Bleakest, saddest song you've ever heard?

[Calciumis]

Alice in Chains - Nutshell

[inthevelvet]

The Saddest Song - by Morphine
Doubly sad cause mark is no longer with us...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7T0fD-7en8

[EasyJames]

Easy one.
"Martha" by Tom Waits. Gets my eyes all misted up every time.
http://youtu.be/qDcco9rGOlE

[TOMINATOR]

My vote goes to "Blood" by the Middle East.
I wouldn't call it bleak, given the uplifting style towards the end.. but for the content, and general feel of the song, I've never heard a song as sad.

Epitomized by the lyrics:
"Grandfather, gentle soul, you'll fly
Over your life once more before you die
Since our grandma passed away
You've waited for forever and a day
Just to die
And someday soon
You will die

It was the only woman you ever loved
That got burnt by the sun too often when she was young
And the cancer spread and it ran into her body and her blood
And there's nothing you can do about it now"

Deep maaaaaaan

[Petethebassman]

Originally Posted by mcm

Whispering pines by the band, hands down.

Sad, yes, but also achingly beautiful, one of Richard Manuel's greatest songs, a true classic for the ages, like the whole album this song comes from. For me The Band's brown album is in the top 10 - no, make it top 5 - albums ever released.

[EscapeNote]

"Ticking" by Elton John and Bernie Taupin

[P-oddz]

I don't know about BLEAKEST, but here's some wonderfully sad songs:

(This one might have to take the cake) - Tim Ericksen - Two Sisters (just vocals):
http://timeriksen.bandcamp.com/track/two-sisters

Lucero - The War
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcFNezqsG70

Bon Iver - Blindsided:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy3lJIxyZ60

Sia - Soon We'll Be Found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1x8DMfbYN4

[sevdog]

Leonard Cohen- Chelsea Hotel

And a more obscure one that is absolutely fantastic and dark and bleak as all hell...

Therapy? --God Kicks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKNVT0a0QsA

[bloobass]

Name - Goo Goo Dolls
Living Years - Mike and the Mechanics

[snarebear]

Castles Made Of Sand-Jimi Hendrix

[gttim]

Do not know if this has been mentioned, Rodriguez's "Cause"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHlnmCQTXuo


See "Searching for Sugarman" if you haven't. Netflix has it.


Cause I lost my job two weeks before Christmas
And I talked to Jesus at the sewer
And the Pope said it was none of his God-damned business

While the rain drank champagne
My Estonian Archangel came and got me wasted
Cause the sweetest kiss I ever got is the one I've never tasted

Oh but they'll take their bonus pay to Molly McDonald,
Neon ladies, beauty is that which obeys, is bought or borrowed

Cause my heart's become a crooked hotel full of rumors
But it's I who pays the rent for these fingered-face out-of-tuners

And I make 16 solid half hour friendships every evening
Cause your queen of hearts who is half a stone
And likes to laugh alone is always threatening you with leaving

Oh but they play those token games on Willy Thompson
And give a medal to replace the son of Mrs. Annie Johnson

Cause they told me everybody's got to pay their dues
And I explained that I had overpaid them
So over-dued I went to the company store
and the clerk there said that they had just been invaded

So I set sail in a teardrop and escaped beneath the door sill
Cause the smell of her perfume echoes in my head still

Cause I see my people trying to drown the sun
In weekends of whiskey sours
Cause how many times can you wake up in this comic book and plant flowers?

[tbplayer59]

'Til I Die by the Beach Boys

Talk about bleak!

I'm a cork on the ocean
Floating over the raging sea
How deep is the ocean?
How deep is the ocean?
I lost my way
Hey hey hey

I'm a rock in a landslide
Rolling over the mountainside
How deep is the valley?
How deep is the valley?
It kills my soul
Hey hey hey

I'm a leaf on a windy day
Pretty soon I'll be blown away
How long will the wind blow?
How long will the wind blow?

Until I die
Until I die
These things I'll be until I die
These things I'll be until I die

[cjmodulus]

Bon Iver's stuff has been really getting to me lately. Skinny Love, Re:Stacks, and their version of I can't make you love me. Those are some good ones if I'm feeling pretty down. But I put on Israel Kamikaw'ole's (pretty sure I butchered that) version of Somewhere over the rainbow and I'm all good

[ThudThudThud]

I think Richard Thompson is the genius of the bleak. He can get me misty-eyed like no other.

Devonside, 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, Woods of Darnay, Beat the Retreat, Withered and Died, Al Bowlly's in Heaven, Ghosts in the Wind, She Cut Off Her Long Silken Hair, Take Care The Road You Choose....

The list just goes on and on.

[Edward G.]

It's pretty hard to beat "I Wish It Would Rain" and "I Could Never Love Another" by the Temptations for sadness.

In fact, the principal writer, Roger Penzabene, ended up taking his own life behind the situation they're both about.

[hampulator]

That slowed down re-make of the INXS "Mad World" by- Gary Jules. If you havn't heard it check it out;you'll see what I mean. A close second,Neil Young "Damage Done".
Third=Not sure who sang it,but that old sixties tune, "C'mon people now,shine on your brother,...got to love one another right now."
Ohh yeah... The Doors "The End", probably sums it all up!

[mjac28]

If I Die Young - The Band Perry
Mother Nature's Son - My Beatles

[Lee Moses]

"Farewell Party" by Gene Watson

[Turock]

Originally Posted by hampulator

Third=Not sure who sang it,but that old sixties tune, "C'mon people now,shine on your brother,...got to love one another right now."

C'mon people now, Smile on your brother. Everybody get together. Try and love one another right now.
The Youngbloods.

[sxaxsx]

First songs that come to mind for me of bleak/sad songs are:

Lonelier Than This, by Steve Earl http://youtu.be/ts_Xy_VACO4

and Sullivan by Caroline's Spine, seriously this one never fails to make me tear up a bit at the end. http://youtu.be/Zi8wMWInVFs

Both great songs mind you!