Here is a list of the saddest songs in the history of ever, according to my Facebook friends. I am recording it here for posterity and also as a handy reference for the next time I need to listen to sad music and cry forever (so, tomorrow, then).
So! Here we go, in no particular order. Well, in the order they appeared on my Facebook. That’s a type of order, I GUESS.
1. Wilco – Venus Stop The Train
2. Tori Amos – Icicle
3. Tori Amos – Northern Lad
4. Nine Inch Nails – 30 Ghosts
5. Godspell Cast – By My Side
6. Goo Goo Dolls – Iris
7. Elliott Smith – Waltz #2
8. Coldplay – The Scientist
9. Ben Folds – Fred Jones
10. Jump Little Children – Cathedrals
11. Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah
12. Most things by Nick Cave
13. This Mortal Coil – You And Your Sister
14. Holly Golightly – Tell Me Now So I Know
15. Samuel Barber – Adagio For Strings
16. Most things by Blue Rodeo
17. Ben Folds – Red Is Blue
18. Michael Jackson – Little Susie
19. Most things by Dashboard Confessional
20. Counting Crows – Long December
21. Nine Inch Nails – Hurt
22. Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
23. Johnny Cash – Hurt
24. Pat Benatar – Hell Is For Children
25. Ugly Kid Joe – Cats In The Cradle
26. Moby – Wait For Me
27. Moby – Pale Horses
28. Holly Cole – Take Me Home
29. Holly Cole – Cry If You Want To
30. Holly Cole – I Don’t Wanna Grow Up
31. Any version of Gloomy Sunday
32. Big Star – Give Me Another Chance
33. Bright Eyes – Shell Games
34. Lisa Germano – Wood Floors
35. Ani DiFranco – Both Hands
36. The National – Exile, Vilify
37. Johnny Mandel – Suicide Is Painless
38. Ani DiFranco – School Night
39. Maria Mena – Sorry
40. The Spill Canvas – All Hail The Heartbreaker
41. Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah
42. Joel Plaskett – Cry Together
43. Joel Plaskett – Blinding Light
44. Eric Clapton – Tears In Heaven
45. The Good Life – Album Of The Year
46. The Weepies – World Spins Madly On
47. Weezer – Only In Dreams
48. Death Cab For Cutie – I’ll Follow You Into The Dark
49. The Weakerthans – Reconstruction Site
50. Hayden – Damn This Feelings
51. The White Stripes – We Are Going To Be Friends
52. The Beatles – I’ll Follow The Sun
53. Bill Withers – Better Off Dead
54. John Lennon – Mother
55. Kanye West – Runaway
56. Kanye West – Blame Game
57. El-P – The Overly Dramatic Truth
58. Tori Amos – Spark
59. Tori Amos – Playboy Mommy
60. Kimya Dawson – Walk Like Thunder
61. Homeboy Sandman – Angels With Dirty Faces
62. Kanye West & Jay-Z – Murder To Excellence
63. Kanye West & Jay-Z – To The Future
64. Ceschi – Shame
65. Ceschi – Half Mast
66. El Perro Del Mar – Party
67. Naughty By Nature – Ghetto Bastard (radio version: Everything’s Going To Be Alright
68. Robyn – Call Your Girlfriend
69. Lana Del Rey – Dark Paradise
70. Lana Del Rey – This Is What Makes Us Girls
71. Common Grackle – The Great Depression
72. Mary Cobham – Fire Song
73. The Kills – The Last Goodbye
74. Ani DiFranco – You Had Time
75. Pearl Jam – Last Kiss
76. Suzanne Vega – Luka
77. Tracy Chapman – Behind The Wall
78. Jewel – Adrian
79. Mariah Carey feat. Boyz II Men – One Sweet Day (added sheepishly, it should probably be noted)
80. The entire album Lady In Satin by Billie Holiday
81. Blur – No Distance Left To Run
82. Rose Cousins – Go First
83. Amanda Palmer – The Bed Song
84. Amanda Palmer – Trout Heart Replica
85. Kathleen Edwards – House Full Of Empty Rooms
86. The Jane Austen Argument – Song For A Siren
87. Dan Mangan – Leaves, Trees, Forest
88. Tori Amos – Winter
89. Sage Francis – Bridle
90. Sage Francis – Crack Pipes
91. Tori Amos – Precious Things
92. Tori Amos – Crucify
93. Tori Amos – Putting The Damage On
94. Tori Amos – China
95. Tori Amos – Hey Jupiter
96. Tori Amos – Sugar
97. Tori Amos – Honey
98. Tori Amos – Jackie’s Strength
99. Hey Rosetta – Yer Fall
100. Sage Francis – It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The End Of Times
101. Sage Francis – Little Houdini
102. Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – Somewhere Over The Rainbow
103. James – Out To Get You
104. Ben Folds Five – Brick
105. Bonnie Raitt – I Can’t Make You Love Me
106. Hawksley Workman – Oh You Delicate Heart
107. Hawksley Workman – Prettier Face
108. Harry Chapin – The Shortest Story
109. The Mountain Goats – Old College Try
110. Man Man – Whalebones
111. Metric – London Halflife
112. Christine Lavin – Errol Flynn
113. Damien Rice – The Animals Were Gone
114. Damien Rice – 9 Crimes
115. Thom Yorke – Black Swan
116. Evanescence – Missing
117. William Fitzsimmons – Heartless
118. Bon Jovi – These Days
119. Dave Matthews Band – Stay Or Leave
120. Feist – Let It Die
And there you have it – the saddest songs in the world, as suggested by my Facebook friends. Enjoy! And by that I mean, enjoy crying your eyes out alone in your dark room, I guess.
The Belle Jar 
They forgot “Stay or Leave” by the Dave Mathews Band! Always good for a cry! Or! “Let it die” by Feist! My two most favourite songs to cry to! Hoor..ay?
Ooh, adding those. I love crying to sad music! I mean, that sounds weird, but you know what I’m saying.
Oh, I *totally* know what you’re saying. Sometimes if I’m feeling a little down I just full-on lean into it with some sad songs, maybe a little blog-reading from when I had just been dumped, and some chocolate consumption. I call it my pre-menstrual workout.
I swear you’re just tapped into my brain or something.
😀 A-may-zing
Oh wow…not so much my thing. Maybe it’s a boy thing (nature or nurture I’ll set aside for a moment), but in my unhappy teenage moments I was more likely to crank something angry, like Green Day’s “Burnout”. So I don’t know any of these…except “Iris”. Man, “Iris”…in lovesick teenage moments, “Iris” could just shred me..
As an adult, I also discovered (maybe thanks to Sarah?) Bon Jovi’s “These Days”…great song generally, but wow bleak! Great for wallowing in frustration if I listen to it on a bad day.
Sarah introduced YOU to a Bon Jovi song? THAT I have a hard time believing 😛
Tori Amos for sure!
I’d add Black Swan by Thom Yorke, Missing by Evanescence and Heartless by William Fitzsimmons
Done.
OOOh, I love these games!
Hawksley Workman – Oh You Delicate Heart
Hawksley Workman – Prettier Face
Harry Chapin – The Shortest Story
The Mountain Goats – Old College Try
Man Man – Whalebones
Metric – London Halflife
Especially when they end with heartbroken sobbing! Added 🙂
Oh and “Errol Flynn” by Christine Lavin
Also, pretty much anything by Damien Rice, but especially “The Animals Were Gone” and “9 Crimes”.
Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about Damien Rice!
I think this cover of Don’t Speak needs to be on your list:
Ohhhhhhhhhh. Thank you for this.