FunnyIndian.com: Indian Comedian / Desi Comedian Rajiv Satyal

The Definitive Sad Songs List

November 25th, 2009

This also appears as a Note on my Facebook profile.

And to those of you who are astounded at the length, I’ll quote one of the songs…

“All I gots is time… got no meaning, just a rhyme.”

I was at a party a while ago and this guy asked me to tell him a sad story. I thought it quite the odd request and stated as much, to which he said something along the lines of, “People tell jokes and ghost stories but no one tells sad stories at a party.”

Yeah, that’s because it’s a PARTY.

It’s for ballers, not bawlers.

No people, no cry - to paraphrase Marley.

(Which raises one of my oldest questions… his song, “No Woman, No Cry”… what does it mean? That he doesn’t want any women to cry? Or that if you don’t have a woman, you won’t cry? Pretty sure from the lyrics it’s the former. Plus, he’d be kind of a dick if it were the latter.)

I was kind of down recently and so I wanted to make the definitive sad songs mix. And so where else to turn but Facebook, Twitter, and Google?

The FB status update read, “Rajiv Satyal is sad and is making a sad songs mix… OK, so bring it on, peeps… not britney-spears/nickelback-lamenting-the-state-of-modern-music melancholy but really… what are your fav tear-jerkers?

Sara Bedinghaus pointed out that anything in a minor key works. Leonard Cohen certainly agrees with you, Sara. “Hallelujah.”

Not surprisingly, there are several compilations out there: Spinner.com, Pop Culture Madness (which is a great one), SaddestSongs.com, Stars Are Blind, Metafilter, The Chicago Tribune (which did its own compilation of the lists), and UGO.

I stopped at the first page of Google. And if you turned to this list to commiserate because you’re down and your song didn’t make it, then that’s how alone and pathetic you really are.

During the drive back to LA from San Fran, I asked my brother for his and several were yielded during that discussion… and it was good we didn’t drive off the 101 into the ocean.

While I didn’t necessarily specify, these are mostly English songs. So, I realize how American-centric this list is.

Here’s the list I’ve assembled… or better stated, people have helped me to assemble… the order is convoluted (as there’s no real good way to do it due to such divergence of opinion), tho I did try to group by artist [”Song” - Artist (person(s) who recommended, if applicable)]:

• “Sideways” - Citizen Cope (Amanda Arebalo)

• “It’s Not True” - William Fitzsimmons (Amanda Arebalo)

• “I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You” - Colin Hay (Amanda Arebalo)

• “Wonderwall” - Oasis (covered by Ryan Adams, suggested by Amanda Arebalo)

• “September” - Ryan Adams (Kevin Couch)

• “Elizabeth on The Bathroom Floor” - The Eels

• “Dead of Winter” - The Eels (Kole Ross)

• “The World in 1984″ - Shearwater (Kole Ross)

• “All By Myself” - Eric Carmen (Stacy Ewen)

• “Kid A” - Radiohead (Travis Cohen)

• “No Surprises” - Radiohead

• “True Love Waits” - Radiohead

• “Creep” - Radiohead

• “Creep” - Stone Temple Pilots

• “Everybody Hurts” - R.E.M. (Cary Hill Reenan, Sumi Saini)

• “Rest in Pieces” - Saliva (Jenny Pike Cecere)

• “It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken” - Tragically Hip (Jessica Zimmerman)

• “I Will Follow You into The Dark” - Death Cab for Cutie

• “Summer Skin” - Death Cab for Cutie (Sara Bedinghaus)

• “Casimir Pulaski Day” - Sufjan Stevens (Sara Bedinghaus)

• “All Is Full of Love” - Bjork (Sara Bedinghaus)

• “Pictures of You” - The Cure (Sara Bedinghaus)

• “A Thousand Hours” - The Cure

• “Skinny Love” - Bon Iver (Elanita Korian)

• “The Christmas Shoes” - Newsong (Tiffany Keyes)

• “Please Please Please” - The Smiths (Heather Roberts Honeycutt)

• “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” - The Smiths (Heather Roberts Honeycutt)

• “I Know It’s Over” - The Smiths

• “Asleep” - The Smiths

• “Unchained Melody” - The Righteous Brothers (Paraag Maddiwar)

• “Last Kiss” - J. Frank Wilson (covered by Pearl Jam, suggested by Bena Shah)

• “Sleep” - Azure Ray (Monica Bhalala)

• “Somebody” - Depeche Mode (Amy King)

• “Roll On” - Alabama (Amy King)

• “End of The Road” - Boyz II Men (Amit Mackar, Jamie Reising)

• “On Bended Knee” - Boyz II Men (Ching-Yin Lee)

• “Water Runs Dry” - Boyz II Men (Ching-Yin Lee)

• “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” - Boyz II Men

• “One Sweet Day” - Mariah Carey feat. Boyz II Men

• “Black” - Pearl Jam (Ranjana Rajendran)

• “Mountains Win Again” - Blues Traveler (Ranjana Rajendran)

• “I Can’t Make You Love Me” - Bonnie Raitt (Ranjana Rajendran)

• “Anna Begins” - Counting Crows (Ranjana Rajendran)

• “Colorblind” - Counting Crows

• “I’ll Stand by You” - The Pretenders (Andrea Shirley)

• “That’s How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart” - Aimee Mann (Nancy Taylor)

• “All Cried Out” - Lisa Lisa & The Cult Jam (Nancy Taylor)

• “Twilight” - Elliott Smith (Nancy Taylor)

• “The Biggest Lie” - Elliott Smith (Harsh Ghai)

• “Half Right” - Pitseleh (Nancy Taylor)

• “These Days” - Jackson Browne (Gretl Hauenstein)

• “The Loadout/Stay” - Jackson Browne

• “With Rainy Eyes” - Emancipator (Heeral Bhalala)

• “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” - Green Day (Erin Linville)

• “Always on My Mind” - Willie Nelson (Guy Lennon), The Pet Shop Boys

• “You Light Up My Life” - Debbie Boone (Guy Lennon)

• “Ball and Chain” - Social Distortion (Ching-Yin Lee)

• “F*ck It” - Eamon (Ching-Yin Lee)

• “Please Don’t Go Girl” - New Kids on The Block (Shawna Mehta)

• “Broken” - Lifehouse (Krystina Coffman)

• “Hanging by a Moment” - Lifehouse

• “Breakeven” - The Script (Krystina Coffman)

• “Mad World” - Tears for Fears, Gary Jules, Adam Lambert (3 versions - all suggested by Natasha de Silva)

• “Why Does It Always Rain on Me” - Travis (Apoorve Singhal)

• “Cry Me a River” - Aerosmith (Antu Seetharam), Julie London

• “Green Fields of France” - The Dropkick Murphys (John Robinson)

• “Bookends” - Simon & Garfunkel (Azhar Usman)

• “April Come She Will” - Simon & Garfunkel

• “I Am a Rock” - Simon & Garfunkel

• “Lonely Town” - Leonard Bernstein (Rakesh Satyal)

• “The Story of My Life” - Leonard Bernstein (Rakesh Satyal)

• “The Man That Got Away” - Judy Garland (Rakesh Satyal)

• “The Dance” - Garth Brooks (Rakesh Satyal)

• “What She’s Doing Now” - Garth Brooks (Rakesh Satyal)

• “L’adieu de L’Hotesse Arabe” - Georges Bizet (Rakesh Satyal)

• “This Nearly Was Mine” - Richard Rogers (Rakesh Satyal)

• “Hyper Ballad” - Bjork (Rakesh Satyal)

• “Putting The Damage On” - Tori Amos (Rakesh Satyal)

• “Poses” - Rufus Wainwright (Rakesh Satyal)

• “Paper Bag” - Fiona Apple (Rakesh Satyal)

• “Never Is a Promise” - Fiona Apple

• “Ex-Factor” - Lauryn Hill (Rakesh Satyal)

• “Who’s Loving You” - The Jackson Five (Rakesh Satyal)

• “Dear Mama” - Tupac

• “The River” - Bruce Springsteen

• “The Wrestler” - Bruce Springsteen

• “Nothing Compares 2 U” - Sinead O’Connor

• “A Change Is Gonna Come” - Sam Cooke

• “Space Oddity” - David Bowie

• “That’s The Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be” - Carly Simon

• “Lost Cause” - Beck

• “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” - The Bee Gees

• “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” - The Bee Gees

• “Back to Black” - Amy Winehouse

• “My Mom” - Chocolate Genius

• “Anyone Who Had a Heart” - Dionne Warwick

• “Naked As We Came” - Iron & Wine

• “In The Wee Small Hours of The Morning” - Frank Sinatra

• “Brick” - Ben Folds Five

• “In The Real World” - Roy Orbison

• “Crying” - Roy Orbison

• “Concrete Angel” - Martina McBride

• “Dance with My Father” - Luther Vandross

• “Hallelujah” - Leonard Cohen (covered by Jeff Buckley)

• “Avalanche” - Leonard Cohen

• “He Stopped Loving Her Today” - George Jones

• “Hurt” - Nine Inch Nails (covered by Johnny Cash)

• “Gloomy Sunday” - Billie Holiday

• “Chicken Wire” - Pernice Brothers

• “Tell Laura I Love Her” - Ray Peterson

• “Patches” - Clarence Carter

• “Travelin’ Soldier” - Dixie Chicks

• “Alyssa Lies” - Jason Michael Carroll

• “Seasons in The Sun” - Terry Jacks

• “Whiskey Lullaby” - Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss

• “Alone Again (Naturally)” - Gilbert O’Sullivan

• “Cat’s in The Cradle” - Harry Chapin

• “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” - Hank Williams

• “Tears in Heaven” - Eric Clapton

• “There’ll Be Sad Songs to Make You Cry” - Billy Ocean

• “Sad Songs Say So Much” - Elton John

• “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” - Elton John

• “Empty Garden” - Elton John

• “The End of The World” - Skeeter Davis

• “I’ll Be There” - Escape Club

• “Send In The Clowns” - Judy Collins

• “Hurt So Bad” - Little Anthony & The Imperials

• “Tears on My Pillow” - Little Anthony & The Imperials

• “Teen Angel” - Mark Dinning

• “Goodbye to Love” - The Carpenters

• “I’m Not in Love” - 10cc

• “Two Beds and a Coffee Machine” - Savage Garden

• “Epiphany” - Staind

• “I Don’t Like Mondays” - The Boomtown Rats

• “Remember (Walkin’ in The Sand)” - The Shangri-Las

• “Don’t Let It End” - Styx

• “Wish You Were Here” - Pink Floyd

• “The Thin Ice” - Pink Floyd

• “Stole” - Kelly Rowland

• “How Do I Live Without You” - LeeAnn Rimes

• “Here Without You” - 3 Doors Down

• “Rainy Days and Mondays” - The Carpenters

• “I Will Remember You” - Sarah McLachlan

• “Adia” - Sarah McLachlan

• “Nobody Knows” - The Tony Rich Project

• “Stan” - Eminem

• “Cleaning Out My Closet” - Eminem

• “Going Under” - Evanescence

• “My Immortal” - Evanescence

• “Low” - Kelly Clarkson

• “Family Portrait” - Pink

• “You’re Beautiful” - James Blunt

• “Total Eclipse of The Heart” - Bonnie Tyler (not The Dan Band version)

• “At Seventeen” - Janis Ian

• “The Freshmen” - The Verve Pipe

• “The Drugs Don’t Work” - The Verve

• “So Sick” - Ne-Yo

• “Incomplete” - Backstreet Boys

• “Perfect” - Simple Plan

• “Wonderful” - Everclear

• “Where’d You Go” - Fort Minor feat. Holly Brook and Jonah Matranga

• “Goodbye to You” - Michelle Branch

• “Broken Vow” - Josh Groban

• “You’ll Think of Me” - Keith Urban

• “Shilo” - Neil Diamond

• “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” - Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond

• “The Needle and The Damage Done” - Neil Young

• “No Woman No Cry” - Bob Marley

• “Deacon Blues” - Steely Dan

• “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” - B.J. Thomas

• “Don’t Speak” - No Doubt

• “Last Song” - Edward Bear

• “Broken” - Seether feat. Amy Lee

• “This Used to Be My Playground” - Madonna

• “Vincent” - Don McLean

• “American Pie” - Don McLean

• “One Last Time” - Dusty Drake

• “Kiss and Say Goodbye” - The Manhattans

• “Skin” - Alexz Johnson

• “The Promise” - Tracy Chapman

• “I Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer” - Stevie Wonder

• “This Bitter Pill” - Dashboard Confessional

• “Just Until Sundown” - Forever Seems Forever

• “With or Without You” - U2

• “See You Soon” - Coldplay

• “Yellow” - Coldplay

• “Black Balloon” - Goo Goo Dolls

• “Now and Forever” - Carole King

• “1916″ - Motorhead

• “Luka” - Suzanne Vega

• “Today Has Been Okay” - Emiliana Torrini

• “Both Sides Now” - Joni Mitchell (Kimmie Dee)

• “I’ll Cover You (Reprise)” - RENT

• “Adagio for Strings” - Samuel Barber

• “Pink Moon” - Nick Drake

• “One Moment More” - Mindy Smith

• “Ghost” - The Indigo Girls

• “Brand New Love” - Sebadoh

• “Love Will Tear Us Apart” - Joy Division

• “Never Tear Us Apart” - INXS

• “Song for You” - Alexi Murdoch

• “Fly Away” - Poe

• “Locket Full of Moonlight” - Bill Mallonee

• “Rockin’ Chair” - The Band

• “The Last Words You Said” - Sarah Brightman

• “Pink Bullets” - The Shins

• “Dumb” - Nirvana

• “Re-Offender” - Travis

• “Without You I’m Nothing” - Placebo

• “Nights in White Satin” - The Moody Blues

• “Isn’t Life Strange” - The Moody Blues

• “Telephone Line” - ELO

• “Amen” - Jewel

• “You Were Meant for Me” - Jewel

• “Just Like a Woman” - Bob Dylan

• “Back for Good” - Take That

• “This Woman’s Work” - Kate Bush

• “Try Me” - James Brown

• “Since I’ve Been Loving You” - Led Zeppelin

• “Brokenheartsville” - Joe Nichols

• “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” - The Beatles (Natasha de Silva)

• “Eleanor Rigby” - The Beatles

• “For No One” - The Beatles

• “Yesterday” - The Beatles

• “Golden Slumbers” - The Beatles

• “She’s Leaving Home” - The Beatles

• “A Day in The Life” - The Beatles

• “Free As a Bird” - The Beatles

• “Mother” - John Lennon

• “I Can’t Live (If Living Is Without You)” - Harry Nilsson (covered by Mariah Carey)

• “Nothing Better” - The Postal Service

• “Bruises” - Chairlift

• “Adam’s Song” - blink-182

• “I Miss You” - blink-182

• “I Will Always Love You” - Dolly Parton (covered by Whitney Houston)

• “Love Song” - Tesla

• “Love Hurts” - Nazareth

• “And So It Goes” - Billy Joel

• “Operator” - Jim Croce

• “One of Us” - ABBA

• “The Day Before You Came” - ABBA

• “Pale Blue Eyes” - The Velvet Underground

• “Runaway Train” - Soul Asylum

• “These Eyes” - The Guess Who

• “Landslide” - Fleetwood Mac

• “White Flag” - Dido

• “Blue” - Eiffel65

• “Since I Don’t Have You” - The Skyliners

• “Stand by Me” - Spyder Turner

• “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye” - The Casinos

• “The Tracks of My Tears” - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

• “Only You” - Yazoo

• “When Will I See You Again” - The Three Degrees

• “Madame George” - Van Morrison

• “Hey There Delilah” - Plain White T’s

• “New Kid in Town” - The Eagles

• “A**hole” - Jude

• “Canon in D” - Pachelbel

• “She’s Got You” - Patsy Kline

• “Careless Whisper” - George Michael

So, “having said that” (you’ll get that reference if you just watched the Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7 finale), what are my own personal picks?

In fairness, I haven’t heard a lot of the above ones (and perhaps some of them are ones I know only by listening). I’m kind of surprised at the absence of many blues songs, which I’d have thought by definition would be on the list. In general, there was very little hip-hop. Not really a weepy genre. Perhaps if Black Rob spelled his song, “Woe.”

As you can see, it’s wildly subjective. Much like the difference between “favorite” and “best,” I can really only tell you which ones have affected me the most - and that is purely based upon my own experiences and much of that is timing… if the song was released during one of those sorrowful periods, it bothers you. If you’re happy, then the song is probably stupid or even ridiculous.

As the quote goes, “That which is most personal is most general.” Great art resonates when the artist goes deep within him/herself… so songs that feel manufactured for the masses don’t tend to be as compelling for me. It’s the specificity of some of these tunes that allows me to truly believe the singer(s) are enduring some kind of deep emotional wound. Of course, there are exceptions.

I’m also making a distinction b/w songs that have moved me vs. songs that are beautiful or great or almost universally acknowledged as painful. This isn’t a whittled-down Best Of the above… just mine. (Boy, enough disclaimers, then, or…?)

Examples of those great ones are: “Somebody,” “Bookends,” “Hallelujah,” “Wish You Were Here,” “No Woman, No Cry,” “American Pie,” “With or Without You,” “Pale Blue Eyes,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” “Wonderwall,” and “These Eyes.”

I’ve been fortunate to not really endure many periods of solace (knock on wood)… most of my down periods have been post-romantic relationships. For whatever reason, these are the ones that have gotten me… for musical or lyrical reasons.

And for some reason the formatting didn’t work w/ the numbering so I had to spell out the digits… anyway, here goes:

Twenty-Five. “New Kid in Town” - The Eagles. I don’t think most people associated this w/ sadness but I find it cruel - and true - the way the town treats the once-new kid as old news. Most poignant lyrics: “He’s holding her… and you’re still around.”

Twenty-Four. “Brokenheartsville” - Joe Nichols. Boy, this one is a big admission b/c it’s just so cheesy. It’s your run-of-the-mill country song, but the visualization of when he sings, “I watched ‘em drive away over the hill… not against her willl…” as the love of his life leaves with her new man gets me.

Twenty-Three. “Creep” - Radiohead. It’s just so sad when he wishes, “I want you to notice when I’m not around.”

Twenty-Two. “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” - Boyz II Men. Hey, this was the goodbye anthem for most of my developmental years.

Twenty-One. “Hurt” - NIN. I know the Cash version is overall painful (and surprising) but the way Reznor asks, “What have I become, my sweetest friend?/Everyone I know goes away in the end” just sums up how I feel whenever I seem to be drifting away from my friends.

Twenty. “Mother” - John Lennon. “Mother, you had me, but I never had you.” Ouch. While my mother (and father) have been there my whole life, I think most people’s biggest fear is not having them. And the fact that Lennon never knew his Mommy is tragic.

Nineteen. “Everybody Hurts” - R.E.M. My generation’s universal hurt anthem.

Eighteen. “The Wrestler” - Bruce Springsteen. One of the only great movies released this millennium, it featured this as the credits rolled. I think we’ve all at times felt like a one-trick pony.

Seventeen. “Please Please Please” - The Smiths. I thought I had heard this song for the first time during Ricky Gervais’ Extras Christmas Special, not realizing it’s the tune (sans words) that is playing when Ferris Bueller, his girlfriend, and Cameron visit the museum… which is pretty much everybody’s fav scene in the movie (much like the deer in Stand by Me).

Sixteen. “She’s Got You” - Patsy Cline. I know the gender of the pronouns is off but the reality that you can have much of someone’s personal possessions but not the person is just so telling of how objects can represent the past while the living, breathing person is the present.

Fifteen. “I Can’t Live If Living Is Without You” - Harry Nilsson. Lame, I know. But it’s pain to me.

Fourteen. “Unchained Melody” - The Righteous Brothers. When my friend Paraag Maddiwar joked on Facebook that this is especially touching when you’re doing pottery, he of course was referring to the 1990 movie, Ghost. I’ve cried in very few movies, especially cheesy ones (only because I’ve successfully choked back tears in so many - doesn’t count!), but I think I sobbed in this one. Perhaps the saddest thing of all is how I derive most of my religious beliefs from this flick. I really do believe you see that light and those demons when you’re dragged away… or hopefully, lifted up.

Thirteen. “You Were Meant for Me” - Jewel. As Dane Cook says in My Best Friend’s Girl, “God, I’m a fag.” I can’t believe I’m admitting to this one. I don’t know. It’s just a good illustration of living your life without your S/O.

Twelve. “Landslide” - Fleetwood Mac. Much like the mother’s part of the story affected me a lot more than the child’s in The Namesake, I can somehow feel this older woman’s pain. That I’m not in the target audience for these lyrics only underlines how powerful they are.

Eleven. “Empty Garden” - Elton John. The Beatles are my fav group and I’m, like many, a huge Lennon fan. This tribute is the sweetest I’ve heard. “Can you come out to play in your empty garden?” Jesus. (< — I can say that as long as I admit He’s still bigger than Johnny.)

Ten. “Operator” - Jim Croce. “She’s living in LA with my best old ex-friend, Ray - a guy she said she knew well and sometimes hated.” For some reason, that line is the most striking for me, altho I love how the whole thing actually tells a story that makes sense. Oftentimes, the chorus is just thrown in again but in this case, it gets more heartrending each time.

Nine. “Only You” - Yazoo. I watched “Can’t Hardly Wait” with one of my exes and this one has just stayed w/ me. The song, not the ex - obviously.

Eight. “I Miss You” - blink-182. I also strongly associate this w/ a breakup… I’m sure I’m one of very few people who would put this on this kind of list but it’s the childlike innocence w/ which he calls out, “Where are you?”

Seven. “The Dance” - Garth Brooks. This song is just high school senior year variety show/graduation for me.

Six. “Always on My Mind” - Pet Shop Boys. The group set out to record this song as a joke, to make it as different from the original as possible. They succeeded. But there’s something about the overly-aggrandized nature of it that paints freakin’ fireworks and explosions going off… I’m actually very expressive and affectionate so I don’t have the regrets ol’ Willie had, but still… “I guess I never told you, ‘I’m so happy that you’re mine.’” Awww.

Five. “Nothing Better” - The Postal Service. What a TRUE depiction of how a man begs a woman to stay but she leaves, anyway. I wouldn’t know as one of my I’ve Nevers is that I’ve Never been dumped but I can imagine. That fact alone may disqualify me from making this list, I guess. (Most of my torture has been due to loneliness so I CAN write it.)

Four. “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” - Green Day. I never even gave this song a chance until they played it for the last episode of Seinfeld, but ever since then, I almost have to pull the car over when it comes on the radio while I’m driving. Who’d-a-thunk a modern punk band could write this?

Three. “Black” - Pearl Jam. If you asked me the best delivered lyrics in history, I’d be hard-pressed to select anything besides these. “I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life; I know you’ll be a star - in somebody else’s sky but why, why, why can’t it be, oh can’t it be mine?”

Two. “For No One” - The Beatles. OK, so this one surprisingly doesn’t appear on anyone’s lists anywhere… at least that I can find. I don’t know if it’s the fact that it’s just dropped onto Side B of an album and it just hit me out of nowhere or what, but I think it’s the simple nature and reality of it that resonates w/ me. There’s hardly any fanfare in the melody… it’s just Paul’s voice… and the directness of the lyrics. As big of a fan as I am of this band, this is the only song that I’d place on this list… and I’m taking into account the suggestions above - yes, even “Yesterday.” If you don’t know it, check it out.

One. “Since I’ve Been Loving You” - Led Zeppelin. Pain on a platter. All four of them are at their best… Bonham on the drums… Jones on the keyboards… Page on the guitar… and Plant just freakin’ whalin’ some of the saddest words I’ve heard.