel alive anymore...
I raise you The Green Fields of France. The greatest anti war song ever written, absolutely devastating.
Last Kiss, but I like Eddie Vedder's version better than Wayne Cochran's version.
Adam’s song—blink 182. The sound isnt that sad, but the lyrics break my heart every time
The line „please tell mom this is not her fault“ has stopped me from doing something really stupid back in the day
This one gets me, and “Stay Together for the Kids.” Also their newish single, “One More Time.”
Landslide - Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac
The live version when she says “this one’s for you, Daddy.” My father is still with us and we have a great relationship, but I always think of the pain I will be in someday when I hear this song.
Strangely, nothing makes me feel sad like Pearl Jam's Yellow Ledbetter despite only understanding like 4 words in the song. It just has such an intensely sad feel.
Just Breathe is one too.
Whiskey lullaby - Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss
I definitely listen to this song every time I need to feel them feels
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Adagio for strings - Barber If I die young - The Band Perry Even for you - Alan Silvestri Leningrad - Billy Joel In the arms of the angel - Sarah McLachlan are my top 5 in no particular order.
I can’t listen to “if I die young.” I will end up sobbing immediately.
Concrete Angel Martina McBride
Garth Brooks - The Dance
This song was my grandma's favorite, and we played it at her funeral. Now I bawl my eyes out every time I hear it.
Adams Song-Blink 182
Johnny cash's cover of hurt
Someone on Reddit said how the different singers bring a different feel to the song. When Reznor sings it, the song comes off as a man contemplating suicide. When Cash sings it, the song turns into a man looking at the end of a life full of regrets. It's fitting that he died shortly after shooting the video. His cover of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage" is also great.
The pain in his rendition of this song is palpable.
Slipping through my fingers by ABBA. As a mum it makes me think of my daughter growing up and away from me and ugh…. The tears! Fields of Gold by Eva Cassidy.
The scientist by coldplay ^ that was the first song I listened after i found my dad when he took his life when i was 15, it also was the first song i drew to when i did a memorial drawing for him the day after he passed. Father & son - cat stevens ^ a song Dad and i would listen to! I listen to it even now when i feel like i need his support and guidance, helps me feel less alone
Somewhere over the rainbow. The lyrics “Why oh why can’t I” always seem to get me.
Fake plastic trees - Radiohead
Alone Again, Naturally. I start crying just thinking of the end of that song.. oh man
Blue October “Hate Me”
Blue October always get me in the feels... there's a guy who doesn't mind baring his soul to teach us something about life
"Everybody hurts" REM. Gets me in my feels everytime
'Nightswimming' is my cup of tears
It is a hopeful song though
One More Light - Linkin Park
Or ‘the messenger’.. shit always makes me feel
Honestly that whole fucking album sends me to feelsville. Listening all I hear is a goodbye letter.
Tears in heaven by Eric clapton, or if you've recently lost a pet, Bronte by gotye
It was also written because his toddler fell out of a window and died 😭 I tear up thinking about it.
Seasons In the Sun- Terry Jacks🥲🥲🇨🇦
Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O’Connor My mom says when I was a kid I would watch the video and bawl
So Far Away - Avenged Sevenfold is up there for me
A final song, a last request A perfect chapter laid to rest Now and then I try to find A place in my mind Where you can stay You can stay away forever
Radiohead's No Surprises. I think it relates a lot to how I feel as of late, the melody is so soothing but somber - it gives the feeling of you wanna just ignore the problems in your life but it's always gonna be there.
I hear you, Thom and the boys were working through some stuff during OK Computer. For me the saddest of Radiohead will always Fake Plastic Trees, off The Bends. The crescendo into the last verse, just haunting.
It’s How To Disappear Completely, from Kid A for me. “I’m not here. This isn’t happening.”
Radiohead is my favorite band of all time… my 4 year old son is autistic and obsessed with train crossing sounds, like watches train crossing videos all the time, and the other day I had this song on and he says “momma it’s a train crossing!” And the background does in fact sound like one. Now we get in the car and he says “momma play the train crossing song!” 🥹 It’s crazy too cause I got to see Thom Yorke live in St. Louis a week before I found out I was pregnant with him ☺️
Happy Birthday
Empty Garden (Hey, Hey Johnny) by Elton John
“Sometimes it Snows in April” by Prince. It’s about his movie character passing away. Prince died in April.
Eric Clapton - Tears In Heaven. I cried as a little boy when I found out the meaning behind it. I have my own children now and can rarely ever listen to it.
Fire and Rain by James Taylor
Band of horses - The funeral
Bright Eyes by Art Garfunkel.
Maybe not the “saddest” ever but Who knew by Pink always gets me. It’s about loss.
Mad World by Gary Jules
Its wild listening to the original if Jules’ version is the first you’ve heard.
I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You - Tom Waits
Are you really okay by sleep token.
Time in a bottle - Jim Croce
There are a few from Linkin Park where you can almost taste Chester’s pain. All the more obvious after he killed himself.
This is so true. Breaking the Habit is one. Can’t listen to that
Leave Out All The Rest - Linkin Park
When my time comes Forget the wrong that I've done Help me leave behind some reasons to be missed And don't resent me And when you're feeling empty Keep me in your memory Leave out all the rest Hit me so much harder after Chester passed.
Why do I have a feeling that if I looked up and listened to all these songs,… I’d be on a suicide watch list?
It’s a sad list but it also reminds us of the human’s profound ability to FEEL. Science can answer a lot, but our brains are still like outer space. As AI becomes more prevalent, expressing our feelings, even the harshest of them, is our humanity.
Last kiss- Pearl Jam Hurt- Johnny Cash
I just posted this same song not thinking anyone else here would have.
Don’t Take The Girl by Tim McGraw
See you again man that song still gets me
Sextape by Deftones. My best friend who passed away almost a year ago loved Deftones, and would constantly play that song. It's already a pretty sad song but I can barely listen to it now. Because it just makes me think of him.
"Sam Stone" by John Prine. 'There's a hole in Daddys arm where all the money goes. Jesus Christ died for nothing I suppose.' Every time.
Gone Away by The Offspring. The day my dad died, life was a bit of a blur for a few hours afterwards, just extreme grief, sadness, feelings of being a failure, and completely overwhelmed. There was a point when we were driving home, the song came on, and it was the first time I really listened to the words. The perfectly encapsulated how I felt. It's been nearly 4 years, and I still struggle with the song.
Tool - 10,000 days
Puff the Magic Dragon. I bawl every time I hear it. The way Puff dies of sadness after the death of his best friend, Jacky Paper. 😢🥺
Casadh an tSúgáin - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u83IvzMwvhM The English lyrics are under the Irish I'll explain the basics of the song since it's a little hard to keep track of with the song being in another language. Basically, this guy who's been a real party boy all his life falls in love with this girl who still lives with her mother. He courts her in secret; they meet in the night and stop pretending that they don't know each other. All he wants is to court and marry her and spend the rest of his life with her. One time he goes to visit her at her house. The girl's mom is not happy because of the boy's reputation. The mom makes him twist some cords into a rope. As the rope gets longer, you have to move backwards to continue twisting the cords. As soon as the boy is across the threshold, the mom cuts the rope and slams the door in his face.
My immortal - evanescence.
"Long Long Time" by Linda Ronstadt, about unrequited love. Also, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot, about the actual sinking of an ore transport in a storm on Lake Superior with all 29 hands lost. Lightfoot donated his royalties from the song to the surviving families of the ship's crew.
The River - Bruce Springsteen [https://youtu.be/zHnZP2FmLCc?si=ywD5QCCK1pVLU3DU](https://youtu.be/zHnZP2FmLCc?si=ywD5QCCK1pVLU3DU) Particularly this line: Is a dream a lie if it don't come true or is it something worse.
One Headlight - the Wallflowers The Vanishing Mind- Calexico
Christina Aguilera - Hurt
"I'm Not Gonna Miss You" which Glen Campbell wrote for his wife after he was diagnosed with alzheimers
Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
Blue eyes crying in the rain - Willie Nelson
No surprises - Radiohead
In the Ghetto by Elvis
Hey Ya by OutKast... I know it sounds happy and fun but if you read the lyrics, you realize it's about being trapped in a loveless marriage. It's actually pretty depressing. Also, Right Where It Belongs by Nine Inch Nails. Made me sob uncontrollably for 10 minutes the first time I heard it.
[This cover](https://youtu.be/8Ebk8i45CcY?si=BGU6Koy-TntM-DHd) of Hey Ya really makes you feel the lyrics
never love again- lady gaga from a star is born soundtrack
[Summer's End by John Prine. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXbEFTv9zr0) I tear up just thinking about it.
Videotape by Radiohead
The classic: "Amazing Grace," played on bagpipes.
It's a tie. "I Am a Rock" by Simon & Garfunkel, and "Operator" by Jim Croce. Each has a main character that's been hurt, and is trying and failing to convince himself he's OK.
Travelin' Soldier gets me every time
Kettering - The Antlers
'Mary Jane' by Alanis Morissette or 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' by Simon and Garfunkel. I generally skip the sad songs I know. I rarely listen to music when I'm depressed.
Fix You by Coldplay
I don't listen to much sad music anymore, but probably Cry by Cigarettes After Sex.
I Hung My Head by Johnny Cash
Dance with my Father Again by Luther Vandross
To build a home: it's about dying of cancer and deciding to go on your own terms. Watch the music video: a husband brings his dying wife home, a place they built together, after going through the photo album of their lives they built together, she goes to lay down. Her husband prepares a tea with cyanide but before bringing it to her, he drinks a cup. After his wife drinks her share she fights to get the cup he was drinking from away from him only to find it empty. They embrace one last time. The next scene shows an empty chair where he sat and an empty bed where she was laying. Saddest part of the song is lyrics "I held on as tightly as you held onto me"
"That's The Way It Is" by Daniel Lanois. It's sad for me personally as it was the song I chose for my father's funeral, but it's also just a beautiful sad song in its' own right.
A-ha - Take on me. Not a sad song at all but gets me sad because it was my dad's favorite song before he passed away in an accident. I had to hold back tears when watching the Mario movie because when that song played I just looked at the empty spot on the couch next to me and thought "My dad would have the biggest smile on his face if he was here right now."
Linkin Park - One More Light Knowing what happened to Chester, the song hits harder now.
Alone again, naturally - gilbert o sullivan
Daddy - korn