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June 19, 2005
Sad Songs
Barbara Nicolosi has a post on sad songs. The post is based on an article in the Guardian in which the author runs through a list of what he says are the saddest songs out there. Yeah, he skimps on some genres, but the main problem is that he seems to focus on bad sad songs - (Earworm: We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun!).
For your consideration, what I think is one of the saddest songs ever, and it's a good song, too:
Everything that Glitters is Not Gold by Dan Seals. Oh my word, the first time I heard this, I was driving home from somewhere late at night, it came up on the radio, I'd never heard it before, and boy there was I was on 92 coming into Lakeland, dern tears just streaming down my face. Good Lord. Talk about sad.
He has one Harry Chapin song on there, but really, which of his songs is authentically, truly sadder than Cat's in the Cradle?
I also like what Barbara has to say about the kinds of music you fill your house with...
Posted by Amy Welborn | Permalink
Comments
"The Wexford Lullaby" makes me bawl. I think part of it has to do with what was happening in my life when I first heard it, but still, you don't get much more heart-squeezing than that.
Posted by: Sonetka at Jun 19, 2005 11:47:34 PM
I agree--Cat's in the Cradle has got to be on the top 10 most heart wrenching songs EVER. But for classic sad, how can one leave out Danny Boy?
Posted by: Radactrice at Jun 19, 2005 11:54:25 PM
I went to a funeral the other day, where they played Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time." Now THAT was sad.
Posted by: Glory at Jun 20, 2005 12:27:04 AM
One can easily leave out "Danny Boy." Man, if I never heard that song again, it'd be too soon. There's a whole bunch of great songs that I've heard so often I can't bear them any longer. Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl," for one.
Playing Cher at a funeral is sad, but not necessarily for the reason the deejay thinks.
Here's a really, really sad song: "Family Reserve" by Lyle Lovett, a mournful ballad about how no family is strong enough to conquer death.
Posted by: Rod Dreher at Jun 20, 2005 12:32:33 AM
The Irish have the world's saddest songs. Ever notice how even supposedly happy Irish songs--like drinking songs--are so often about death?
My favorite sad Irish song: "Young Bridget O'Malley."
Diane
Posted by: diane at Jun 20, 2005 12:37:40 AM
Hmmm...since we haven't hit one of the genres that seems to epitomize sadness--folk--I'll contribute a couple, both by Al Stewart, a modern folkie:
1. "Old Admirals" (http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data1/sy/jch/alwords/als40.htm), which is about growing old and unwanted, and,
2. "The Dark and the Rolling Sea" (http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data1/sy/jch/alwords/als54.htm), which is (among other things) about friendship betrayed.
Posted by: David Hecht at Jun 20, 2005 12:48:49 AM
I think what Barbara implies about the music you fill your house with oversimplifies the whole cause/effect thing. Sometimes, the dark music young people listen to isn't the cause of darkness in their souls, it's the coping mechanism after darkness already has intruded into their lives.
Back in the day, when I was 17 and 18, my "anthem" was "Badlands" by Bruce Springsteen. Now, for some kids, it's Korn screaming "F*** that s***."
Same sentiment, just expressed, more or less artfully, depending on one's perspective. My perspective leans heavily toward The Boss.
Now, turning to the saddest song, I'm surprised no one has mentioned "I'll Be Home for Christmas." In contemporary times, this is one of the most horribly, criminally misinterpreted songs of all times -- surely, one of the Vatican's "almost nonexistent" cases where capital punishment is acceptible would involve anyone guilty of performing an upbeat arrangement of this song.
Put back into its original context and meaning -- dig up a a World War II performance of this on, say, "Command Performance" -- "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is capable of reducing grown men to blubbering blobs of goo.
Posted by: James Freeman at Jun 20, 2005 1:11:52 AM
I'll Be Home For Christmas is horribly sad and should never be played in public ever again.
Posted by: Radactrice at Jun 20, 2005 1:24:11 AM
Eric Bogle wrote two of the saddest songs I've ever heard. The first was "And the Band Played Waltzing Mathilda" about Gallipoli (he was awarded "the Order of Australia" for his furtherance of the music of Australia).
The other is "William McBride" (apparently also called "No Man's Land" or "The Green Fields of France"). The chorus of this one goes:
Did they beat the drum slowly?
Did they sound the fife lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers o' the Forest'?
Sad, sad, sad.
Posted by: noe at Jun 20, 2005 3:09:21 AM
Seasons in the sun is of course nothing but the poor English version of Jacques Brel's (nr two on most people's list of famous Belgians)song Le Moribond, which I think is really good, and pretty funny for a deathbed song. Check it out here: http://www.paroles.net/chansons/18746.htm
Posted by: Anna at Jun 20, 2005 3:13:33 AM
The Eagles' "Please Come Home For Christmas" always made me cry when it came out around 1979 or so:
So won't you tell me you'll never more roam
Christmas and New Years will find you home
There'll be no more sorrow no grief and pain
And I'll be happy, happy once again
Posted by: noe at Jun 20, 2005 3:16:59 AM
I know it is over the top, but my kids and I cry when we hear this. They are very nice to me for a few hours after they hear it thouguh!
The Christmas Shoes
It was almost Christmas time, there I stood in another line
Tryin' to buy that last gift or two, not really in the Christmas mood
Standing right in front of me was a little boy waiting anxiously
Pacing 'round like little boys do
And in his hands he held a pair of shoes
His clothes were worn and old, he was dirty from head to toe
And when it came his time to pay
I couldn't believe what I heard him say
Chorus:
Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there's not much time
You see she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes would make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight
He counted pennies for what seemed like years
Then the cashier said, "Son, there's not enough here"
He searched his pockets frantically
Then he turned and he looked at me
He said Mama made Christmas good at our house
Though most years she just did without
Tell me Sir, what am I going to do,
Somehow I've got to buy her these Christmas shoes
So I laid the money down, I just had to help him out
I'll never forget the look on his face when he said
Mama's gonna look so great
Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there's not much time
You see she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes would make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight
Bridge:
I knew I'd caught a glimpse of heaven's love
As he thanked me and ran out
I knew that God had sent that little boy
To remind me just what Christmas is all about
Repeat Chorus
Posted by: jane at Jun 20, 2005 3:43:32 AM
Gotta agree with 'noe' about "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" - down here Down Under that song tugs as many heart strings in NZ as it does in Oz - and another song from that terrible WW1 campaign, "Suvla Bay" .
Trouble is with sad songs - especially those from decades ago - you don't recall them until you hear them played, and then the eyes well..
But the Irish certainly have a nack of wrenching the heart with that lovely-sad lilting Celtic music bred by their history of oppression in past centuries..... a bit like the Jews, I guess, who also have some sad stuff.
Posted by: Don(kiwi) at Jun 20, 2005 4:26:36 AM
I agree with "Cat's in the Cradle" has to be one of the saddest songs around. I remember when it first came out, I commented about it being so sad to my college roommate, a music major. She had only picked up the upbeat tune, and ignored the words totally.
Posted by: Anna at Jun 20, 2005 4:26:47 AM
In support of what James F. and Radactrice said about "I'll be Home for Christmas" --
My mom told me that the song was not allowed to be played for servicemen during WWII because they thought it would ruin morale.
Posted by: Robin at Jun 20, 2005 4:56:07 AM
A magnificent topic.
The Irish have the world's saddest songs. Ever notice how even supposedly happy Irish songs--like drinking songs--are so often about death?
Yes, and noe--I agree with you about Willie McBride. Completing the Irish trio for me would have to be "Boolavogue" and "The Croppy Boy." Ronan Tynan's version of "Isle of Hope" that opened the September 11 memorial laid me out as well. There are so many Irish songs like this--where the beauty and gut-wrenching sadness are intertwined.
"I brought my father with me" by Michael Smith (an Irish-American) would also top my list.
"For Real" by Bob Franke
"Further In" by Greg Brown--try to listen to this without losing it.
Posted by: skyprincess at Jun 20, 2005 5:13:02 AM
Like many great songs the lyrics are a bit flat on the page--you have to hear the searing music to this to fully appreciate it--but still..
I brought my father with me
I hope that you don't mind
I couldn't find it in me
To make him stay behind
Tonight the snow has fallen
The trees are white & cold
Their heavy branches bending
Can we come in from the cold?
I brought my father with me
Though it's been many years
Since he'd go down to Dolan's
For a shot & a couple of beers
When he'd take me with him
And he'd buy me a coke
It surely made my day
Now I take my father with me
Turnabout's fair play
Car trips to Pennsylvania
When all of us would sing
He sang Bells of St. Mary's
And he sounded just like Bing
Summer days down at the shore
Remembering how he
Would bless himself with foam before
He'd dive into the sea
There are some ways I'm just like him
Some ways he was just like me
And sometimes when the mirror's dim
His face is clear to see
Tonight the winds of heaven
Blow the stars across the sky
I brought my father with me
I couldn't say goodbye
Posted by: skyprincess at Jun 20, 2005 5:18:41 AM
This is my last post on this topic, I promise.
With reference to the Michael Smith and Greg Brown songs above--I'm reminded of a story I heard the Irish writer John O'Donoghue tell at a lecture several years ago. When asked to describe heaven, the questioned man (I can't remember who O'Donaghue was talking about) said: "Heaven means that I will see my mother and father again."
Posted by: skyprincess at Jun 20, 2005 5:29:23 AM
+J.M.J+
What about Barry Manilow's "Copacabana"? That one is pretty darn sad.
I also didn't recognize most of the songs on that list. But that Christmas Shoes one... ugh! I've heard that one, all right.
In Jesu et Maria,
Posted by: Rosemarie at Jun 20, 2005 5:42:55 AM
After her bachellorette party, Lillith returned to "Cheers", drunk, escorted by the (paid) male dancer to whom she (mistakenly)thought herself engaged:
"I'll never hear 'Shock The Monkey' again, without crying."
Posted by: wild@heart at Jun 20, 2005 6:21:57 AM
I think the song "Killkelly" has to rate as one of the saddest songs ever; based on letters found in a family's attic in the DC area, it captures succinctly the heartbreak that is at the heart of many immigrant families' lives. My wife hates it when I play this song, because it makes us all cry. But the Irish seem to have a genius for capturing the perennial sadness of their history via song.
Posted by: Steve Cavanaugh at Jun 20, 2005 6:23:12 AM
The problem with that list of sad songs was that they were not poignant, just sad. Maybe even pathetic. What a collection of stinkers.
For a more cheerful perspective, look up some of those dogs, like Honey, in Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs. You'll never have to suffer through them again when they turn up on the supermarket Muzak. Your fellow shoppers may be wondering why you a laughing out loud while shopping alone, but you won't be suffering...
Posted by: Ellyn at Jun 20, 2005 7:19:34 AM
Don't know about half of them. I remember "The People who Died" from my early 80s new wave/punk era [I might have mildly looked the part externally, but I was and always will be pure middle class bourgeoise!] Comfortably Numb & the whole "Wall" was a 'good' depressing mental excursion. [No I have never done drugs.]
I suspect that half the author's criterion included considering that they were 'sad' as in pathetic, awfully written etc.
Posted by: Peggy at Jun 20, 2005 7:26:19 AM
This one got me real bad recently:
My Dear Son, it is almost June,
I hope this letter catches up to you, and finds you well Its been dry but they’re calling for rain, And everything's the same ol’ same in Johnsonville Your stubborn 'ol Daddy ain’t said too much, But I’m sure you know he sends his love, And she goes on,
In a letter from home I hold it up and show my buddies, Like we ain’t scared and our boots ain’t muddy, and they all laugh,
Like there’s something funny bout’ the way I talk, When I say: "Mama sends her best y’all"
I fold it up an' put it in my shirt,
Pick up my gun an' get back to work
An' it keeps me driving me on,
Waiting on letters from home
My Dearest Love, its almost dawn
I’ve been lying here all night long wondering where you might be I saw your Mama and I showed her the ring Man on the television said something so I couldn’t sleep But I’ll be all right, I’m just missing you An' this is me kissing you XX’s and OO’s, In a letter from home I hold it up and show my buddies,
Like we ain’t scared and our boots ain’t muddy, and they all laugh,'Cause she calls me "Honey", but they take it hard,'Cause I don’t read the good parts I fold it up an' put it in my shirt, Pick up my gun an' get back to work An' it keeps me driving me on, Waiting on letters from home
Dear Son, I know I ain’t written, But sittin' here tonight, alone in the kitchen, it occurs to me, I might not have said, so I’ll say it now Son, you make me proud
I hold it up and show my buddies, Like we ain’t scared and our boots ain’t muddy, but no one laughs, 'Cause there ain’t nothing funny when a soldier cries An' I just wipe me eyes
I fold it up an' put it in my shirt, Pick up my gun an' get back to work An' it keeps me driving me on, Waiting on letters from home
You can hear the song here:
http://www.hit-country-music-lyrics.com/letters-from-home-lyrics.html
Posted by: Kathleen at Jun 20, 2005 7:34:44 AM
Okay, one more:
"I Got Tears In My Ears From Laying On My Back In My Bed, Crying Over You."
Posted by: wild@heart at Jun 20, 2005 7:39:36 AM
