...that pop music has provided an outlet for more moaning than any other art form in the history of the world (and I include the blues) and most of it's been done by people who can be proven to have had less to complain about than any previous generation. No wars, no famine, universal education, not an awful lot of unemployment and the mobile phone.

Anyway, the main thing is, this tune only popped up on iTunes yesterday and I was once again reminded that John Prine is one of the greats and all his many records have aged very well.

Thanks so much for posting this... I'd never heard the song before. It's lovely. As is the video.

Universal or national crisis has a tendency to combine the masses and create one single, grieving organism (World War 2 etc.) If there is nothing to string these youths together, than they'll float about the earths planes weeping sorrows and getting pissed on Lambrini outside Talk nightclub.

Its a sad state of affairs but this generation, MY generation, only think about number 1 (themselves).

Thats why we produce self-pitying swallocks.

No disrespect to John Prine, but the saddest song ever is Hank Williams' I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. Just ask the boy from Tupelo: he's the king and he ought to know.

How sad is this song.

Actually, the sadest song ever is by Gilbert O'Sullivan. It's Alone Again, Naturally.

I remember I cried when my father died
Never wishing to hide the tears
And at sixty-five years old
My mother, God rest her soul,
Couldn't understand why the only man
She had ever loved had been taken
Leaving her to start with a heart so badly broken
Despite encouragement from me
No words were ever spoken
And when she passed away
I cried and cried all day
Alone again, naturally.

The John Prine song :isn't it just a re write of Eleanor Rigby?
I think it's maybe more bleak than sad but " My Sister" (?) by The Tindersticks involves some one ending up disabled and burnt in a fire. "Too much Wine" by The Hansome Family has someone burning their clothes in the snow on christmas day (it's ideal for wedding discos)

No contest: "Kilkelly" by Mick Moloney, Jimmy Keane and Robbie O'Connell from "Bringing it all back home", from the documentary about the transition of irish music into america(y)of the same name.
I would recommend "The Missing Years" for John Prine, circa '93, Patrick, I think it would cut your jib.

Lyle Lovetts 'The Family Reserve' from the Joshua Judges Ruth album follows the same line as John Prine. A lovely melancholy song. Good album too.

There's a YouTube clip of Steve Earle doing Fort Worth Blues, his tribute to Townes Van Zandt, that might just have you blinkin 'em back on a cold winter's night. Certainly seems to hit the spot with Nanci Griffiths. "There's a full moon over Galway Bay tonight/Silver light over green and blue." Yep, that'll do nicely. Perhaps one of our younger viewers could, if you will, "post" the relevant clip on the board. Aye.

BARNEY

Fabulous song called "Marie", best, in my humble, in the Willie Nelson version. Makes me gulp to even think of it...

If you can get through this without weeping, you're stronger than me:

but this is the saddest song, just for the mood if nothing else....

or

The song that never fails to get me is Tank Park Salute by Sir William of Bragg. Strange but true. No idea what this video is though ...

Carlene Carter's tribute to her grandmother, Maybelle Carter, probably one of the few people who can genuinely claim to have originated a music style, in this case modern country music, and and mother of June Carter as in Johnny Cash....

Like great country songs it tells a simple story with no affectation and has you cryin' in your beer.

'Lonesome Town' by Ricky Nelson does it for me. Very sad song to sing considering he was a teen idol at the time.

Darling Be Home Soon/The Lovin' Spoonful
I Can't Make You Love Me/Bonnie Raitt
Has He Got A Friend For Me/Richard & Linda Thompson
Send In The Clowns/Judy Collins
Meet On The Ledge/Fairport Convention
Alone Again (Naturally)/Gilbert O'Sullivan
The End Of The World/Skeeter Davis
Withered And Died/Richard & Linda Thompson
Dimming Of The Day/Richard & Linda Thompson

No one does sad quite like Linda.

Atmosphere - Joy Division

Lou Reed's "Kids" is all these things.

As a child I always thought it was some dusty ol' groaner grinding on. I heard it again recently for the first time in years, and as parent to two boys, went grey faced, glum and gloomy.

If I want a sad song I go to Richard and Linda, together or solo, or to Randy Newman. Marie, I Think It's Going To Rain Today, Old Man, many others. He is sometimes overlooked for genuine pathos in favor of his satirical or show tunes.

Of late, however, my favorite sad song is by Peter Gabriel. I had always had a blind spot with Peter. Never saw what all the fuss was about. Thought he was a cynical arthead without soul. A bit of technology, throw in a worldbeat or two and bob's your uncle, perfectly adequate but disposable pop. Then I heard Father, Son. Whether it is my time of life or the incredible sob inducing noise of a colliery band, this song about a boy connecting with his dad just sends me diving for the Kleenex.

Its the combination of song, singer and video - each with it's own melancholy confidence that really nails it.

I suppose its all down to personal preference...
If attributed to something deeply personal, The Birdie Song could evoke some raw emotion.

For me, its anything to do with lost souls at war.

1. Jona Lewie - Stop the Cavalry
2. Kate Bush - Army Dreamers

I know its overlayed onto some bleak footage, but I found the song deeply moving prior to seeing this clip.

Never mind John Prine, etc.
Charlie Drake's "My Boomerang Won't Come Back" has been overlooked here.
The touching lyrics carry the realisation that the foreshortened narrator's failure to implement a basic task has led him to suffer impossible shame, leading to eventual banishment. What could be lonelier for the son of a chief?
His attempts at rehabilitation lead to him causing a plane crash (sadder than that in Ebony Eyes).
Those poor aboriginals. They had no-one to lyricise for them like Don Fardon did for Red Indians. Charlie must one day be recognised for his contribution to early World Music. (It's on Youtube, for those unfamiliar).

Another contender is of course, Two Little Boys.

I'm serious! Superficially joyous, but with a heart-wrenching undercurrent of melancholy. I'm not saying it's the saddest song ever, but for this listener, it is sad. And brilliant, of course.

by Cat Stevens does seem poignant to me and 2 perspectives in one song, quite rare - not as sad as the John Prine though. Also Abba Winner Takes it All - apparently based on true break up as we know so heartfelt, and also universal and true.

While You Were Sleeping - Elvis Perkins
I Can't Comfort You - Michael J Sheehy

These all come close but you can close the thread now, what could possibly beat:

Old Tige - Jim Reeves.

The tears fell on my keyboard as I typed the title....

I Am The Cosmos by Chris Bell

Nothing in the lyrics to lift it above your average pop song, but the sound and the performance makes it unbelievably sad; knowing about his tragic early demise adds a layer of extra sadness too.

On the other hand, Holocaust off of Sister Lovers by Big Star is SO sad and desolate that it's almost funny. Almost too much.

I Am The Cosmos

Two thematically related songs - Green Fields of France by The Men They Couldn't Hang and A Pair Of Brown Eyes by The Pogues get pretty close to being as sad as sad can be.

Carlene Carter's September When It Comes is a real choker; a great song about ageing, featuring her dad's last vocal (strangely, he died in September that same year). I find Cash singing about the inevitable ('I plan to crawl outside these walls/Rest my eyes and sleep...') very honest & affecting. A sad treat...

Thanks CarlP. It was indeed a tired and distinctly old-feeling Johnsey who posted that one after being reminded of the song while watching the earlier Carlene post. Now, where did I leave my slippers?

Unexpectedly,'Thirst For Romance'& the first verse in particular, makes my eyes a tad moist every time. I can only put it down to the advancing years.

Da Doo Doo Doo, Da Da Da Da by the Police never fails to utterly depress me.

Having kids has changed my perception of music. When you've got a couple of your own whining about their lot, the last thing you want to hear is the likes of Lemar moaning that "There's not much justice in the world" and "Its not that easy" - shut the f**k up and get on with it!

Michelle Shocked's Anchorage and Dire Straits Romeo and Juliet (which I'm a bit embarrassed about.

Anchorage just packs so much emotion into a song - yearning for younger days, regrets, having a family and accepting your new lifestyle/location, being happy with it but at the same time envying your singer friend who's still footloose and fancy free. 'Texas always seemed so big but you know you're in the largest state in the Union when you're anchored down in Anchorage'.

Dire Straits I can't explain. I think its just the combination of Mark Knopfler's voice and the music and maybe just growing older.

I have always felt a degree of contempt for that subgenre of autobiography, in which some cultural commentator or other, having become a father for the first time, writes an interminable navel-gazing tract, focusing on the relationship they shared with their father.

By extension the ‘Cat's In The Cradle' tear-jerker genre of music (in my opinion, cynical, heavy handed attempts at making grown men cry)has never done much for me.

The one exception is Father Song - Dana & Karen Kletter's mournful, post-separation piano ballad, in which a young girl, grieving her exiled father, gives voice to the sense abandonment and sudden loss of direction caused by his absence.

The line "Father you leave me with no objective, I cannot go and you cannot stay," is so to the point and void of emotional button pushing; it never fails to leave me with lump in my throat.

I do love a sad song and Tom Waits is of course a champion practitioner when he's not piddling about banging hubcaps or strangling chickens. Try 'Georgia Lee' from 'Mule Variations', 'Town With No Cheer' from 'Swordfishtrombones' and most especially, 'Kentucky Venue' from 'Blue Valentine': the most shameless and effective manipulation of tearducts and heartstrings known to this man. Great video on the tube as well but I can't give you the link 'cos I'm at work and the IT commissars won't let me go to fun places...

hear it and I defy you not to be weeping when Paul B's voice breaks.

when I hear
Winner Takes It All by Abba
Same Old Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg
Farther Along by The Byrds
Crying In My Sleep by Jimmy Webb
and especially saddened when I hear
San Francisco Mabel Joy by Mickey Newbury

This is quite sad.

Peter Hammill's 'If I Could' is surely worthy of a quick cry, talk about unlucky in love!
Also Sandy Denny, her final studio recording 'Moments' certainly stops any thoughts of partying hard dudes.

an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease, never fails it's that damn brass band, innit?

You can't go wrong with a JP album. If I was to recommend one for starters I'd go with 'Souvenirs' on which he rerecorded some of his earlier songs. 'Hello in There', 'Sam Stone', 'Blue Umbrella' 'Storm Windows' 'Angel from Montgomery' are all wonderful sad songs. My own favourite though is his album of country duets with female singers - 'In Spite of Ourselves' everything about it is lovely. JP - very probably the nicest man on the planet.

"The Other Side Of The Looking Glass" from the album "Over" is so distressing I can barely stand listening to it. That whole album is pretty heavy going actually, being as it is, a chronicle of the breakdown of his relationship. I believe the lady's name was Alice (hence the looking glass motif)and if I remember rightly, she ran off with her yoga teacher, as detailed in the track "On Tuesdays She Used To Do Yoga."

Not the best album to listen to if you've just been dumped.

by Damian Jurado.
All the worse as you can hear the last verse coming, way before he does.
Listening to it now, so excuse the smudged typing.
Have a feeling this was on a Word compo, but possibly one with Slomo or Unshod. Whatever.

If we're talking songs that make us cry, though not necessarily out of sadness, here's one for the parents: My Smallest Friend from the album All Shall Be Well by that most English of artistes, Virginia Astley. I used to like the song for its lovely melody and affectionate lyric; at the same time I thought it a bit soppy. Fast forward a few years, and I'm the father of a two-year-old girl; I listen to the song again, and I'm sobbing. If there's a greater expression of the combination of unconditional love and utter terror parenthood brings, I haven't heard it. And when her little girl comes with out-of-tune backing vocals, I'm a goner!

There may be a snippet at the link below, but I can't access it from work so not sure.

http://www.last.fm/music/Virginia+Astley/_/My+Smallest+Friend?autostart

and it depends on when and where you hear them and your own circumstances - most of these choices I would agree with. Gilbert O Sullivan "Alone Again" is a really under rated song.
"The Green Fields of France" should be played every remembrance day. But can I add "I Threw it all away" by Bob Dylan as his finest hour vocally and for straight to the point lyrics.

The man is a god. I also concur that In Spite of Ourselves is a fantastic album however with the exception of the title track is not self penned so you miss out on his wry observations.The title track is hilarious and includes the line sung by Iris De Ment 'caught him once and he was sniffing my undies'!!!(Arent they married by the way?)

Also, The Gilbert O'Sullivan song Alone again,naturally is incredibly sad but listeners may fail to appreciate exactly how sad because the melody is fairly upbeat. Listen to the version by Michael Weston King on his last album - it is slowed down and becomes much more mournful.

And finally - Elvis Costello - Good year for the roses - I know he didnt write it but he sure as hell made it famous. Its sad because it reflects more than we will often admit about the state of relationships.

......Greg Brown, who is better as a songwriter than singer. Quite a good tribute album with Lucinda Williams, Ani DiFranco etc etc. Considerably better than his own efforts. Mainly, I guess, because, like the missus, he has an, um, aquired taste of a vocal timbre. (However good "Our Town" is,and it is, it is SO much better by Kate Rusby. Also on the Cars soundtrack by James Taylor, I gather.)
Purely my opinion, of course!
P.S.
Eeeeek, just found and listened to JT murder the song.And it's not the same song at all- hideous schmaltzy song of same name and different sentiment. Apologies.........

Crap Kraft Dinner by Hot Chip

and

The thing that plucks the heart strings most is Frank Blacks refrain of ''We're Chained''...evidence of The Pixies emotive songwriting, which is rarely alluded to.

Is it the lyrics, the chords, the musical arrangement, the voice or a combination of factors? Here are a few that bring a tear to my glass eyes...

Hurt and One by Johnny Cash
Paris Train by Beth Orton
Out of season by Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man
Always on my Mind by Elvis
Love will tear us apart by Joy Division
Mother by Durutti Column
Everything I Own by Bread
24 Hours by Joy Division
Wild hearts run out of time by Roy Orbison

This list could go on and on... Anyone know any happy songs

See my poorly subscribed strand on Valentine songs. If, of course, that is there any truth in the idea that love makes you happy?!

Joe Brown closing The Concert For George Harrison is quite moving. Certainly brought out the tear in me.....

Made with an old field recording of a London down and out singing and Tom Waits adding vocals.The tramp had died years before the song was released.
Agreed that Joe Brown's performance brought more than a lump to the throat.
Danny Boy gets me as well,even though i have no Irish connection...the older you get the worse it gets,blubbing at many songs these days lol.

Surely there is no human being alive who isn't condensed into a weeping, spongelike invetebrate when this Mama Cass rendition of THAT Doris Day tune is played into the room.

No one ever mentions Richard D James ability to summon raw emotion.
They only ever allude to his party trick involving 12 fairy cakes, 2 paper clips and his penis.

always brings a tear to the eye. Seem to remember a film with Rolf singing this on a battlefield, couldn't find the original on youtube, but found this

Come on chaps! Keep to the point!

There are lots of good maudlin whines mentioned on the lists above, but at the end of the day, when you want to selfishly wallow in it, and to overtly acknowledge that you really are suffering from cancer of the universe, possibly induced by shattered relationships, internal dysfunction and vindictive betrayal, then Peter Hammill is the one.

As mentioned above, Peter Hammill's solo album "Over" takes pride of place for the terminally sad. It is pretty damn scarifying if you are merely dying of a broken heart and wish to lacerate yourself to an acoustic soundtrack. I know. I distinctly remember having to turn it off at the time. But let us be honest - there are other heartbreak specialists (John Martyn and Bob Dylan should both get an honourable mention here for their divorce albums).

No, if you want to get beyond the merely personal dimension of misery, and burrow right down into the philosophical void that underpins true sadness, steel yourself and have a go at "Godbluff" by Van Der Graaf Generator (Hammill's band), or possibly "H to He Who Am the Only One". Both reek of metaphysical despair so profound that you will either stick your your hand in the blender to distract yourself from your problems, or (more sensibly) head straight down the pub and into the arms of anyone remotely available.

Neither of these songs are fey and maudlin, incidentally, both being rather muscular prog-rock. But boy, are they sad.

In fairness, you can get to a point (a very strange point, admittedly) where it becomes life-affirming to hear this sort of stuff. After twenty years of listening, I actually think Hammill is pretty witty. But you have to go through quite a bit first, before you get to the "been down so long, it looks like up to me" stage.

Is that like post-modern angst?