1. Kyle Fischer - It Seems to Me (I've Long Been Dead)
For the lyrics: "When you last touched me / It drew all the blood to my skin / The ramparts raged and cannons fired / Your armies came crashing in / Tell me / Why must you stay away so long? / Where was it you needed to go? / Who have you been racing in your contest to grow old alone?"
2. Stars - Heart
"Heart" is the perfect song for a long walk during a snowstorm. It feels desperate and solemnly cinematic. Toward the end of the song, it's heartbreaking when the girl finally relents in the final "All right / I can say what you want me to / All right / I can do all the things you do / All right / I'll make it all up for you / I'm still in love with you." You know that these two will never get it together.
3. The Stills - Everything I Build
Again, for the lyrics: "But I built it with sand / And I built it with rock / I built it with all of the things that I'm not / And I watch from the hill / As it burns to the ground / I can still see the smoke / From a train out of town."
4. Snow Patrol - You Could Be Happy
This one cuts a little closer to the bone. After a significant relationship I was in failed, I played this on repeat for months. My life became long walks and internal struggles about whether or not I wanted to retain any sort of friendship with the other person. To be honest, I hoped he listened to this and came to realize just how much he'd fucked up. He could be happy, but I won't know.
5. Bloc Party - Signs
Lyrics: "I see signs now all the time / That you're not dead, you're sleeping / I believe in anything / That brings you back home to me."
6. Editors - Well Worn Hand
Three words to describe this song: solemn, dire, lonely. Lyrics: "I don't want to go out on my own anymore / I can't face the night like I used to before / I'm so sorry for the things that they've done / I'm so sorry about what we've all become."
7. Jimmy Eat World - Cautioners
Time to let me emo flag fly. When Bleed American came out I was a senior in high school. When Jimmy Eat World started streaming the album on their website before it arrived in stores, I would stay up all night in the basement of my parents' house listening to the album on repeat. "I'm making my peace / Making it with distance / Maybe that's a big mistake / You know I'm thinking of you / I miss you."
8. The Jazz June - At the Artist's Leisure (Pt. 2)
I am seventeen and I'm in love. There were nights I stared at the ceiling for hours and thought about that boy. He put this song on a mixtape for me, and I've never let it go. It's a sad song because I know I'll never experience that kind of first love again.
9. Pedro the Lion - The Longer I Lay Here
Lyrics: "I would like to be you / Just for a few habit-forming years / Laziness cuts me like cutlery / I need a miracle / Someone to help me / Myself."
10. The Reindeer Section - Your Sweet Voice
I think the saddest songs are the ones that used to make you happy, but they you realized just how sad they really are. I always thought this was a song about love, but now I know it is about a terrible heartbreak. Lyrics: "Don't worry / I won't call you again / 'Cause when I take a hint / I take it pretty hard / And when you broke my heart / You broke it into shards of glass." How could I ever think this was a song of joy?
11. Ryan Adams - Wonderwall (Oasis cover)
Ryan Adams takes one of my favorite songs of all time and recreates it into a gloomy plea. This is one song that comes close to being better than the original.
12. Owen - One of These Days
I heart Owen. I heart Owen and all of his sadness. Lyrics: "You know my father / The bartender / Used to wear a suit to work / Before he hit the drink / The old man used to do a lot of things."
13. Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone With You
Sometimes I feel like this. Not to the extent that Sufjan has it here, but impossible love is a bitch. Lyrics: "You gave your body to the lonely / They took your clothes / You gave up a wife and a family / You gave your goals / To be alone with me."
14. Iron & Wine - Such Great Heights
This cover = 100 times better than the original. When I listen to this on the train, I have to catch myself from singing under my breath.
15. Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter
The saddest songs are about a handful of people in your life. At one point, "The Blower's Daughter" was impossible to not get wrapped up in. I was an ocean apart from someone I loved, and this is all about excruciating longing.
16. Ben Fold Five - Evaporated
Self-medication at the bleakest of times. When I'm screwing up left and right, this song is always there for me. It's a lifevest.
17. The Weakerthans - Left & Leaving
This. Reminds. Me. Of. Home. (I miss my home.) Lyrics: "I'm back with scars to show / Back with the streets I know / Will never take me anywhere but here / The stain in the carpet / This drink in my hand / The strangers whose faces I know / We meet here for our dress rehearsal to say / 'I wanted it this way.'"
18. Joy Division - Atmosphere
Because I love the tragic figures. Lyrics: "Walk in silence / Don't walk away / In silence."
And here (thanks to Evan!) is the imeem playlist (missing the Stars and Kyle Fischer tracks, sadly - tee hee...)
Allisons Saddest Songs
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