Top Five Sad Songs
While driving down the road, a sad song has the ability to stir up memories that many may have thought were so forgotten that they would never get them back. That’s the power of music, and making it a little melancholy can create wonders. It can also bring back heart breaks and times we may rather not remember anymore. One thing for sure is that songs create powerful emotions. Without further ado, here is a list of some of my favorite and unforgettable sad songs of all time.
5) Silver Springs by Fleetwood Mac
I heard this song right around the time I was going through a harsh break up with an old high school sweetheart. I identified with some of the lyrics and the song seemed to grab my attention from the very beginning. The song starts out sweet enough ( You could be my Silver Springs/Blue Green colors Flashing/ I will be your only dream/Your Shining Autumn, Oceans Crashing ). Then the sweetness disappears and we learn that this relationship is not all that great ( I begin not to love you/Turn around, see me running/I’ll say I loved you years ago/Tell myself you never loved me ). Seems as if the guy decided he could get away with cheating ( Can you tell me was it worth it ?/ Really, I don’t want to know ). Every time I heard this song I would mist up because it was basically everything that I was going through during our break-up, right down to my ex deciding to be a d-a-w-g. It’s now just a bittersweet song to me since so many years have past, but at one time it was the saddest song to me of all times.
4) Imagine by John Lennon
I saw the documentary Imagine which is basically about John Lennon’s life from birth to death. Toward the end, John’s death is in a way replayed then discussed. This part of the movie is a tear jerker in itself, especially when Lennon’s family starts talking about him and how much he meant. The movie ends with the song Imagine and it was just one of the saddest things. Not only is Imagine one of Lennon’s last songs, it always reminds me how the world lost one of the best musicians ever for no reason at all. ( You may say that I’m a dreamer/But I’m not the only one/I hope someday you will join us/and the world we be as one ).
3) Foolish Games by Jewel
And yet another song that used to remind me of an ugly break-up. This song hit home more than any other when it came to describing the same failing relationship that I was in ; from the way my ex was ( You were always the mysterious one with dark eyes and careless hair/ You were fashionably sensitive but too cool to care ), down to the things we did ( You loved Mozart and you’d speak of your loved ones/ As I clumsily strummed my guitar ). Of course this is a sad song, and as the song progresses it seemed as if Jewel had wrote this song just for me ( Excuse me, think I’ve mistaken you for somebody else/Somebody who gives a da**/Somebody more like myself/These foolish games are tearing me apart ). This song also has a great piano accompaniment and Jewel does a magnificent job vocally. This is a great song regardless of the memories.
2) Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd
Wow, let’s see where to begin with this one. There have many debates and arguments over the true meaning behind the lyrics of Comfortably Numb . Many say it refers to drugs and others say suicide, while many say it was about getting the right medicine to function in the music world again. However, Roger Waters (lead singer) said that this song is really about what he felt like as a child with a horrible fever. I think that this song could have many meanings depending on the individual listener. I don’t personally identify with all the lyrics, but I absolutely love this song and it definitely ranks as one of those saddest songs that I’ve heard ( When I was a child, I had a fever/My head felt just like two balloons/Now I’ve got that feeling once again/How can I explain?/You would not understand/ This is not how I am/I’ve become comfortably numb ). Along with the sad yet brilliant lyrics, the entire song has a kind of somber feeling to it. The guitar playing is immaculate.In fact, this song probably has the best guitar solo that I’ve ever heard in my life.
And my number one sad song……..
1) Hey Jude by The Beatles
This song is unbelievably sweet yet so sad at the same time ( Hey Jude, don’t make it bad/ Take a sad song and make it better ). Paul Mccartney (one of the Beatles) was close to John Lennon’s (another Beatle) son Julian. When John was going through all the messiness of a divorce with Julian’s mother (and dating Yoko Ono), Paul wrote a song to the then young Julian. The song of course is Hey Jude . This is just a wonderful song on so many different levels. It tells Julian to keep his head up ( Hey Jude, don’t be afraid/You were made to go out and get her/The minute you let her under your skin/Then you begin to make it better ). This song always makes my heart go out to a young kid that was caught up the mist of a lot of things that he probably did not understand. A lot of people don’t see this as a sad song, but more of a song of encouragement. I agree this is an encouraging as well, but I never fail to feel a little sad and sentimental every time I hear it.
Honorable Mentions
1) Live- Lightning Crashes
2) Soundgarden – Black Hole Sun
3) Sinead O’connor – Nothing Compares to You
4) Chicago – Hard to Say I’m Sorry
5) PM Dawn – Die Without You
6) David Bowie (or even the Nirvana cover) – The Man who Sold the World
7) Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under the Bridge
