The video for “Hurt” (by CASH) makes me cry every time I see it.

“The Greatest Man I Never Knew” makes me cry because whoever wrote it could have tapped into my feelings about my daddy and written that song.

“The Dance” same as above. I have to turn the radio off everytime the piano intro comes on.

“Hurt” is the only video in the history of videos which I refuse to watch.

It’s the music video version of watching a kitten being stabbed in the heart over and over again.

I am such an idiot. Of course, here I am in my PMDD-induced depression, although today hasn’t been too bad yet. And then I read both Ginger and Kat going, “Hurt” is the saddest video ever.

So of course, I go on over to youtube and look it up. Now *I* am crying. I am the biggest idiot ever. That is sooo sad.

I’ve watched “Hurt” once. That was it for me.

Jimmy Martin and Bill Monroe- “The little girl and the awful dreadful snake.”

It’s bluegrass, but as always with a large helping of death.

Patty Loveless singing “Here I Am” unstitches me every single time.

The only thing sad about SheDaisy is the fact that those women have a career. IMHO.

“Promises” by Lyle Lovett.

“And would if my fingers
Could cut off and give you
Would gain my redemption
I’d cut off my hand”

Yeeeeeeeeearg…

I left a comment..where’d it go?

“The Deepening Snow”…Harlan Howard, recorded by lots of people.

Dolly’s “Me and Little Andy”, “Down From Dover”, “Daddy Come and Get Me” “My Blue Tears” “Jeannie’s Afraid of the Dark”…

Patty Loveless’ “Sounds of Lonliness”

Dan Seals’ “Addicted” is plumb pitiful.

Any of Roy Acuff’s songs…bluegrass has a ton of dead baby/kid songs…

Not country, but, Dan Fogelberg’s “Same Old Lang Syne” to me, is one of the saddest, most visual songs I’ve ever heard. It always makes me feel just plain bad for the poor guy standing in the snow on Christmas Eve and then as she drives away, the snow turns to rain.

Emmy’s “Boulder To Birmingham” …

I could keep going.

Hurt is so sad that it tears my soul out.

Listening to “Pontiac” by Lyle Lovett….
Heartwrenching.

Akismet ate your comment, Sista, but I fished if out for ya.

Tammy Wynette and David Houston doing “My Elusive Dreams.” So sad…

T: I had your child in Memphis
T: You heard of work in Nashville
D: We didn’t find it there, so we moved on;
D: To a small farm in Nebraska
D: To a gold mine in Alaska
T: We didn’t find it there, so we moved on.

D: And now we’ve left Alaska,
D: Because there was no gold mine.

(SPOKEN)
T: But this time, only two of us moved on
T: Now all we have is each other
T: And a little memory to cling to.
D: And still you won’t let me go on alone.

Some of the ones on that list don’t really seem sad to me, per se. “Sunday Morning Coming Down” is one of my favorite songs EVAR but just because it’s slow and mellow, I don’t think of it as sad. I think of it more as reflective and sounding a little world-weary, but not necessarily sad.

Similarly, “The Song Remembers When” seems nostalgic and wistful, but not sad. I mean, even the lyric they quote suggests that she doesn’t quite remember why her heart was broken, but the song is so evocative that it can make her feel the hurt even though it has healed. Introspective, yes; sad, not really.

Anyway, I agree with Ginger et al about Cash’s cover of “Hurt.” That one really does hurt.

Personally, the country songs that make me saddest are the ones that remind me of my dad’s death, so “Live Like You Were Dying,” although it’s an uplifting message, makes me cry every time because I wish my dad had been able to live so fully in his last few years. “Probably Wouldn’t Be This Way” can make me sob, thinking about my mom after my dad’s death.

I’m also a sucker for songs about hurting that come across like the narrator is trying to cover his (usually a male) or her pain. Even (or maybe especially) if the music is upbeat, the disparity of what’s being said and what’s clearly behind the words is often more evocative to me than a simple statement of hurt. (Possibly because I have a tendency to do this myself — cover up when I’m hurting.) “I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying” gets me. So does “Just To See You Smile.” And especially “You’re Gone” (recorded by Diamond Rio, written by Jon Vezner and Paul Williams) when its sad attempts to be lighthearted make the narrator sound even more pathetic and crushed.

Wow, I guess I went on and on about that, huh? I mean, I’m a songwriter — I pay attention to this stuff, but I also just love sad songs. Heh. What a weirdo.

“From Saigon to Little Rock” by Charlie C. Freeman

sistasmiff wrote:

Dan Seals’ “Addicted” is plumb pitiful.

Oooh, good one. One of my long-time favorites.

Not country, but, Dan Fogelberg’s “Same Old Lang Syne” to me, is one of the saddest, most visual songs I’ve ever heard. It always makes me feel just plain bad for the poor guy standing in the snow on Christmas Eve and then as she drives away, the snow turns to rain.

Agreed. That one is in the same space in my mind as “The Song Remembers When,” and no discredit to Hugh Prestwood, but “Same Old Lang Syne” is the real deal. Of the two, SOLS is a much sadder song.

The song that makes me cry EVERY time I hear it isn’t country- it’s Dan Fogelberg’s “Leader of the band”- I think because my dad loves music so much and is such a beautiful piano player. He wanted to be something totally different than an accountant.

I think that’s why he’s so gung ho about my pursuing my writing career even though I was great in human resources. Dad even read MCB the other day, he was impressed. Excuse me while I go sob for a couple of hours.

Oh, I thought of another one: “Little Rock,” as recorded by Collin Raye. (You know, the one that goes “I think I’m on a roll here in Little Rock?”) That one kills me, probably for much the same reason as what I was saying in the comment above: he sounds so hopeful about the possibility that she’ll take him back, but there’s really no sign given in the song that she really will, and the listener is left to think maybe he’s just this sad alcoholic living in a dank hotel room clinging desperately to some unrealistic idea that the woman he wronged with his drinking will take him back. Oy. It gets to me.

I want to crumple into a heaving, sobbing, blubbering shell of a man whenever I hear “Better off in a Pine Box” by Doug Stone.

Not because it is sad, but because it is the worst example of a soulless, formulaic, cliche-ridden piece of crap to ever escape the bowels of a Music Row writing appointment.

Another one that kiss me is “All These Years” by Sawyer Brown. It’s about a man who comes home from early to find his wife in bed with another man. The part that really gets me:

She said, “You’re not the man you used to be”
He said, “Neither is this guy”
She said, “There’s some things you refuse to see
But I guess sometimes so do I”
She made no excuse why she was lying there
She said the one thing she could say

All these years
What have I done
I made your supper and your daughter and your son

Still I’m here
And still confused
But I can finally see how much I stand to lose
All these years

Another one that kiss me is “All These Years” by Sawyer Brown.

er, I mean “Another one that kills me…”

Freudian slip. hee.

Not because it is sad, but because it is the worst example of a soulless, formulaic, cliche-ridden piece of crap to ever escape the bowels of a Music Row writing appointment.

I am literally laughing out loud here at my desk. Thanks.

“Goodbye” by Steve Earle is the saddest song in the world. I could be in the midst of the best sex ever with my husband who had magically been transformed to look like a very young Al Pacino, while savoring the aftertaste of a box full of Godiva chocolates and looking ahead to drinking some lovely Moet et Chandon, but if I heard that song I would burst into tears.

Some others that nobody has mentioned so far: John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery”
Ray Price’s version of “For the Good Times”
George Jones “Bartenders’s Blues”
Lucinda Williams “World Without Tears”
Kelly Willis “Not Forgotten You”
Any version of “Just Someone I Used to Know”

I could go on.

One problem I have with the people saying “Hurt” is that it isn’t really a country song, even the way Cash sang it. Very, very sad, though.

I love Dan Fogelberg to pieces. But if you think SOLS is sad, just don’t ever listen to Harry Chapin’s “Taxi”.

It’s essentially the same story, but told in a sadder way.

I think the saddest song is “Got Ya’ Money,” by Ol’ Dirty Bastard. I mean, he doesn’t WANT to smack his hos around, but they make him, see? Because they weren’t prompt in delivering his cash. I think we’ve all been there.

I think we can take it as a consensus that ODB doesn’t do country. Otherwise, sure.

Sunday Morning Coming Down” is one of my favorite songs EVAR but just because it’s slow and mellow, I don’t think of it as sad.

Yeah, I thought that too. I love Shawn Mullins’ take on that song, too, BTW.

Ivy derailed the train with Dan Fogelberg, I just came by and dropped a cluster bomb on the smoldering wreckage by bringing up a dead member of the Wu Tang Clan.

Harry Chapin is sad but not in a good way.

Sorry, but we mocked that song mercilessly when I was in college. That one and also “Cat’s In The Cradle.”

I’ve just read through the thread and am surprised no one has mentioned Bob Carlisle’s “Butterfly Kisses.”

There’s hope for the culture after all!

Cat’s in the cradle is the suck.

But Taxi rules. That’s my get yer drink on and cry song.

I’ve just read through the thread and am surprised no one has mentioned Bob Carlisle’s “Butterfly Kisses.”

That song gets on my very last frakkin’ nerve.

It’s so molester-y.

Oooh, Cat’s in the Cradle makes my dad get all teary. He feels like he hasn’t spent enough time with us. We think if he had spent more time with us, we might not like him as much as we do now. Perspective, yo.

Ivy you crack me up. That’s how we felt about my mother.

But Taxi rules. That’s my get yer drink on and cry song.

I’m also suprised no one mentioned “I Hope You Dance.” That was kinda a monster hit, IIRC.

But if you think SOLS is sad, just don’t ever listen to Harry Chapin’s “Taxi”.

It’s essentially the same story, but told in a sadder way.

Yeah, good point, that one is sadder.

“I Don’t Have To Wonder”..>Garth sung written by Shawn Campand somebody else, can’t remember who..is pretty sad. Dude goes to the church where is sweetheart is marrying another guy then jumps off the bridge.

The Knoxville Girl is brutal.

Some sad songs, ala “Christmas Shoes” are so contrived and bad they make me puke. As much as I love Harley Allen tunes, “The Little Girl”, to me, falls in that category.

The Grascals recorded “Don’t Tell Mama” is pretty doggone sad.

Yes…Little Rock….its one of those, not just the lyrics, but the delivery and the all around instrumentation all worked together….that’s how you tell if something is produced well. Bob McDill once said something about a song being a 3 minute movie and that’s the trufus.

I could talk songs from here til next Tuesday.

I’m also suprised no one mentioned “I Hope You Dance.” That was kinda a monster hit, IIRC.

Big hit, yes. You think of it as sad? I think of it more as the country pop counterpoint to the Polonius “neither a borrower nor a lender be” speech. I refer to those types of songs as “epic life lesson” songs. I dunno, they don’t usually strike me as sad.

sistasmiff:

As much as I love Harley Allen tunes, “The Little Girl”, to me, falls in that category.

Ha! I was totally wondering, when I saw the link to the list, how many of them would be Harley Allen songs. I was pretty surprised to see only “The Little Girl” on there. That song irks me. I find “The Baby” a bit manipulative, too, but at least it’s a more genuine kind of story. I like the melancholy in Harley’s songs — “Stray Dogs and Alley Cats” is among my favorite songs, and is a little sad in its own way — but none of them really make me feel like crying.

I could talk songs from here til next Tuesday.

I know! Me too. I told Jon at lunch that my productivity for the day was going to be shot because of this thread.

Yeah, what Kate O’ said about “I Hope You Dance.” If you want a sad Lee Ann Womack song, what about “Does My Ring Burn Your Finger” (maybe even sadder in Buddy Miller’s version) or “Ashes by Now”?

I know! Me too. I told Jon at lunch that my productivity for the day was going to be shot because of this thread.

All part of my evil master plan.

Boulder to Birmingham

Some people like to knit some people paint…this is my hobby. Songs. Love to pick them apart, study them. I’ve written and love that process. Life got in the way of that, but, I sure love them though.

Seeds and Stems by Commander Cody

When I first moved to Nashville from New York, I turned on one of the country radio stations here, and they played “Love Me” by Colin Ray. That song made me cry. I know it is a way sappy song, but I did indeed cry.

Butterfly kisses is vile song. I cringe when I hear it at weddings. Bob Carlisle is to music what Thomas Kinkade is to painting. Ick.

Oh, gosh, how could I have forgotten “I Don’t Want to Play House” by Tammy Wynette?

The Flying Burrito Brothers’ “Hot Burrito #1″ by Gram Parsons and Chris Ethridge
and
“I Fall to Pieces” by Patsy Cline

Oh, I thought of another one. Willie Nelson’s “Seven Spanish Angels”. It might be corny, except they played it at mybest friend’s grandma’s funeral, and I can’t hear it without getting all sad.

“Oh Death” by Dr. Ralph Stanley. Makes my short hairs stand up.

On my neck. Jeez.

And I concur on “Hurt.”

You think of it as sad?

No, I think of “I Hope You Dance” as sappy sentimentality and completely unoriginal. I prefer Pousett-Dart Band’s “Dance,” which is an uptempo but the message is the same.

I was just saying I was surprised it didn’t make the list since it was such a huge hit.

A lot of the songs mentioned here are not sad. They are slow, but not sad. Patsy Cline’s “I Fall To Pieces” is not sad. It’s gorgeous, but not sad.

Dixie Chicks’ “Travellin Soldier” is pretty sad.

Just wondering how you make that little box thingie in the comment when you’re reefering another post …

Is that like Bogarting the comments thread?

IFTP is pretty sad. I mean, dude walks by with his new woman and she’s falling apart. I guess it’s how one interprets or sees it.

Til I Gain Control Again…dang. That song makes my aorta hurt.

“Dublin Blues” by Guy Clark
I wish I was in Austin in the Chili Parlor Bar
Drinkin’ Mad Dog margaritas and not carin’ where you are.
But here I sit in Dublin just rollin’ cigarettes
Holdin’ back and chokin’ back the shakes with every breath

“Not a Drop of Rain” by Robert Earl Keen
I could try to find to find a bottle or try to find a priest
Salvation won’t be travelin’ either road I take

“Chiseled in Stone” by Vern Gosdin

You don’t know about lonely or how long the nights can be
Till you’ve lived through the story that’s still livin’ in me
You don’t know about sadness ’til you’ve face life alone
You don’t know about lonely ’til it’s chiseled in stone

“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” by Hank Williams
‘Nuff said

“I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight” by Jerry Jeff Walker
I play classical music when it rains
I play play country when I am in pain
I won’t play Beethoven, the mood’s just not right
I feel like Hank Williams tonight

I’m missing a million more.

Having just seen Alison Krauss perform her song Jacob’s Dream live this weekend, I’d have to say it’s one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard. It’s on her “A Hundred Miles or More” album.

(sorry for comment hogging but you’ve got to read the lyrics since you may not be familiar with the song)

Jacob’s Dream

In the spring of 1856 with the snow still on the ground
Two little boys were lost in the mountains above the town
The father went out hunting the boys had stayed behind
While Mother tended to her chores they wandered from her side

The two had gone to follow him and lost their way instead
By dusk the boys had not been found and fear had turned to dread
200 men had gathered there to comb the mountain side
The fires were built on the highest peak in hopes they’d see the light

Oh Mommy and Daddy why can’t you hear our cries
The day is almost over, soon it will be night
We’re so cold and hungry and our feet are tired and sore
We promise not to stray again from our cabin door

Now Jacob Diverd woke one night from a strange and erie dream
He saw a path between two hills near a dark and swollen stream
He told his wife he saw the boys huddled close beside a log
For two more nights the dream returned this vision sent from God

Oh Mommy and Daddy why can’t you hear our cries
The day is almost over, soon it will be night
We’re so cold and hungry and our feet are tired and sore
We promise not to stray again from our cabin door

A thousand men had searched in vain the west side of Pop’s Creek
But Jacob’s wife knew of this place and said to travel east
With a guide to take him there, Jacob came upon the scene
And found the boys cold and still beneath the old birch tree

Oh Mommy and Daddy, look past the tears you cry
We’re both up in Heaven now, God is by our side
As you lay us down to rest in the presence of the Lord
Know that we will meet you here at Heaven’s door

Oh Mommy and Daddy, look past the tears you cry
We’re both up in Heaven now, God is by our side
And as you lay us down to rest in the presence of the Lord
Know that we will meet you here at Heaven’s door

~~~~

I even shed a tear just copying & pasting that one ::sniff sniff::

Oh! OH! OH! Mista Kott-ter-

Adios by Jimmy Webb. Actually, anything by Jimmy Webb.

Mickey Newbury’s “Sweet Memories”….Larry Gatlin’s “Bitter They Are The Harder They Fall”….

I told her to leave me alone
That’s what she’s done, just what she’s done
And a house built for two aint a home
When it’s lived in by one
One lonely one
And I can no longer hear footsteps from right down the hall
Here come the teardrops
Bitter they are, the harder they fall

She caught me lying then she caught a train
And I caught a fever
Walking home in the rain
Now its over and undone
She’s left me once and for all
Here come the teardrops
Bitter they are the harder they fall

Mercy me oh my.

Blogger guitar pull anyone?

Yes!

It hit me on the drive home and I couldn’t get here fast enough to add this one…

Tanya Tucker’s “Like Two Sparrows in a Hurricane”. Lordy, that song used to make me cry buckets.

Like two sparrows in a hurricane
Trying to find their way
With a head full of dreams
And faith that can move anything
They’ve heard it’s all uphill
But all they know is how they feel
The world says they’ll never make it, love says they will

She’s eighty-three and he’s barely driving a car
She’s got his ring and he’s got the key to her heart
It’s just a matter of time
They’ll spread their wings and fly

~~~

And then, of course, who could forget “There’s a Tear in my Beer” by Hank Jr.?

Last night I walked the floor
and the night before
You are on my lonely mind.
It seems my life is through
and I’m so doggone blue
You are on my lonely mind.
I’m gonna keep drinkin’
till I can’t move a toe
and then maybe my heart
won’t hurt me so.

~~~~
And one more…Patty Loveless - You Don’t Even Know Who I Am

Great thread, but I’ll stop now ;~)

Oooh, I love that Sparrows In A Hurricane song.

[…] Ivy started something. You know Ivy - always started something. Over at Music City Bloggers, She challenged readers to come up with the saddest country song of all time. Many songs were proffered. At last glance, […]

[…] has gotten a ton of hits (at least compared to my usual drivel).  Someone linked to it at the Music City Bloggers page, and invited suggestions for other songs to add to the list.  I’m going through those […]

Sherri Austin…Streets of Heaven

Does no-one ever think about “That’s My Job” by Conway Twitty?