Sad Song Off!

[Lisnaholic]

This Elliott Smith tune needs to be here

^ I'm not very familiar with Elliott Smith's songs, so thanks for posting that one, DJ.
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Lots of good songs in this thread, of which I personally consider Strange Fruit to be exceptional: it's so powerful that I don't really play it for entertainment, but rather put it on occassionally but only when I am ready to give it the attention that it deserves.
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Given all the songs here, it's hard to imagine that at one time (blues apart) the topic of feeling sorry for yourself was something of a rarity in music. It was ok to be broken-hearted over a specific lost love, but feeling down in a general way was rather under-reported, or perhaps (according to J Lennon) under-observed. He famously had to point out to fans that the cheerful-sounding smash hit Help was actually a song about him feeling terrible.

Here are a couple of examples of songs about not finding love, a topic I could relate to as a teenager:-

The chronology: Help (1965), A Single Girl (1966), Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969)
Who does self-pity best? I'm going with Neil Young, not for this song, but for his After The Goldrush and On The Beach albums
 

[SGR]

One of the saddest songs I know. Used to do a college radio show with my buddy. I played this and he goes: "Why the hell are we putting this on the airwaves? Listening to this makes me wanna hang myself." 

[DJChameleon]

Strange Fruit is always haunting to me when I listen to it. It makes me visualize everything she's singing about.

[Guybrush]

Lots of good songs in this thread, of which I personally consider Strange Fruit to be exceptional: it's so powerful that I don't really play it for entertainment, but rather put it on occassionally but only when I am ready to give it the attention that it deserves.

Yes, I feel the same. I typically don't put it on, but I've listened to a lot of Nina Simone and especially Billie Holiday over the years so the algorithms might play one of their versions if the streaming service is in radio mode.

That Neil Young song is lovely 🙂

I may have posted this earlier, but not in this thread, I think. It's Squirrel Nut Zipper's song where Katharine Whalen sings about her depression called My Drag.

The number 1 sad band for me is Pink Floyd. Everybody knows how deliciously melancholic they can be on songs like Hey You, Breathe or The Great Gig in the Sky.

Predictably, Dogs is a favourite bummer.

Just another sad old man, all alone and dying of cancer 🎶

[Trollheart]

Who has more to be sad about than a man about to be crucified? The power and passion in this song just leaves me in awe of all three: Lloyd-Webber (music), Rice (lyric) and Neeley (vocal)

"Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say)" - Ted Neely as Jesus from the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar