Author Topic: Saddest Song?  (Read 10395 times)

Rig of Jarkness

  • An Englishman abroad
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #50 on: 28 January, 2010, 05:39:00 pm »
Well the only song I've seen reduce my sister to floods *

Seasons in the sun - Terry Jacks


* in her defence, she was about 5 at the time.  :D

Can't hear that without thinking of this version...

We had joy, we had fun
We had Sund'land on the run
But the joy did not last
Coz the bastards ran too fast




The version in my school playground went
We had joy we had fun
We saw streakers in the sun
But the joy didn't last
Cos the streakers ran too fast

 ;D
Aero but not dynamic

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #51 on: 28 January, 2010, 05:59:54 pm »
Ours was nastier:

Quote
We had joy, we had fun
Flicking bogeys at the sun
But the sun was too hot
And the bogeys turned to snot
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #52 on: 28 January, 2010, 06:07:00 pm »
Creep by Radiohead.Its pretty grim.

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #53 on: 28 January, 2010, 09:27:16 pm »
It is, kinda.  But it's not so damn syrupy in the original.
And neither are as syrupy as Honey by Bobby Goldsboro.  :sick:
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


RJ

  • Droll rat
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #54 on: 28 January, 2010, 09:49:01 pm »
Craigie Hill, as sung by Dick Gaughan

rr

Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #55 on: 28 January, 2010, 10:28:08 pm »
Nothing Compares 2U always makes me cry a little.  Even when it's the Sinéad O'Connor version.

Me too, it came out when I was going through a difficult time.

Jules

  • Has dropped his aitch!
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #56 on: 28 January, 2010, 11:12:56 pm »
"Cat's in the Cradle" - Harry Chapin
Audax on the other hand is almost invisible and thought to be the pastime of Hobbits ....  Fab Foodie

Woofage

  • Tofu-eating Wokerati
  • Ain't no hooves on my bike.
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #57 on: 28 January, 2010, 11:29:37 pm »
"To Love is to Bury" - Cowboy Junkies.
Pen Pusher

tiermat

  • According to Jane, I'm a Unisex SpaceAdmin
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #58 on: 29 January, 2010, 09:39:20 am »
Home by Foo Fighters (from "Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace") : <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/yHsLuwdjbkI&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/yHsLuwdjbkI&rel=1</a>
White Sparrows by Billy Talent : <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y3AE52DwXxY&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Y3AE52DwXxY&rel=1</a>
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #59 on: 29 January, 2010, 09:45:41 am »
"Im Abendrot" from Four Last Songs - Richard Strauss

Yes to this. This discussion sounds strangely familiar

This had been my top sad song for years, particularly after hearing Jessye Norman sing the four last songs in the chapel of an old school in Rouen in Spring 1986.  But now I'm wondering whether "Morgen" beats it - the way it evaporates into oblivion is chilling and gut-wrenching.  (And I too can't help wondering whether we've done Richard Strauss before...)

On a totally banal level, William Orbit's cover of "Harry Flowers" pulls off a very similar effect.  Every time I hear it I think it would be a cool track to have played at my funeral.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #60 on: 29 January, 2010, 10:05:31 am »
I'm not familiar with Morgen, so I just looked it up...

Er, excuse me, I think I have a speck of dust in my eye...

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #61 on: 29 January, 2010, 10:37:55 am »
Between The Wars ~ Billy Bragg
The Ocean ~ Dar Williams

Can't listen to either while I'm driving.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #62 on: 29 January, 2010, 10:38:57 am »
Can't listen to either while I'm driving.

I have the same problem with Celine Dion.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

ludwig

  • never eat a cyclists gloves
    • grown in wales
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #63 on: 29 January, 2010, 03:13:52 pm »
Gorecki symphony No 3
John Martin couldn't love you more
Tom waits nothing sadder than a town with no cheer or pony

nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #64 on: 29 January, 2010, 03:23:08 pm »
Can't listen to either while I'm driving.

I have the same problem with Celine Dion.

d.


I presume the urge to  :sick: would be too great.
There's no vibrations, but wait.

Tourist Tony

  • Supermassive mobile flesh-toned black hole
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #65 on: 29 January, 2010, 04:51:14 pm »
Two more:
"Bells of Rhymney/Coal not Dole" by the Oysterband.  The live version is phenomenally powerful, "CnD" having been written by a lass from the Kent village I lived in for 14 years. A truly heartrending song from the guts of a community destroyed by pit closures. It is followed by "Bells", in a version completely different from the Byrds' saccharine take on it, with the final line "Who killed the miners?" answered by John yelling "Bastards!!"

Linked to this, a classic song by the great Ed Pickford: "Ee, Aye, Ah Cud Hew"

When Ah was young and in me prime

Ee aye Ah cud hew

Ah was hewin’ aal the time

Noo me hewin’ days are throo, throo

Noo me hewin’ days are through.

 

Ah’ve lain down flat and shovelled coal

Ee aye Ah cud hew

Me eyes did smart in the dust filled hole

Noo me hewin’ days are throo, throo

Noo me hewin’ days are throo.

 

Ah’ve worked with marras and they were men

Ee aye Ah cud hew

They were men and sons of men

Noo me hewin’ days are throo, throo

Noo me hewin’ days are throo.

 

Ah knaa that work was made by men

Ee aye Ah cud hew

But wee made dust Ah’ll nivver ken

Noo me hewin’ days are throo, throo

Noo me hewin’ days are throo.

 

It’s soon that pit nee mair Ah’ll see

Ee aye Ah cud hew

But Ah’ll carry it round inside of me

Noo me hewin’ days are throo, throo

Noo me hewin’ days are throo.

John Henry

Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #66 on: 29 January, 2010, 05:29:25 pm »
One for the folkies: Fairport Convention, Crazy Man Michael.

By the same band, I'll see your Crazy Man Michael and raise you Who Knows Where the Time Goes by the beautiful and much-missed Sandy. Always brings a lump to my throat.

Edit: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/n2xODjbfYw8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/n2xODjbfYw8&rel=1</a>


Redlight

  • Enjoying life in the slow lane
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #67 on: 29 January, 2010, 09:10:27 pm »
One for the folkies: Fairport Convention, Crazy Man Michael.

By the same band, I'll see your Crazy Man Michael and raise you Who Knows Where the Time Goes by the beautiful and much-missed Sandy. Always brings a lump to my throat.

Farewell Farewell - written by Richard (based on a trad tune) but only Sandy could sing it and bring out the bleakness in the lyric - I would, I would, if only I could, but they loathe me, every one


Has anyone mentioned Nick Drake yet?

Why should anybody steal a watch when they can steal a bicycle?

plug

Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #68 on: 29 January, 2010, 09:56:33 pm »
Day Is Done - Nick Drake

Oaky

  • ACME Fire Safety Officer
  • Audax Club Mid-Essex
    • MEMWNS Map
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #69 on: 29 January, 2010, 11:21:40 pm »
I always found Fool in the Rain by Led Zeppelin quite sad, despite the Latin feel.  Bell Bottom Blues by Derek and the Dominos was also a "favourite" sad feeling song from my youth.  Thinking about both of them now I'm not sure they'd have the same effect on me any more.  :-\

Nowadays, I only need to look as far as the extensive nine inch nails collection (already mentioned way upthread).

[off on a tangent, saddest guitar solo?  Again thinking about my earlier days, perhaps Holy Mother by Eric Clapton --- it's just one bent not over and over, but it used to get me every time  ??? Haven't heard it for ages though]
You are in a maze of twisty flat droves, all alike.

85.4 miles from Marsh Gibbon

Audax Club Mid-Essex Fire Safety Officer
http://acme.bike

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #70 on: 29 January, 2010, 11:27:55 pm »
Yoga.

Peter Hammil


Quote
On Tuesdays, she used to do yoga
while I'd sit and watch the box
in a vegetable way,
but always ready to say
to myself that I was an artist,
implying that she was not.
         
It's funny the way that self-pity
can take over from self-esteem -
well, I was the prince of pride,
and though I'd cheat I never lied,
as if that were enough to make her happy,
as if that could satisfy her dreams.
         
Too late now to say that I'm so sorry,
too late to say that I can change and mend
the things that hurt.
She didn't need to worry,
she always knew I'd get there in the end.
         
Now I'm tying myself up in contortions,
don't know if yoga will do me any good.
It's about time I tried,
though I'd rather be inside from the cold,
studying tantra -
still, I never did that when I could.
         
I never did the things that really mattered,
there seemed to be some key I couldn't find
to unlock myself;
I could have done it with her help,
but I was too busy scrabbling for each moment -
now I don't know what I did with all the time.
         
Sometimes I'd play the wild rover,
sometimes I'd just get smashed all day...
on Tuesdays she used to do yoga,
on Tuesday she went away.
It is simpler than it looks.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #71 on: 29 January, 2010, 11:30:07 pm »
The Gresford Disaster

Quote
You've heard of the Gresford Disaster,
Of the terrible price that was paid;
Two hundred and forty two colliers were lost,
And three of the rescue brigade.

It occurred in the month of September
At three in the morning the pit
Was racked by a violent explosion
In the Dennis where gas lay so thick.

Now the gas in the Dennis deep section
Was heaped there like snow in a drift,
And many a man had to leave the coal-face
Before he had worked out his shift.

Now a fortnight before the explosion,
To the shotfirer Tomlinson cried,
"If you fire that shot we'll be all blown to hell!"
And no one can say that he lied.

Now the fireman;s reports they are missing
The records of forty-two days;
The collier manager had them destroyed
To cover his criminal ways.

Down there in the dark they are lying.
They died for nine shillings a day;
They have worked out their shift and now they must lie
In the darkness until Judgement day.

Now the Lord Mayor of London's collecting
To help out the children and wives;
The owners have sent some white lilies
To pay for the poor colliers' lives.

Farewell all our dear wives and children
Farewell all our comrades as well,
Don't send your sons down the dark dreary pit
They'll be doomed like the sinners in hell.
It is simpler than it looks.

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #72 on: 30 January, 2010, 12:42:19 am »
Between The Wars ~ Billy Bragg

I'd forgotten how good that song is :thumbsup:

Tourist Tony

  • Supermassive mobile flesh-toned black hole
Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #73 on: 30 January, 2010, 01:17:51 am »
Jaded,  I was thinking of putting that one up. I remember hearing it at an Albion gig at college. Hutchings and co got through the first verses, the "cyclic" bridge came in, and then suddenly Ric was playing this amazing howling, soulbreaking electric fiddle solo.
I wept.

Re: Saddest Song?
« Reply #74 on: 30 January, 2010, 09:21:54 am »
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/5YnHmaYaJpo&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/5YnHmaYaJpo&rel=1</a>