That molten caramel voice drenches an acoustic guitar. Another man-fighting-with-his-wife country ballad is deceptive as the chorus swells up “You don’t know sadness til you face life alone / You don’t know about lonely ’til it’s chiseled in stone…” Suddenly, sorrow’s permanence is concrete, pride is poison and Vern Gosdin bends notes and your heart. It’s 1989’s Country Music Association’s Song of the Year for good reason.— Holly Gleason The Verve are often accused of overproducing their songs until they are too sugary to enjoy. Richard Ashcroft is accepted as the leading frontman of his time and gives a stunning vocal to his song about a personal journey through substance use and depression. Ashcroft’s personal demons have become his driving force and this song reflects on the time he lost to this substance abuse. The song has been a popular one for many artists, but Bon Iver’s version tops the rest. The emotion of the song cascades through the singer’s voice and leaves us all feeling a sense of loss. The fall of the World Trade Center Towers during 9/11 saw Simon & Garfunkel perform The Boxer at several memorial concerts. The song was chosen by the artists because of its sense of loss for the American Dream. Despite the sadness of the song, it rises to an image of the boxer refusing to accept defeat from his opponent. Former boy band singer, Robbie Williams was failing to establish himself as a solo artist when he released Angels. “When I’m feeling weak, and my pain walks down a one-way street” is a pretty bleak opening to any song. Angels is a popular funeral song in Europe and gives everybody a chance to wallow in misery for three minutes.

The Sad Son: A surprisingly funny memoir about mental illness The Sad Son: A surprisingly funny memoir about mental illness

Musically, it is difficult to pigeonhole the music Powell makes, but I get flashes of early Bowie, Keane and the much-missed Delays in the songs that make up Saudade. Powell is that most old-fashioned of things, a singer/songwriter, a phrase that seems to have fallen out of favour in recent times but one that seems to sum things up here.The moaning organ provides a steady accompaniment for Tom Waits’ gruff wailing on this desolate blues song. He delivers with anxiety-driven urgency, sounding like he could just break down into a blubbering frenzy at any moment. The horn section rides along smoothly in comparison, cresting and dipping deftly as Waits sings vigorously, wounds exposed. There’s no one who can pull off the palpable dejection of “I don’t need anybody, ’cause I learned to be alone” quite like Waits does.— Tess Duncan Frank Ocean broke into the mainstream with Swim Good. The song is bleak and unhappy as it depicts the depression and unhappiness of Ocean’s main character. The suicidal thoughts and sense of despair are on full show as he contemplates suicide. There are many reasons why you can find the best sad songs and cry at their content. Feeling we have lost something or somebody in our lives can make us feel sad and want to cry along with a favorite artist. Let us know if we missed out on any of the top sad songs ever made!

The Sad Song Co.: Saudade - album review | Louder Than War The Sad Song Co.: Saudade - album review | Louder Than War

ABOUT USLouder Than War is a music, culture and media publication headed by The Membranes & Goldblade frontman John Robb. Online since 2010 it is one of the fastest-growing and most respected music-related publications on the net. Feeding comes across as a Radiohead-influenced song and sounds initially jarring in its modernity and displays a left of centre approach to song and lyric writing. In fact, throughout Saudade, the lyrics are designed to take centre stage rather than sit behind the music. Powell is a clever so and so, make no mistake.

Saudade then is a powerful word. It is also the name of the new album by The Sad Song Co., which gives it much to live up to. The author Claire Josephine took a very serious very sad and very dear to her heart story about her son and found a way to make me laugh through the hard stuff, to laugh through my tears. Most of the time I forgot I was reading a true story because Claire's young life couldn't possibly be so freaking cool. Everybody Hurts” is one of the rare songs on this list that actually offers catharsis. It’s beautifully simple: you’re sad, but you’re not alone because “everybody hurts, everybody cries.” You’re human, in other words, and we all have our moments. So take R.E.M.’s advice, “take comfort in your friends,” blast this song, have yourself a good cry, and then move on. You’ll feel better, I promise.— Bonnie Stiernberg With an equally evocative title, Makarska Sunset, 25th May 2018 is another instrumental, this time featuring a lone, almost classical piano melody for its brief running time of just under a minute. It serves as almost a palette cleanser for the rest of the album. Away Until Christmas Morning again evokes the 60s psych era, with Bowie/Barrett flourishes very much to the fore. Powell finds beauty in sadness as he sings “the dark is on your side and the night is beautiful”. The piano work here is beautiful, with clever use of dissonance hinting at the song’s deeper concerns. I have nothing but praise for Claire, having been a single parent with a child with Adhd & Ocd, I know how hard life can be...

Sad Song (Lyric Video) ft. Elena Coats We The Kings - Sad Song (Lyric Video) ft. Elena Coats

Matt Vasquez wrote this History From Below tearjerker as an ode to his late grandparents, who both passed away within a short timeframe. It’s written from the perspective of his deceased grandfather, who implores his still-living wife to “sleep oh sleep, my Vivian” because “heaven is too cold without you.” I mean, come on. If your heart is made of stone and that’s not enough to choke you up, he also visits his ailing wife from beyond the grave to comfort her as she dies: “I know it’s hard to deal with the pain/you’re yellow from your liver giving out/so just close your eyes and think of me/oh, Jerry’s not leaving this gal.” I’m getting misty just thinking about it.— Bonnie Stiernberg This Eric Clapton ballad has gotten a lot of play in the 20-plus years since its initial release, and you’d think that would dull its sadness a bit, but just take a minute and remind yourself of its tragic origins: Clapton’s four-year-old son Conor fell out of a 53rd-floor window and died in 1991, and “Tears in Heaven” is the songwriter’s attempt to express his grief, speculating whether his young child would even recognize or remember him in heaven.— Bonnie StiernbergI hope that anyone struggling with a child, no matter what age, will read this book and take some inspiration from it. No matter how hard it seems, don't lose your sense of humor, don't give up hope, turn to your friends when you need to (especially that one SUPER GOOD ONE that won't blame you for your child's behavior), DON'T ask anyone who doesn't have kids for parenting advice (DCFS is FULL of staff without children, which I find is a huge issue), stay away from judgmental people, ignore judgmental looks and stares (they don't know you or what you're going through), and eventually things WILL work out. Use italics (lyric) and bold (lyric) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part A foreboding bass note introduces Deserted By Every God. Soon a sparse bass drum and skeletal snare gives the song a rhythm to hold on to until the chorus again gives us firmer ground on which to stand. An album highlight, Deserted By Every God builds slowly but surely until it again hits epic territory and shows us why Saudade is an album that very much deserves your time and attention.