Here are a few songs I think are sad.

“I Dreamed a Dream”, Les Miserables
It’s a song about young love, and when she became old her lover left her. There is also a bit of ode to the joys of youth and how it would be great to be young again.

“Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”, The Phantom Of The Opera
This is a song about a women’s dead dad. How she would like his guidance again in her troubled times, and that a cemetery is to cold a place for such a warm man.

“Broken Wings”, Chris de Burgh
This is about him cheating on his wife because he was away and lonely. Despite this it’s got quite a good sentiment to it.

“In Dreams”, Roy Orbison (this is also song by a lot of others)
It’s about dreaming about a lover, and in Roy’s case his late wife who had died.

Guns don't kill people. Husbands who come home early kill people.

Many of the poems that Shostakovich's 13th and 14th symphonies are based on are pretty depressing. Personally, I think Shostakovich 13th is the greatest work of art to come out of Soviet Russia in terms of cultural and artistic value. Still, the 14th wins as the most depressing, as it lacks the bittersweet irony and gleams of hope that appear in the 13th. Here's an excerpt from that symphony:

English translation by Joan Pemberton Smith

7. A la Santé Guillaume Apollinaire Transl.: M. Kudinov

V Tyur'me Sante Menya razdeli dogola, kogda vveli v tyur'mu; sud'boy srazhon iz-za ugla, nizvergnut ya vo t'mu. Proshchay, veyoliiy chorovod, proshchay, devichiy smekh. Zdes' nado mnoy mogil'niiy svod, zdes' umer ya dlya vsekh. Net, ya ne tot, sovsem ne tot, chto prezhde. Teper'ya arestant, i vot konec nadezhde. V kakoy-to yame, kak medved', khozu vperyod - nazad. A nebo! Luchshe ne smotret'. Ya nebu zdes' ne rad. V kayoy-to yame, kak medved', khozhu vperyod - nazad. Za chto tii pechal mne etu prinyos? Skazhi, vsemogushchiy bozhe. O szhal'sya, szhal'sya! V glazakh moikh netu slyoz, na masku lico pokozhe. Ti vidish, skol'ko neschastniikh serdec pod svodom tyuremniim b'yotsya! Sorvi zhe s menya ternoviiy venec, ne to on mne v mozg vop'yotsya! Den' konchilsya. Lampa nad golovoyu gorit, okruzhonnaya t'moy. Vsyo tikho. Nas v kamere tol'ko dvoye: ya i rassudok moy.

At the Santé Jail They stripped me naked, when they brought me into prison; struck down by fate coming round the corner, I am hurled headlong into darkness. Farewell, merry dance, farewell, maiden's laughter. Here above me is the vault of the grave, here I died for everyone. No, I am not the same, not at all the same, as before. Now I am a prisoner, and here is the end of hope. In a kind of pit, like a bear, I pace up and down. And the sky! It is better not to look. The sky affords me not delight. In a kind of pit, like a bear, I pace up and down. Why have you brought me this sorrow? Tell me, almighty God. Oh, have pity, have pity! In my eyes there are no tears, my face is like a mask. You see how many unhappy hearts beat under the prison's vault! Take from me the crown of thorns, lest it pierce my brain! The day has ended. The lamp over my head burns, surrounded by darkness. All is quiet. In the cell there are only two of us: Myself and my reason.

my all time tear-jerker is; Born to Lose, by Ray Charles.

Born to lose
I've lived my life in vaque
Every Dream I dream has only brought me pain
All my life, I've always been so blue
Born to lose, and now im losing you

Born to lose,
It seemed so hard to bare
How I longed to always have you near
You've grown tired, an now you say we're through
Born to lose, and now im losing you

Born to lose
I've live my life in vaque
Every dream I dream has only brough me pain
All my life, i've always been so blue
Born to lose, and now im losing you
Born to lose, and now im losing yo

Typo alert: Substitute "vain" for "vaque", whatever "vaque" is. And "bear" for "bare"

Hank Williams singing "I'm so lonesome I could cry" is pretty sad.

Jim.

High on my list would be Danny Boy:

Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.

And if you come, when all the flowers are dying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be
You'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.

And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be
If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me
I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.

I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.

And September Song:

Oh, it's a long, long while from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
One hasn't got time for the waiting game

Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few
September, November
And these few precious days I'll spend with you
These precious days I'll spend with you

Shelly

KJT; I typed the lyrics off of song lyrics site and they used the words vaque and bare.
So there, their, they're. lol:rtfm:

No classical entries here.. Just a few selections from what I listen to on a day to day basis.

Depeche Mode - Agent Orange from "Music For The Masses"

Depeche Mode - Sister of Night from "Ultra"

Erasure - The Hardest Part from "Crackers International"

Erasure - "Erasure (The Black Album)" (the entire album)

Erasure - Crown of Thorns from "Wild"

Live - Turn My Head from "Secret Samahdi"

Pet Shop Boys - To Speak is a Sin from "Very"

Pink Floyd - Is There Anybody Out There? from "The Wall"

Pink Floyd - Nobody Home from "The Wall"

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here from "Wish You Were Here"

Alice In Chains - Frogs from "Alice In Chains"

Sarah McLachlan - Angel from "Surfacing"

Toad The Wet Sprocket - Pray Your Gods from "Fear"

Counting Crows - Anna Begins from "August and Everything After"

Depeche Mode - Pimpf from "Music For The Masses"

I vote for Beatles - In My Life

There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more

Elvis Presley....Softly.

The song is about a man in a hospital bed who 'feels' himself start to die. His wife, sitting in a chair beside the bed has dozed off to sleep. The man wants to 'leave' without her being aware that it is happening:

Softly
I will leave you
Softly
For my heart would break
If you should wake
And see me go
So i leave you
Softly
Long before you miss me
Long before your arms
Can beg me stay
For one more hour
Or one more day
After all the years
I can't bear the tears
To fall
So softly
As i leave you there
Softly
Long before you kiss me
Long before your arms
Can beg me stay
For one more hour
Of one more day
After all the years
I can't bear the tears
To fall
So softly
As i leave you there
As i leave you there
As i leave you there

>Elvis Presley....Softly.
>
>The song is about a man in a hospital bed who 'feels' himself
>start to die. His wife, sitting in a chair beside the bed has
>dozed off to sleep. The man wants to 'leave' without her
>being aware that it is happening:
>

Oh my God! and I always thought it was about that girl I left waiting for me in a Holiday Inn.

Desolation Row -- Bob Dylan

They're selling postcards of the hanging
They're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner
They've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other is in his pants
And the riot squad they're restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row

Cinderella, she seems so easy
"It takes one to know one," she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets
Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning
"You Belong to Me I Believe"
And someone says," You're in the wrong place, my friend
You better leave"
And the only sound that's left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up
On Desolation Row

Now the moon is almost hidden
The stars are beginning to hide
The fortunetelling lady
Has even taken all her things inside
All except for Cain and Abel
And the hunchback of Notre Dame
Everybody is making love
Or else expecting rain
And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing
He's getting ready for the show
He's going to the carnival tonight
On Desolation Row

Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window
For her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday
She already is an old maid

To her, death is quite romantic
She wears an iron vest
Her profession's her religion
Her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon
Noah's great rainbow
She spends her time peeking
Into Desolation Row

Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend, a jealous monk
He looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet
Now you would not think to look at him
But he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin
On Desolation Row

Dr. Filth, he keeps his world
Inside of a leather cup
But all his sexless patients
They're trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser
She's in charge of the cyanide hole
And she also keeps the cards that read
"Have Mercy on His Soul"
They all play on penny whistles
You can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough
From Desolation Row

Across the street they've nailed the curtains
They're getting ready for the feast
The Phantom of the Opera
A perfect image of a priest
They're spoonfeeding Casanova
To get him to feel more assured
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence
After poisoning him with words

And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
"Get Outa Here If You Don't Know
Casanova is just being punished for going
To Desolation Row"

Now at midnight all the agents
And the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do
Then they bring them to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles
By insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping
To Desolation Row

Praise be to Nero's Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody's shouting
"Which Side Are You On?"
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain's tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row

Yes, I received your letter yesterday
(About the time the door knob broke)
When you asked how I was doing
Was that some kind of joke?
All these people that you mention
Yes, I know them, they're quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces
And give them all another name
Right now I can't read too good
Don't send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them
From Desolation Row



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marti