What is your saddest lyric?

[Lacessit]

For me, it is in Billy Joel's " Goodnight Saigon" when he sings "and we were so gung-ho to lay down our lives". That single line encapsulates all the waste of young lives in war.

An honorable mention to Johnny Cash's " Man in Black". "Each week we lose a hundred fine young men".

What is yours?

[GammaGlobulin]

Swan Song. 

Never a sadder song. 

 

The saddest song for me was when Old Yeller yelped his last yelp, 1957. 

 

I'll never forget that day. 

[Bert got kinky]

 

Quite a few by J.C. bring a tear to my eye but I think the saddest 'for me' has to be the first verse of Gilbert O'Sullivan's 'Alone again'.

For me it screams of a man needing help which may never come, a man who has been driven to his very limits and has accepted defeat and it's fate with open arms.

 

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
Wants to know what it's like when you're shattered

 

[JonnyF]

"There's a man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Millets".

 

Half Man Half Biscuit. National Shi1te day. 2008.

[GammaGlobulin]

 

[sqwakvfr]

This lyric is very honest.  To some it is sad. To others it is painful but true:

 

’What’s love go to do with it.  Nothing but a second hand emotion”

 

Performed by the great Tina Turner and written by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle.  

[Hummin]

https://youtu.be/i__3vKniYQo

 

Still Waters

i had to get here before i realized that it was wrong to leave land

i should have let him sail alone, trapped on a windless sea

for what makes a grown man lose his reason

is not storm, but still waters

 

it is not you who tames the waves, but they who own you

but you must turn around if you are sinking, find another way

for what makes a grown man lose his reason

is not storm, but still waters

 

take your stories and tell them to someone

who believes what you are saying

and take your shoes that you let others dance in

and walk the long way home if there is still time

for what makes a grown man lose his reason

is not storm, but still waters

 

for i can cover things up and i

can patch things up and i

can pick up the pieces of everything that is broken

but nobody can save a grown man

who wants to disappear in still waters

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/stille-vann-still-waters.html

[GammaGlobulin]

 

[GammaGlobulin]

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Most songs I like are sad, but some are sadder than others, but a sad song also depends on the singer. I couldn't possibly say what THE saddest is but couple of the saddest have to be

 

Down by the Salley Gardens

Maura O'Connell

Down by the Salley gardens, my love and I did meet
She passed the Salley gardens with little snow-white feet
She bid me take life easy, as the leaves grow on the trees
But I, being young and foolish, with her I did not agree

In a field by the river, my love and I did stand
And on my leaning shoulder she placed her snow-white hand
She bid me take love easy, as the grass grows on the weirs
But I was young and foolish and now I am full of tears

Down by the Salley gardens, my love and I did meet
And she passed the Salley gardens with little snow-white feet
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs
But I was young and foolish and now I am full of tears.

 

The next one may seem to be about a happy year, but I know how sad it is to live a wonderful life for a year knowing that in .... days it will be arbitrarily end.

 

We'll Sing in the Sunshine

Gale Garnett ( last verse and chorus )

 

And when our year has ended
And I have gone away
You'll often speak about me
And this is what you'll say

 

We sang in the sunshine
You know we laughed every day
We sang in the sunshine
Then you went on your way

[thaibeachlovers]

28 minutes ago, Hummin said:

https://youtu.be/i__3vKniYQo

 

Still Waters

i had to get here before i realized that it was wrong to leave land

i should have let him sail alone, trapped on a windless sea

for what makes a grown man lose his reason

is not storm, but still waters

 

it is not you who tames the waves, but they who own you

but you must turn around if you are sinking, find another way

for what makes a grown man lose his reason

is not storm, but still waters

 

take your stories and tell them to someone

who believes what you are saying

and take your shoes that you let others dance in

and walk the long way home if there is still time

for what makes a grown man lose his reason

is not storm, but still waters

 

for i can cover things up and i

can patch things up and i

can pick up the pieces of everything that is broken

but nobody can save a grown man

who wants to disappear in still waters

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/stille-vann-still-waters.html

Beautiful lyrics and so true.

[moogradod]

There are some sad songs, but what immediately comes to my mind is one of the saddest love songs. A masterpiece. Billy Joel's "And So It Goes". Here are the lyrics:

 

[thaibeachlovers]

In the end, I suppose we bring our own life experience to colour the songs we hear.

 

This one speaks to me in a very personal way.

 

Fine on the Outside

 Priscilla Ahn

 

I never had that many friends growing up
So I learned to be
Ok with just me, just me, just me, just me
And I'll be fine on the outside

I like to eat in school by myself, anyway
So I'll just stay right here
Right here, right here, right here
And I'll be fine on the outside

So I just sit in my room after hours with the moon
And think of who knows my name
Would you cry if I died
Would you remember my face?

So I left home, I packed up and l moved far away
From my past one day
And I laughed, I laughed, I laughed, I laughed
I sound fine on the outside

Sometimes I feel lost, sometimes I'm confused
Sometimes I find that I am not alright
And I cry, and I cry, and I cry

So I just sit in my room after hours with the moon
And think of who knows my name
Would you cry if I died
Would you remember my face?

 

 

[Old Croc]

 

[jvs]

Not just a song,a real story and she is no longer alive.

But it is ok.

 

[jvs]

A classic tear jerker.

 

[GammaGlobulin]

If one is speaking strictly "lyric", then one of the saddest might be:

 

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
   Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
   and by night, but find no rest.

Yet you are holy,
   enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our ancestors trusted;
   they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved;
   in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm, and not human;
   scorned by others, and despised by the people.
All who see me mock at me;
   they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
‘Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—
   let him rescue the one in whom he delights!’

Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
   you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
On you I was cast from my birth,
   and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
   for trouble is near
   and there is no one to help.

Many bulls encircle me,
   strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
   like a ravening and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water,
   and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
   it is melted within my breast;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
   and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
   you lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs are all around me;
   a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shrivelled;
I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
they divide my clothes among themselves,
   and for my clothing they cast lots.

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Just listening to my collection of sad songs and heard this classic tear jerker.

 

The Brothers Four

Green Fields

Once there were greenfields kissed by the sun
once there were valleys, where rivers used to run.
once there were blue skies, with white clouds high above.
once they were part of an everlasting love.
we were the lovers who strolled through green fields.
green fields are gone now, parched by the sun.
gone from the valleys, where rivers used to run.
gone with the cold wind, that swept into my heart.
gone with the lovers, who let their dreams depart.
where are the green fields, that we used to roam?

i'll never know what, made you run away.
how can i keep searching when dark clouds hide the day.
i only know there's, nothing here for me.
nothing in this wide world, left for me to see.
still i'll keep on waiting, until you return.
i'll keep on waiting, until the day you learn.
you can't be happy, while your heart's on the roam, you can't be happy until you bring it home.
home to the green fields, and me once again.
 

[KhunLA]

 

[Hanaguma]

For simplicity and raw pain, I recommend "Hurt" as sung by Johnny Cash.

 

I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel

I focus on the pain, the only thing thats real

Try to kill it all away, but I remember everything

What Have I become, my sweetest friend

Everyone I know, goes away in the end

 

 

[zzaa09]

 

[KannikaP]

This is a very sad song. Sorry JVS, you beat me to it.

However, he did do a very sensual one about the first time he 4...ed a woman in Summer the First TIme.

Edited December 7, 2022 by KannikaP

[farmerjo]

 

[hackjam]

In this present homeless climate, Ralph Mctell's Streets of London

[Lacessit]

12 hours ago, Old Croc said:

 

Errol Wayne Noack was the first National Serviceman killed in Vietnam, age 21.

[Khmer Surin]

13 hours ago, JonnyF said:

"There's a man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Millets".

 

Half Man Half Biscuit. National Shi1te day. 2008.

Or Dickie Davis Eyes?

[Khmer Surin]

“The love that you need will never be found at home” :

 

 

[Polar Bear]

14 hours ago, JonnyF said:

"There's a man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Millets".

 

Half Man Half Biscuit. National Shi1te day. 2008.

It's not often I find another HMHB fan in the wild!

 

But for actual sad lyrics, Terminus is brutal, though they still manage to get a few laughs in there. 

[thaibeachlovers]

Here's a classic from Father Ted.

 

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=depressing+song+father+ted#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:fc9b7e6f,vid:fnZDI1slxMI

[thaibeachlovers]

4 hours ago, Khmer Surin said:

“The love that you need will never be found at home” :

 

 

That's always been on my list of favourite songs since first time I heard it. Very sad.