Who is the master of the SAD song?

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Has to be Tom Waits - "Cold, Cold Ground", "November", "I Don't Want To Grow Up", "Time" and especially "Good Old World (Waltz)" are enough to make me break down if even on the happiest occasion.

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Nirvana-Something in the Way or Jealous Guy-John Lennon

both make me cry everytime i hear them

― Caitlin O'Neil (kurdtkobain205), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Brian Wilson - 'God Only Knows', 'Surf's Up' and 'Caroline No'.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:21 (twenty-two years ago)

i love brian wilson wooo

― Caitlin O'Neil (kurdtkobain205), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I was going to say Leonard Cohen before I opened the thread, but now I agree with the Brian Wilson suggestion more.

― Andrew Frye (paul cox), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:26 (twenty-two years ago)

The Carpenters. Also, Ben Folds does sad songs really well. (Of course, if you asked me, I'd tell you that Ben Folds does everything really well.)

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Surely Nick Drake.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Hank Williams. :(

― Texas Sam (thatgirl), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Tracey Thorn fits this bill as well.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Scott Walker? Billie Holiday?

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:33 (twenty-two years ago)

If you can make it through a Nick Drake album all the way through without sighing mournfully, fetching a sweater from your drawer and curling up into a fetal ball under your desk to cry in vain at life's petty torments, you're a stronger man than I, Charlie Brown.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:35 (twenty-two years ago)

oh yeah and Johnny Cash-Hurt also how Nine Inch Nails sings it i think both versions is very sad...especially because it seems like the songs are so like there life and it means a lot to them

― Caitlin O'Neil (kurdtkobain205), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm surprised at Brian Wilson. I love him loads but he never struck me as a writer of sad songs, though he is a sad character. All his songs mentioned so far give me a spiritual, hopeful feeling. Dennis and Carl wrote sadder tunes.

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Even Bryter LAyter, Alex In NYC?

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Pink Floyd, followed by Joy Division.

Anomaly : "Alone Again, Naturally" which has to be the MOST depressing song EVER. I forget, however, who did it.

― Orbit (Orbit), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think a sad song necessarily requires sad lyrics, thus my support of the Brian Wilson nod. If the qualification is based on lyrics only, then I'd probably choose someone else (Cohen, Drake, Hank, Dylan *sometimes*).

― Andrew Frye (paul cox), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Alone Again (Naturally)
Gilbert O'Sullivan
Words and Music by Raymond O'Sullivan

-the # 8 song of the 1970-1979 rock era
-was # 1 for 6 weeks in 1972

In a little while from now
If I'm not feeling any less sour
I promise myself to treat myself
And visit a nearby tower
And climbing to the top will throw myself off
In an effort to make it clear to whoever
What it's like when you're shattered
Left standing in the lurch at a church
Where people saying: "My God, that's tough"
"She stood him up"
"No point in us remaining"
"We may as well go home"
As I did on my own
Alone again, naturally

To think that only yesterday
I was cheerful, bright and gay
Looking forward to who wouldn't do
The role I was about to play?
But as if to knock me down
Reality came around
And without so much as a mere touch
Cut me into little pieces
Leaving me to doubt
Talk about God in His mercy
Who if He really does exist
Why did He desert me?
In my hour of need
I truly am indeed
Alone again, naturally

It seems to me that there are more hearts
Broken in the world that can't be mended
Left unattended
What do we do? What do we do?

Alone again, naturally

Looking back over the years
And whatever else that appears
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
Alone again, naturally

― Orbit (Orbit), Friday, 29 August 2003 03:56 (twenty-two years ago)

"You may think I look sad
But I am just sleeping
It`s my facial expression
I`m probably dreaming

Would you like to be sad?
Would you like me to teach you?
Well, you can learn to be sad
But you must practice like I do

You must follow directions
And learn it right from the start
There isn`t a short cut
It must come from your heart

Well there are those who are happy
And there are those who are wise
But it`s the truly sad people
Who get the most out of life

You may think I look sad
But I am just sleeping
It`s my facial expression
I`m probably dreaming"
- David Byrne, "Sad Song"

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Friday, 29 August 2003 04:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Ride the blue wind high and free
she'll lead you down through misery
leave you low, come time to go
alone and low as low can be

If I had a nickel I'd find a game
If I won a dollar I'd make it rain
If it rained an ocean I'd drink it dry
and lay me down dissatisfied

Legs to walk and thoughts to fly
eyes to laugh and lips to cry
a restless tongue to classify
all born to grow and grown to die

So tell my baby I said so long
tell my mother I did no wrong
tell my brother to watch his own
and tell my friends to mourn me none

I'm chained upon the face of time
feelin' full of foolish rhyme
there ain't no dark till something shines
I'm bound to leave this dark behind

Ride the blue wind high and free
she'll lead you down through misery
leave you low, come time to go
alone and low as low can be

Townes Van Zandt, "Rex's Blues"

― Aaron A., Friday, 29 August 2003 04:34 (twenty-two years ago)

mark kozelek, certainly. and about 1/4 of mark eitzel's songs. but some of the saddest music I've ever heard is by sylvain chauveu, instrumental piano songs, they will have you weeping.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Friday, 29 August 2003 06:25 (twenty-two years ago)

The Smiths had quite a few moments where the futility of it all is just too much to bare.

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Friday, 29 August 2003 06:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Erm, bear even.

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Friday, 29 August 2003 07:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Tindersticks.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Friday, 29 August 2003 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Lauren Laverne, when she chooses to be

― Alex in Rotherham (Alex in Doncaster), Friday, 29 August 2003 12:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Richard Thompson

and

seconded:

Nick Drake
Mark Eitzel
Watt/Thorn

― southern lights (southern lights), Friday, 29 August 2003 12:47 (twenty-two years ago)

dog latin had it right off the bat

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 29 August 2003 13:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Y'mean Waits? I guess....but there always seems to be an undercurrent of humour to Waits' work, whereas --- and I suppose it's simply hindsight speaking here, when one considers how things ended up -- even on Drake's...ummmm....peppier numbers, there seems to a palpable atmosphere of melancholy......a veritable fondue of pathos, if you will.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 29 August 2003 13:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Lou Barlow needs a mention.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 29 August 2003 13:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Neil Diamond gets my vote

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Friday, 29 August 2003 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

That's my favorite thing about Tom Waits though, is that he still embraces the humor in the melancholy; which is something I kinda do (tend to find laughter in pain), so that may be why I can attach more to his Charlie Chapman-ish funny-sad-isms than I do with Nick Drake's no-smiling-here-sad-isms (that's not to say I don't LOVE Nick Drake btw). I think the fact that I can smile and cry to Tom Waits songs just gives them a little extra realness in my cocoon-world than many others.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 29 August 2003 15:03 (twenty-two years ago)

lou barlow
chan marshall
nina simone
jonathan richman w/modern lovers for the track "hospital"

― kephm, Friday, 29 August 2003 15:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Dinosaur Jr

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 29 August 2003 16:23 (twenty-two years ago)

John Cale--"Music For A New Society"--'Damn Life', 'Taking Your Life In Your Hands', etc.

― Stephen Boyle (SBoyle), Friday, 29 August 2003 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

actually I think Tori Amos is quite good. see 'Baker Baker,' 'Hey Jupiter,' 'Playboy Mommy,'..

― daria g (daria g), Friday, 29 August 2003 17:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Ley me qualify my answer. I see a certain sadness reflected in the vocal delivery of j mascis, tempered with the anger/passion (all a part of sadness) in the guitar playing. A sad song has to sound sad, lyrics alone are not enough. I would agree with the inclusion of Brian Wilson and the Carpenters, their song touch more on feelings of meloncholy and that certain sad/joy feeling.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 29 August 2003 17:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I find most music I like sad, even when the words aren't, yeah. Not the Smiths so much, thinking about it. I don't mean just in the old "hey, Morrissey's lyrics are *funny*" way. I do think they are depressing (in a black humour way), just not sad, with the odd exception.

Pop music so effortlessly evokes loss. That loss doesn't have to be there in the performer's mind. For me, an old song about love or having fun on the beach is sad enough. Because it's the singer's youth, and all our youths (real or once hoped for) that are laid before us.

So yes, Brian Wilson or a disco track does it for me.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 29 August 2003 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

not gilbert o'sullivan???

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 29 August 2003 17:15 (twenty-two years ago)

that gilbet o'sullivan track is rotten.

― jed_e_3 (jed_e_3), Friday, 29 August 2003 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Context has a lot to do with it, but Warren Zevon's new alb is plenty sad.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 29 August 2003 17:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Again, I feel like invoking Ways of Seeing, where Berger shows you a Van Gogh painting of some birds in a corn field, then tells you that the next day he shot himself. Birds in a corn field are suddenly the most poignant thing you can imagine.

Also: the actor praised for the way he plays the scene just before he jumps out of a window, in an Antonioni film I have forgotten the name of. He sits in a cafe doodling flowers. Antonioni got this performance out of him by not telling him that in the next scene he kills himself - he just said 'doodle on a napkin'. Doodles of flowers - almost as sad as birds in a corn field.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 29 August 2003 18:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Will Oldham?

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 29 August 2003 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Mark Kozelek.

*DUCKS*

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Friday, 29 August 2003 18:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Lou Reed -
Sad Song
Caroline Says
The Kids
Coney Island Baby
Xmas in February

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 29 August 2003 18:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Neil Young too! I heard "Needle and the Damage Done" on the radio a little while ago and remembered he's a master weeper-maker.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 29 August 2003 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I wouldn't necessarily call them the "masters" of it, but Ween is surprisingly great at sad songs, which (for manic freaks like myself) is all the more accentuated by their close audial proximity to their other sillier/creepier/rowdier/etc. songs. Some good examples = "She's Your Baby", "Baby Bitch", "I Don't Want It", "If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)"...

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 29 August 2003 18:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I second Nick Drake and Mark Kozelek.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 29 August 2003 18:49 (twenty-two years ago)

It's Willie Nelson:
"Hello Walls"
"Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain"
"Sad Songs & Waltzes"
and many many more.

― BrianB, Friday, 29 August 2003 19:02 (twenty-two years ago)

hmm, "baby bitch," in which gene ween croons "fuck you, you stinkin' ass ho," never struck me as sad.

another big up to mark kozelek, if only for "summer dress."

― fact checking cuz, Friday, 29 August 2003 19:09 (twenty-two years ago)

also: Jandek.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 29 August 2003 19:41 (twenty-two years ago)

well the master of the sad song has to be frank sinatra- "Frank sings for only the lonely", "in the wee small hours of the morning", "no-one cares", "a man alone" etc etc... sinatra at his saddest is one of the miracles of popular music.

― Officer Pupp, Friday, 29 August 2003 21:02 (twenty-two years ago)

paul westerberg

― sean marvin (williamtell), Friday, 29 August 2003 21:09 (twenty-two years ago)

YES. Paul. Can I also get a whut whut for Morrissey? Plz.

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Friday, 29 August 2003 21:50 (twenty-two years ago)

i would also add:

randy newman
joe pernice
mark linkous

― jesselt, Saturday, 30 August 2003 12:01 (twenty-two years ago)

N is otm, I always say songs are sad and people disagree, but maybe it's the transient nature of our enjoyment of them even. Also with house music I find the really ecstatic moments build to split seconds of overwhelming joy but there's a mystery and a sadness there because the music shouldn't have a void that big to fill really.

― Ronan (Ronan), Saturday, 30 August 2003 12:14 (twenty-two years ago)

and jeff martin of idaho

― jesselt, Saturday, 30 August 2003 12:18 (twenty-two years ago)

ludacris

― Ronan (Ronan), Saturday, 30 August 2003 13:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Nickalicious, that's exactly how I feel about mr waits. If not him, then what about Roy Orbison?

― dog latin (dog latin), Saturday, 30 August 2003 13:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Kozelek gets my vote too. Or maybe Nick Drake

― Michael Dubsky, Sunday, 31 August 2003 06:56 (twenty-two years ago)

But "Baby Bitch" seems so for-real cuz it's got that underlying angry, like it's secretly a really-pissed-off-at-what-a-lady-did current, hidden underneath a sweet/silly candy-coating; like a tootsy roll pop with a broken heart in the center insted of a tootsie roll.

And Roy Orbison hits me more as a "fond memories of things he misses" vibe, but he does have that humor-in-sadness aspect to his songs too...I think Buddy Holly kinda might be the immediate predecessor to Roy/Tom in that regard, but who was the predecessor to him in that? That's one thing I love about folk-style music (that's passed down), is that someone's always learned something from someone, and as you trace it back there's always something new to hear, y'know?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Sunday, 31 August 2003 07:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Hearing Damon Albarn doing hip-hop influenced "music" makes me more sad than anything else....

However, anybody remember Black?

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 31 August 2003 08:11 (twenty-two years ago)

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