by Kate Manning

Created on: August 23, 2008

In the words of Elton John, "Sad songs say so much". And they do! Not only are they often great compositions, but they are a wonderful outlet when you are down or upset or just plain need a good cry! From hundreds of years ago with solemn classical pieces such as Mozart's Requiem, to the very poignant Everybody Hurts by REM.

But what is it about a song that makes it sound sad, regardless of the lyrics? Well, a lot of them tend to be played in a minor key, which is what gives that tone that seems to take a hold of your heart and give it a twist (especially when you're sad to start with!) These minor keys take things down a notch and the sound in itself sounds like failure - the sound you might hear when a love leaves, someone dies, something goes wrong, it rains Hence, the tears fall.

Here are a select few of the many millions of sad songs out there designed for you to indulge your darkest moments

In my opinion, one of the saddest songs ever recorded is Nothing Compares 2 U - originally recorded by Prince - but most recognized for its version by Sinead O'Conner. The fact that Sinead shed a tear herself while recording the video speaks for itself! The song, about lost love, the intention to move on, yet being unable to, is something most of us can probably relate to at some time in our lives. I doubt this song will age, since it doesn't really have any particular decade ring' to it, and it will forever be recognized, and after all, the loss of love will unfortunately always be a part of life, and so this song will be sobbed over many a time to come!

I believe that in every list of', there should be a Beatles song (except maybe list of worst..!) and so the saddest Beatles song I am going to have to say is Let it Be. A beautiful ballad which delivers a song bursting of words of wisdom, something to make you see a little clearer when you are down, but the tune cannot help but pry a tear from your eye, especially when things aren't going right. The solace in Paul's words that if when everything is going wrong, just, "Let it Be, There will be an answer, Let it be" And the time it was written makes it all the more emotional, since the Beatles were having such a hard time together at the end of the 1960's. Maybe Paul was delivering those words to himself more than anybody.

Somewhere over the Rainbow, sung by Eva Cassidy, is quite a melancholy take of the original. Entirely acoustic, the song immediately sounds lonely - one singer with one guitar. The pauses she makes in

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>