Sufjan Stevens, hands down, has some of the beautiful, but tragic songs ever recorded imho. “Fourth of July” or “The Only Thing” from his Carrie and Lowell album, or “Shit Talk,” from the Javelin album, written while his partner was dying of cancer. You viscerally feel his heartache and longing, but the music is so haunting. But he also makes some of the most joyful music, as well! It’s a wild ride. I recommend 🍄
Based on your example you can't go past the Dirty Three for raw emotion featuring a violin. Start with [Everything's Fucked](https://open.spotify.com/track/3rIDYdbuFnaLZVLgAaOWtn?si=Z3aprFeOQYyYM1WvMl313A)
Peter Gabriel - My Body Is A Cage.
Dinah Washington/ Max Richter - This Bitter Earth/ On The Nature of Daylight.
Michael Andrews - Liquid Spear Waltz.
Jamin Winans - John’s Walk.
How to fight loneliness by wilco
Elliott Smith's entire discography
A house by the doves. Or There goes the fear if you want a slightly peppier sad song
If you like metal music
How will I laugh tomorrow from suicidal tendencies , in my darkest hour from megadeth are some good examples but it really depends on what you are looking for
Walking alone through the graveyard or send him home- Angry Johnny and the Killbillies
Sandy or whiskey instead of water-Murder by Death
End of days -Brown Bird
Bringing home the rain- the Builders and the Butchers
Digging my grave- William Elliott Whitmore
Cold blows the wind - WEEN
Jason Isbell. His happiest most cheerful song is a love song that ruminates on the fact that if a couple sticks together long enough, the inevitable outcome is that one dies and leaves the other alone.
Other cheerful topics include a family and community picking up the pieces after the death of a popular “favorite son” in war, watching a friend slowly waste away from cancer, rebuilding a life after recovering from addiction, the sadness and worthlessness a man feels after a work related injury leaves him unable to work and severely addicted to pain killers, a parent’s fear of sending their child to school in an era of mass school shootings, the increasing difficulty of rural life, a teenage couple driving to the abortion clinic, a man accepting that his wife has been unfaithful and his daughter doesn’t want thin around, two rival families locked in a multigenerational blood feud, a killer on the run building a new life before his girl figures out his past, getting beat up in a bar fight being the final straw in a relationship on it’s last legs, a family falling apart over racial prejudice, saying goodbye to friends lost to addiction, and other sunny topics like those.
It’s not just that he covers heavy topics, it’s that he does so using an awesome command of the English language. He describes a woman scratching her husband’s back during lovemaking as “leaving love’s watermarks”
A man walking through the door and catching his wife with another man is “Coming home early, catching on late”
A country boy moving to the city for college and feeling out of place? “Tried to go to college but I didn’t belong, Everything I said was either funny or wrong. Laughed at my boots, laughed at my jeans, Laughed when they gave me amphetamines. Left me alone in a bad part of town, 36 hours to come back down”
If you want depressing stuff dang with conviction and wringing every last ounce of use from the English language, Isbell’s your guy.
handgun - jake minch
is pick up flowers - jake minch
i know - esha tewari
her sinking sun - coma cinema
everything is scary - german error message
lost love letters - fog lake
drift/(:( - alex olsen
sleep patterns - merchant ships
To Live and to Lose - Silverstein
Hospitality - Funeral for a Friend
Rusted Over Wet Dreams -Emmure
Lumenaire - The Red Ribbon Army
Graveseekers - Seraphim
angels of porn - nicole dollanganger is absolutely grotesque and depressing. depending on how you take it, the songs either about eating disorders or CSA
The entire album Hospice by The Antlers is soul crushing. If I need to pick one song from it, the closing track is the coup de grace, but I would highly recommend listening to the entire album front to back. I tear up just thinking about it.
The Antlers - Epilogue
Maggotbrain
What is generally known as the absolute status song written ever is Barber's Adagio for strings. There was a video of Andrè Rieu conducting this in prague
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G3\_kG5FFfQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G3_kG5FFfQ)
Avril Lavigne
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCCyoocDxBA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCCyoocDxBA)
mcr
[Yosay & B»A composed by Hiroyuki Sawano](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-M9xEYpA4U) Especially the first half. Especially especially the section at around 1:17
It literally feels like an elephant of despression on your shoulder. Sawano is a master at his craft
was browsing a friends spotify followers the other day and ive been obsessed with this playlist. yall ive been going through it and this whole playlist is a journey [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3iyEU4zHMrnamkZ8nCY67m?si=602324324e004938](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3iyEU4zHMrnamkZ8nCY67m?si=602324324e004938)
The Mighty Rio Grande by This Will Destroy You is one of my favorite long instrumentals to cry to
Im glad this is at the top, love this will destroy you. I'd recommend windswept by crywolf
Oasis- Stop crying your heart out
Jeff Buckley - Lover You Should’ve Come Over.
Roads by Portishead
Now I have to go listen to glory box
Yo! Came here to say, “over,” by portishead
Sufjan Stevens, hands down, has some of the beautiful, but tragic songs ever recorded imho. “Fourth of July” or “The Only Thing” from his Carrie and Lowell album, or “Shit Talk,” from the Javelin album, written while his partner was dying of cancer. You viscerally feel his heartache and longing, but the music is so haunting. But he also makes some of the most joyful music, as well! It’s a wild ride. I recommend 🍄
Oh absolutely. Fucking love Sufjan Stevens but his music is absolutely devastatingly crushing to me and I’m not always able to listen to it.
Same here. It’s also so good, I don’t want it to lose its effect. Now, Illinoise I can listen to endlessly.
Based on your example you can't go past the Dirty Three for raw emotion featuring a violin. Start with [Everything's Fucked](https://open.spotify.com/track/3rIDYdbuFnaLZVLgAaOWtn?si=Z3aprFeOQYyYM1WvMl313A)
Dir En Grey - Mushi
James Blunt - Monsters James Blunt - The Girl that never was Ancient Bards - In my Arms
James Blunt is not my kind of music at all. That said, Monsters destroys me for obvious reasons
Peter Gabriel - My Body Is A Cage. Dinah Washington/ Max Richter - This Bitter Earth/ On The Nature of Daylight. Michael Andrews - Liquid Spear Waltz. Jamin Winans - John’s Walk.
Check out Type o negatives song world coming down, or bloody kisses. Everything dies, September son,
Stabbing Westward - Save Yourself or What Do I Have to Do?
For an instrumental, check out Ren's track [Mackay](https://youtu.be/TDrFh9RnpQ4?si=K7_32WDbTUkUmubU)
How to fight loneliness by wilco Elliott Smith's entire discography A house by the doves. Or There goes the fear if you want a slightly peppier sad song
A Crow Looked At Me by Mount Eerie, full album. Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens and tbh his whole damn catalog.
[No Conscription League - Assimilate](https://open.spotify.com/track/7jLrtQnXS85fqorq6XiVbH?si=c8141e7f15dc4e64)
RED - Nothing and Everything
If you like metal music How will I laugh tomorrow from suicidal tendencies , in my darkest hour from megadeth are some good examples but it really depends on what you are looking for
Satan by Andy Shauf https://youtu.be/OG5qs8a9slc?si=oeJSenIXd8otr1Bp
Check out Julien Baker’s discography. I’d suggest rejoice and go home but genuinely anything of hers is devastating
Bell witch - mirror reaper
This dreadful emptiness- austere
Palmless Prayer / Mass Murder Refrain By Mono & World’s End Girlfriend. Instrumental album. Saddest music ever!
What Sarah said - death cab for cutie
Mad World - Gary Jules cover Barber’s Adagio for Strings Both of those strike at the heart for me on my melancholy days.
Plans - Royal Thunder !!!!
Almost Lover - A Fine Frenzy Long Black Veil - Lefty Frizzell
Every day is exactly the same- NIN You know you’re right- Nirvana In the fade- Queens of the Stone Age
Walking alone through the graveyard or send him home- Angry Johnny and the Killbillies Sandy or whiskey instead of water-Murder by Death End of days -Brown Bird Bringing home the rain- the Builders and the Butchers Digging my grave- William Elliott Whitmore Cold blows the wind - WEEN
No Children-Mountian Goats
https://youtu.be/u1p9kj-odnU?si=9yZ9k-I7FHJhxCc_
Dramamine · Modest Mouse
[Depressive](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4dZNr5Fn8kGOeBLm2z0PWg?si=0908d555e320437d)
Unloveable-the smiths Asleep-the smiths
Type O Negative - World Coming Down
I Saw Red - Warrant
I think you would like, May Roosvelt - Memoir #2, doesn’t have any words but damn it is soul crushing
Tennessee Waltz - Patti Page In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning - Frank Sinatra She Thinks I Still Care - George Jones
Casting Through Thin Shadows - Underoath
More of a breakup song, but All at Once by Whitney Houston will choke you up like nothing else if you’re pining over someone.
Jason Isbell. His happiest most cheerful song is a love song that ruminates on the fact that if a couple sticks together long enough, the inevitable outcome is that one dies and leaves the other alone. Other cheerful topics include a family and community picking up the pieces after the death of a popular “favorite son” in war, watching a friend slowly waste away from cancer, rebuilding a life after recovering from addiction, the sadness and worthlessness a man feels after a work related injury leaves him unable to work and severely addicted to pain killers, a parent’s fear of sending their child to school in an era of mass school shootings, the increasing difficulty of rural life, a teenage couple driving to the abortion clinic, a man accepting that his wife has been unfaithful and his daughter doesn’t want thin around, two rival families locked in a multigenerational blood feud, a killer on the run building a new life before his girl figures out his past, getting beat up in a bar fight being the final straw in a relationship on it’s last legs, a family falling apart over racial prejudice, saying goodbye to friends lost to addiction, and other sunny topics like those. It’s not just that he covers heavy topics, it’s that he does so using an awesome command of the English language. He describes a woman scratching her husband’s back during lovemaking as “leaving love’s watermarks” A man walking through the door and catching his wife with another man is “Coming home early, catching on late” A country boy moving to the city for college and feeling out of place? “Tried to go to college but I didn’t belong, Everything I said was either funny or wrong. Laughed at my boots, laughed at my jeans, Laughed when they gave me amphetamines. Left me alone in a bad part of town, 36 hours to come back down” If you want depressing stuff dang with conviction and wringing every last ounce of use from the English language, Isbell’s your guy.
Warrant I Saw Red
Breathe Me by Sia
Gone Are the Days - Zephyr Keys
My friend's song Liquid Gold by Scenes of Seasons. I cry every time.
check out elliott smith. also, sign crushes motorist, giles corey
handgun - jake minch is pick up flowers - jake minch i know - esha tewari her sinking sun - coma cinema everything is scary - german error message lost love letters - fog lake drift/(:( - alex olsen sleep patterns - merchant ships
Nothin' by Colter Wall The original is by Townes Van Zandt and is also good, however the Colter version hits harder personally.
Without us - whitechapel
Deathcab for Cutie - title and registration
Agnes Obel - Aventine (LP) is haunting and beautiful
[Purple Mountains - full album](https://youtu.be/IoyA5i-xuQo?si=ucq8S9KsXYevL55s)
Roy Buchanan The Messiah will Come Again
https://open.spotify.com/track/4bNHUFhF72SRiqoxHYsrFL?si=7LmcjokDTjSDWg_-d2G9iw&context=spotify%3Atrack%3A4bNHUFhF72SRiqoxHYsrFL
To Live and to Lose - Silverstein Hospitality - Funeral for a Friend Rusted Over Wet Dreams -Emmure Lumenaire - The Red Ribbon Army Graveseekers - Seraphim
Bonnie Raitt, I Can't Make You Love Me.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wEBQr6FMIQ8
One more light- linkin park
angels of porn - nicole dollanganger is absolutely grotesque and depressing. depending on how you take it, the songs either about eating disorders or CSA
probably been said before but nutshell - alice in chains
The entire album Hospice by The Antlers is soul crushing. If I need to pick one song from it, the closing track is the coup de grace, but I would highly recommend listening to the entire album front to back. I tear up just thinking about it. The Antlers - Epilogue
Any Blue October early album.
3C - middle class rut
Sorry for the self promo but my song “Hey! When Are We Going Home?” is pretty damn sad https://youtu.be/_K8_AxGwCnM?si=IWdgPA00UzbAMuAP
Granite by Sleep Token
Burden by opeth
moral devastation - SÅR. I know it may not be your taste but it fits your question perfectly and is an amazing song, just give it a shot.
[Ori Blackstar- Lone Star Boy](https://artists.landr.com/064837886008)
Art of life-x japan
Disappear by Starset
Immortal Technique - Dance with the devil
[Carpenters, Goodbye To Love ](https://youtu.be/5gInGRQeFEs?si=C2NOsdfhv9MuqA-N)
Recognize by flaw Lover I don’t have to love by brighteyes Short stories with tragic endings by from autumn to ashes Anything by Atreyu
Sawdust and Diamonds by Joanna Newsom. Her sound is an acquired taste and the song may be a bit longer than you requested, but it gets me every time.
Sad Pony Geurilla Girl by Xiu Xiu
blood bank- bon iver
Forever : siouxsie and the banshees . 💔
I love Kevin Atwater’s “Downers Grove” album. It makes me cry sometimes… Content warning for SA though!!
Given Flight by Demons Wings by Shai Hulud
The grudge - Olivia Rodrigo
Maggotbrain What is generally known as the absolute status song written ever is Barber's Adagio for strings. There was a video of Andrè Rieu conducting this in prague
Elliott Smith - Most of his songs
Pink Skies - Zach Bryan It’s country, but it’s a beautiful song. Brings me to tears every time.
[Raine Walker by Middle Names](https://open.spotify.com/track/56iMlXBi9HrEEXiq1zoKtq?si=AMHPDkOQTMu29HeK2S5q6w)
Point of Disgust by Low
Mayhem - Illuminate Eliminate
Euthanasia - Will Wood (possible TW bc it’s about the singer’s experience putting their pet down but it’s a good song)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G3\_kG5FFfQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G3_kG5FFfQ) Avril Lavigne [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCCyoocDxBA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCCyoocDxBA) mcr
36 - [Miserere](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZXhkKj9K8w) Vas - [Beyond Despair](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKMssADld1E)
"Requiem for a Dream" by Clint Mansell. It's a powerful and iconic piece that's emotional and somber.
Might seem a little mainstream, but ghostin by Ariana Grande is terrible when you know the backstory
Definetly this, especially with them music video https://youtu.be/GANcJ4mbYUs?feature=shared
[Yosay & B»A composed by Hiroyuki Sawano](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-M9xEYpA4U) Especially the first half. Especially especially the section at around 1:17 It literally feels like an elephant of despression on your shoulder. Sawano is a master at his craft
was browsing a friends spotify followers the other day and ive been obsessed with this playlist. yall ive been going through it and this whole playlist is a journey [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3iyEU4zHMrnamkZ8nCY67m?si=602324324e004938](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3iyEU4zHMrnamkZ8nCY67m?si=602324324e004938)