The 55 Best Sad Songs All of Time - Page 6

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21Green Day - Good Riddance (time of your life)

Did you know?

While this song is often used at weddings and graduation ceremonies because of its sentimental quality, the song is actually about a break up. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong explained.

At the time I wrote Good Riddance, I was breaking up with a girl that was moving to Ecuador, and I was trying to be as understanding about it as I could. I wrote the song as kind of a bon voyage. I was trying not to be bitter, but I think it came out a little bit bitter anyway... I thought that calling the song "Time of Your Life" was just a little too level-headed for me, so I had to come up with something different.

Moment you'll tear up:

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind

Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time

Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial

For what it's worth it was worth all the while

20Elton John - Candle In The Wind 1997

Did you know?

Candle in the Wind 1997 is a rewritten and rerecorded version of Elton John's 1973 hit Candle in the Wind (originally a tribute to Marilyn Monroe) that was released as a tribute single to the late Diana, Princess of Wales. When Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in a car crash in Paris, France in 1997, John sank into a deep depression, and to cope with grief quickly, decided he wanted to pay a tribute to her.

John publicly performed Candle in the Wind 1997 only once, at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in Westminster Abbey on September 6, 1997. While he continues to sing the original 1973 version of the song at his concerts, John has repeatedly turned down requests to perform the 1997 version. He refused even when asked to do so for the memorial concert for Diana in July 2007, having vowed never to perform it again unless asked by Diana's sons.

Moment you'll tear up:

Goodbye England's rose

May you ever grow in our hearts

You were the grace that placed itself

Where lives were torn apart

19Michael Jackson - Ben

Did you know?

This slow, sentimental song was recorded for a horror film called Ben. A lonely boy named Danny Garrison befriends a rat, naming it Ben (after he hears about the leader of a flock of killer rats); the rat becomes the boy's best friend and keeps his spirits up in the face of bullying and his terrible illness. The balance of power between Danny and Ben begins to shift, with Ben beginning to control the killer rats, and becoming increasingly irrational and violent. Ben becomes violent when the townfolk use pesticide and kill his partner "Socrates." Eventually, the police destroy many members of the rat colony. However, Ben survives. The film closes with Danny, determined not to lose his friend, tending to a badly injured Ben.

Moment you'll tear up:

Ben, you're always running here and there

You feel you're not wanted anywhere

If you ever look behind

And don't like what you find

There's one thing you should know

You've got a place to go

18Fleetwood Mac - Landslide

Did you know?

Back in 1975, Stevie Nicks was stuck at a crossroads: Does she return to school, or does she instead continue her musical path alongside Lindsey Buckingham? Things were already tense between Nicks and Buckingham, but that didn’t stop her. The duo had recently been dropped by their label and she was pondering the landslide which was her life.

Moment you'll tear up:

Well, I've been afraid of changing

'Cause I've built my life around you

But time makes you bolder

Even children get older

And I'm getting older too

17Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

Did you know?

Hallelujah was written by Canadian singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen. The cover by Jeff Buckley is more sorrowful than the original. Time magazine commented on the cover, describing it as "exquisitely sung," observing,

Cohen murmured the original like a dirge, but [...] Buckley treated the [...] song like a tiny capsule of humanity, using his voice to careen between glory and sadness, beauty and pain [...] It's one of the great songs.

Moment you'll tear up:

And I've seen your flag on the marble arch

And love is not a victory march

It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

16Simon & Garfunkel - The Sounds of Silence

Did you know?

During the editing of the movie The Graduate, the directors timed certain scenes to that of The Sound Of Silence. Their hope was to eventually replace the song with a new original song made specifically for the movie but alas, that didn’t pan out. Instead, they opted to buy the rights to use The Sound Of Silence for their soundtrack, a practice that was not very common in movies of that era.

Moment you'll tear up:

Hello darkness, my old friend

I've come to talk with you again

15David Bowie - Space Oddity

Did you know?

The song, released in 1969, appears to refer to Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey." Like the film, Bowie tells the story of an isolated astronaut whose life is threatened when his ship malfunctions and cannot return home. Recently, the song has been illustrated as a children's book.

Moment you'll tear up:

Tell my wife I love her very much

She knows