I signed up to participate in a blogfest today: the Sad Songs Blogfest. I’m supposed to post about songs that are sad but make me feel better. Here are five.
1. IMAGINE – John Lennon. I’m not sure if this is a sad song that makes me happy or a happy song that makes me feel sad. It’s prime, anyway.
2. Song Sung Blue – Neil Diamond. He says it isn’t a sad one, but it’s a song about singing sad songs to feel better. Yes. That. That’s what this fest is all about, right?
3. Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue – Crystal Gayle. This was popular during one of my many breakups and I shed many tears on the way home from work listening to it. I always felt better after hearing this beautiful voice. I can’t even remember the guy’s name, now, but I’ll never forget the gift of this song.
4. Blue Eyes Cryin’ In The Rain – Willie Nelson. My music boyfriend. Anything I listen to Willie sing makes me feel better.
5. The granddaddy of ’em all, the ultimate “wish I were dead, think I’ll drown myself and then sing about it” piece,
Die Schone Mullerin – Franz Schubert and Wilhelm Muller. A young man becomes an apprentice at a flour mill, falls in love with the miller’s daughter who only has eyes for the local huntsman; the heartbroken young man is welcomed into the comforting arms of the brook.
Thanks, Diane, for this fest!
WRITING PROMPT: What does your main character do when he or she feels blue?
MA
Tamara Narayan
March 30, 2012 at 10:14amThat last one is pitiful. Hey, if there is a blogfest about songs featuring blue eyes, you are all set! 😉
Marian Allen
March 30, 2012 at 2:47pmI am, for sure! 🙂
Sarah Glenn
March 30, 2012 at 10:33amSpeaking of Ol’ Blue Eyes, one of mine is “Everything Happens to Me”.
The best line: “I’ve mortgaged all my castles in the air.”
Marian Allen
March 30, 2012 at 2:48pmI’m going to write a sad song called, “My Friends Keep Moving To Florida”. 🙁
Jeremy [Retro-Zombie]
March 30, 2012 at 10:59amthat is a very classic list of sadness… i am leaving to cry now.
🙂
Please Check out My Sad Song List…
Jeremy [Retro-Zombie]
Visit The Madness:
iZOMBIE
Marian Allen
March 30, 2012 at 2:49pmDon’t cry, Jeremy! Do what I do: Sing real loud. Make OTHER people cry. 😉
L. Diane Wolfe
March 30, 2012 at 12:02pmSinging and playing sad songs to feel better. Never works that way, but we keep trying, don’t we?
Marian Allen
March 30, 2012 at 2:50pmOh, it DOES work for me, Diane! I always feel better after a good sad song runs through my heart. Singing the blues is a sure cure for having the blues!
Clarissa Draper
March 30, 2012 at 12:10pmSome great choices here and some I have not heard before. I love the reasons we chose the ones we do.
Marian Allen
March 30, 2012 at 2:51pmClarissa, I’m really enjoying reading the reasons!
J.L. Campbell
March 30, 2012 at 1:16pmHi, Marian,
Nice selections. I don’t know Blue Eyes, but went to check out your last selection. It leads to the Willie Nelson song.
Marian Allen
March 30, 2012 at 2:52pmThanks, J.L. I fixed the mistaken link. 🙂
Mary
March 30, 2012 at 2:53pmI’m going to be humming Song Sung Blue the rest of the day now. Great picks.
Marian Allen
March 30, 2012 at 6:02pmThinking back over these songs and listening to them on YouTube has got me all mellowed out. 🙂
N. R. Williams
March 30, 2012 at 4:26pmHi Marian
I love John Lennon’s song, but somehow I never really thought of it as sad. I’ve seen it on someone else’s list too.
How appropriate is your question. My character would pull out her flute and play.
Nancy
Marian Allen
March 30, 2012 at 6:04pmNancy, your character is so lucky and blessed to be able to make her own music!
Lennon’s song makes me sad because the world he imagines is so wonderful, and so far from being the one we inhabit. But it makes me happy because imagining it is a step toward living it. 🙂
baygirl32
March 30, 2012 at 5:15pmThere are a few here I haven’t heard before.. I will to youtube them for sure
Marian Allen
March 30, 2012 at 6:05pmI’m finding some new ones today, too, and rediscovering some old ones I love but had forgotten. 🙂
Heather M. Gardner
March 30, 2012 at 5:49pmWow. It’s been a while since I’ve heard some of those. Now I’m gonna have to pull out the Willie Nelson album!
Great list.
HMG
Marian Allen
March 30, 2012 at 6:06pmYeah! Willie is always good to listen to. 🙂
Maryann Miller
March 30, 2012 at 10:36pmMarian, I had to laugh when I read the title of this post. I forgot, too. Maybe that is a sign we are wayyyyy too busy. LOL
For the first time ever, I did two bogs today so I could honor my promise tp participate in the sad-song blogfest.
Marian Allen
March 31, 2012 at 8:33amHi, Maryann — now I don’t feel so bad about my slip-up. I’ve had my mind fixed on the A-to-Z blogfest beginning April 1, and March 30 sort of slipped up on me. That’s my story, anyway. 🙂
MA
Kate
March 31, 2012 at 1:17amImagine is so sad, interesting list.
Marian Allen
March 31, 2012 at 8:35amKate — Some people don’t see the sadness in Imagine. The sadness is that we can only imagine such a world when we should be living in it. ~MA lifts a glass to Kate, because Kate Gets It~
MA
Jennie
March 31, 2012 at 1:36amI forgotted too! I’m in good company. Just got my list up and am making all the rounds. Song Sung Blue is definitely sad!
Marian Allen
March 31, 2012 at 8:38amJennie, now I don’t feel so embarrassed. I’m coming to visit you right now!
MA
Richard
April 1, 2012 at 8:21amI’d personally say that Lennon’s song is quite cold and philosophical, rather than emotional. Great song, though.
For me, the saddest song is Pain In Any Language by Billy MacKenzie – a much missed Scottish singer.
Marian Allen
April 1, 2012 at 11:34amThe music is very tender and wistful, though, Richard, as is Lennon’s delivery of it. And the gap between the world he (and he’s not the only one) imagines and the world as it is — that’s where the emotion kicks in, for me.
Thanks for the recommendation of Billy MacKenzie. I’ll have to look him out.
MA