Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? by Louis Armstrong
If It's the Beaches by The Avett Brothers
End of the Rainbow by Richard and Linda Thompson
Plea from a Cat Named Virtue by The Weakerthans
Something So Right by Paul Simon (I agree with this choice.)
Keep Ya Head Up by 2Pac
To Be Alone With You by Sufjan Stevens
Someone Like You by Adele (I agree with this choice.)
What makes a sad song? For me, I have to be in the moment and in a situation when I can relate, whether a happy or sad occasion. Whether lyrics or melody, it can open an old wound or cause me to empathize on a human level, much like a painting or a photograph. It touches my soul.
The best sad song is when you can feel the pain of the songwriter in the music and the lyrics. I feel that when I listen to Townes Van Zandt. A sad song does not have to be depressing; a sad song can be uplifting. It is a song that brings tears to my eyes unexpectedly or even cause me to smile at how it touches me unexpectedly.
Here are a few that make me sniffle, in no particular order but as they come to mind:
The Last Song by Elton John
Don't You Remember by Adele
How Great Thou Art by Carrie Underwood and Vince Gill (especially guitar solo)
Hello in There by John Prine
I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt
From A Distance by Nanci Griffith
A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke
American Tune by Paul Simon
When I Lay Down by Janis Ian
Nessun Dorma by Luciano Pavarotti
To Live is To Fly by Townes Van Zandt
Father and Son by Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)
This is My Lover's Prayer by Otis Redding
Desperado by The Eagles
Hurt by Johnny Cash
What songs touch you? What are your sad songs?
7 comments:
It's weird, but songs don't really make me sad. Movies, especially where an animal gets hurt, now that gets me every time.
Pam - Maybe that's because you, or it seems to me, have built a solid family and life with so much beauty around you, a fulfilling life. I don't cry in movies but those ASCPA commercials kill me.
Songs in a moment of nostalgia punch the right buttons. :)
Jan - So true!
Great lists. I totally agree about the Carrie Underwood/Vince Gill version of "How Great Thou Art." Amazing.
Oh, crikey...
I agree about those ASPCA commercials. I blubber like a baby every time. The Irishman looks at me and shakes his head and whispers..."turn it off...."
There are some songs that make me cry, and you named a couple of them. There's a song called "Jessie" by Joan Baez that kills me every single time I hear it.
I've been in a cry-y mood all day....
meowmeowmans - Not a fan of country music, I had ignored this song for a long time. My brother told me, you have to hear this. And, he was right. Beautiful.
Akannie - I almost included Jessie! I used to listen to that album constantly, but haven't heard it in a long time. Good choice.
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