Saddest Songs. My vote: Long Long Time (Ronstadt, #1 IMHO). Over the Rainbow (from Live at Carnegie Hall). Folsom Prison Blues. Black Coffee (Peggy Lee). House of the Rising Sun (maybe Odetta's?). 60 Years On (live, from 11-17-70). Quartet for the End of Time (saddest classical--written in a concentration camp). Paris is a Lonely Town (from the animated movie Gay Purr-ee). Elegie; & Pissin' in a River (Patti Smith--but she has several other good candidates). I am Stretched on your Grave (sadder than the Sinead song mentioned). Running Dry (Neil Young--saddest by a male vocalist). At Seventeen. By the Time I get to Phoenix. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (from Meet Me in St Louis). Paint It Black. Queen Victoria (perhaps Cohen's most desolate). Nothing Else Matters. Que Sera (only as the cover by Pink Champagne). Yesterday. Leaving on a Jet Plane (Peter Paul & Mary). River (Joni Mitchell). Because of You (Kelly Clarkson). Ulysses' Gaze (saddest soundtrack). So in Love (from Kiss Me Kate, especially as sung by Brian Stokes-Mitchell). Family of Bones (from the newest Roches album). In the End (Linkin Park). Not counted here: Piaf; fado; blues...




Gabcast! etheric notes #5





A hungry sparrow sings the saddest song,
And marble flooring cracks beneath its weight.
It was a dream, and dreams do not prolong:
A hungry sparrow sings the saddest song.

And you who mince the litany of wrong
Come into lands where none prevaricate.
A hungry sparrow sings the saddest song,
And marble flooring cracks beneath its weight.