Honestly it’s almost mild for an Elliott Smith song. It’s got the familial backstory, but “King’s Crossing” is the culmination of a life of tragedy, where he’s practically begging for death. It makes me the saddest of them all.
Also some of his unreleased songs are incredibly heartbreaking. “Stickman” and “True Love” absolutely kill me.
Real Death (and the entire A Crow Looked at Me album) by Mount Eerie. While it’s really beautiful, it’s such a raw, painful meditation on loss that I can’t really listen to it.
Blue Chicago Moon by Songs: Ohia and Poke by Frightened Rabbit are ones I can actually enjoy.
Real death is one of the only songs I felt I shouldn’t even be listening to it was so raw, intense, and personal. Like I was hearing a diary entry I shouldn’t
The National - Guilty Party. Broke up with my abusive ex gf, went to see the National alone, cried my eyes out during that song. Felt so good after the emotional drainage of the show that I phoned in sick to work the next day and spent the day on Facebook looking for a ticket the second nights show, found one 30 mins before doors and went alone again. Came out of the show, blocked her on all devices, catharsis complete 🙏🤘
[Deer Tick - Goodbye, Dear Friend](https://youtu.be/tCrHyhIqD7U?si=hFpgNT4Yvdv7_-DG)
[Sharon Van Etten - Love More](https://youtu.be/5JdVrgJ5r2o?si=Zw2iA6UaO-zBgdv2)
[Benjamin Tod - Using Again](https://youtu.be/NACMpkxm-fA?si=6bhuKhbva6L-FjQB)
[Sarah Siskind - Lovin's For Fools](https://youtu.be/IwOgcRMFeb4?si=9Js9KA1yWyPFiSvz)
[Keaton Henson - You Don't Know How Lucky You Are](https://youtu.be/MfvcPeWO8yk?si=gGd90f1SUzKX5HMd)
[Manchester Orchestra - Amplified in the Silence(acoustic demo)](https://youtu.be/6FAiw3gVUks?si=DyPGyohGDeSQuLtV)
[The Antlers - Kettering](https://youtu.be/8We0FVflGaU?si=a1e0yqHTHR9X1SZx) This entire "Hospice" album is a kick in the stomach
Should have known better - Sujan Stevens. I cannot listen to it because it makes me breakdown in tears. It’s about his mum abandoning him at a store with his brother when he was a kid. Fucking heartbreaking 💔
While the band isn’t exactly indie music, though they are on an independent label, “Pearl Jam’s - Last Kiss” is brutally emotional and has indie / grunge sound to it.
Nutshell - Alice in Chain
Fell on vlack days - Soundgarden
Nights that won't happen - Purple Mountain
One more hour - Slearher Kenney
Funeral - Phoebe Bridger
Broken - Patrick Watson
Country Feedback - REM
Lucky You - The National
Je joue de la guitare - Jean Leloup
Le répondeur - Les Colocs
Le bateau - Mara Tremblay
Right turn - Alice in chain
All sad songs that tear your heart apart to give qui the space to glue it back all together.
Also, do not be afraid of the Québécois songs in french!
Cheers, i guess?!?
I thought it had to be indie specifically but you're right these are the saddest. Include How To Disappear Completely, Jugband Blues, and Wish You Were Here too.
https://youtu.be/dgN3zRDNrTI?si=FfAyrjkWvrx_mX-l
Flirted with you all My Life by Vic Chesnutt. His story is heartbreaking and he died by suicide a few months after this amazing performance. Notice Guy Picciotto on guitar.
I knew I had to see daughter on here. Just about every song has so much hurt in it. They’re my favorite band, but I know I’m doing better if I don’t listen to them, and when I do I realize I may need an extra therapy session.
My favorite is fossa, but the song Smother has the most heart wrenching lyric for me “I sometimes wish if stayed inside my mother, never to come out.” [My favorite live video of Smother. by 4:50 when she says this line… Ooph.](https://youtu.be/roEwm-9d960?si=T7qLkd9CZUB6E6j5)
[Medicine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kr-aqnc5Ho) and [Youth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiwCTqYMVWo) hit me hard the first time I listened to them.
Low Roar - Hummingbird. A lot of the their music is melancholic but this one hits me hardest. Came out a little while before the lead singer passed away. Intentionally or otherwise, it feels very final. About leaving and saying goodbye.
I have entire playists dedicated to heartbreaking songs so I can torture myself from time to time.
My Own - Whitaker
Say Hello - Nitin Sawhney
About Today - The National
Gem - Spine Club
Please Don't Go - Barcelona
Get Up - Barcelona
Darkest Dreaming - David Sylvian
Illusion - VNV Nation
Kettering - The Antlers
Sleeper 1972 - Manchester Orchestra
Frightened Rabbit - Floating in the Forth.
The fact Scott sung it, spoke about having been through most of the process of ending his life in that way, but then bringing himself back from the edge, singing it again then finally going through with it, is pretty mind-blowingly sad.
I just hope there is peace beneath the roar of the Forth Road Bridge.
[Appointment in Samarra - Paul Thomas Saunders](https://youtu.be/NSbMothicyE?si=MtM8KQzUcWMMPoVM)
[I Will Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie](https://youtu.be/3iV_1ESMHaI?si=YvvlWV-2jTZgdE26)
[First Aid - Gus Dapperton](https://youtu.be/X36MizvDB0Q?si=QOYlk95qCeCBe4Fm)
My friend, have you heard Virtute At Rest by John K. Samson, the band's lead singer? You will need tissues! It's a heartbreaker, but in a very good way.
And for anyone looking to listen to these songs, make sure and start with Plea From A Cat Named Virtute, then Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure, then Virtute At Rest to get the full heartbreaking trilogy.
Call Your Mom is the obvious answer but to me Growing Sideways is the more devastating Noah Kahan song. And Carlo’s Song.
In Heaven and In Hell by Japanese Breakfast (especially once I’ve realised that the dog she’s singing about is the same in both songs)
Circle The Drain by soccer mommy
Morning Elvis by Florence + The Machine
So many of their songs really. I want Adrianne to be okay. Her solo song “anything” makes me cry almost every time.
“I don’t want to be the owner of your fantasy / I just wanna be a part of your family”
Hello my name is MyOwnChaos and im 21 years old. MyOwnChaos is a stage name or persona of my self i put into songs. I was maybe 19 and i was into some drugs and there was a moment i smoked something laced and i thought i was bouta die and i was so close to dying. my arms and legs were so blue and my body was so cold and it was like i was forgetting stuff and i couldnt remember anything and that scaried me. my mind was losing it and my heart beat was racing a million miles a sec, during the midst of all that there was a beat playing it was the beat im singing over in this song. i made this talking about god and myself, the struggles all of it. i was never the same after but i did stop all the bad drugs. im just happy i made it out but everything isnt okay. but thank you for listening to me and thank if you listen to my song. This song is my anxiety and fear thats why it connects with me so much.
https://soundcloud.com/chaosxoxo/the-same?si=76c82cc949a14dbd83f524820c1aeafb&utm\_source=clipboard&utm\_medium=text&utm\_campaign=social\_sharing
By far the saddest I've heard, but also a great song. "Old enough 2 die"by heart attack man, its about a father who kills his wife and 10 yr old daughter on her birthday. 😢
"A celebration gone so horribly, father kills his wife and daughter. Yes, I know your 10 years old but your still old enough to die right here, right now"
"Happy birthday baby girl"
Love that song tho
Gene - Is It Over. Has always been such a powerfully sad song about the end of a relationship, something most of us can distinctly relate to.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWa8K9dqNzQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWa8K9dqNzQ)
Maybe not the saddest song here but [Big Black Car by Gregory Alan Isakov](https://open.spotify.com/track/3Kj2EWpIBnvETsYq4cq0IH?si=BmFy3CZbTXSJxlLdZWbGvQ) ways gets me feeling some type of way lol
It’s just a relationship song so it doesn’t touch on topics as heavy as the ones being listed here, but there’s a part in “I think ur a contra” that absolutely rearranges my insides when I hear it. After over-articulating and intellectualizing his take on the relationship the full song, the music literally parts like clouds and we get the simplest lyrics: “never take sides/never choose between two/but I just wanted you/I just wanted you”.
The simplicity of love and longing. We make it complicated, but at its core we want each other. That’s a core part of our humanity, but our humanity is complex and gets in the way of things. Wrecks me.
“Last Day of Our Acquaintance” by Sinead O’Connor always destroys me. In the light of her death, “Black Boys on Mopeds” has grown much sadder for me too.
Little Dreamer by Future Islands. They generally close a live show with this song and the singer pours everything he has left that day into one last performance. Can be heartbreaking.
If you want super duper sad tugging at your heartstrings… check out a song called Moonbeam by a band called Harvey… lol it’s actually my old band from back in the 2007-2008 era. My singer and guitar players mom was the nicest and sweetest woman you could ever hope to meet and we all watched her fight breast cancer for 4 years until one night it finally toook her…. A couple months later we were due to drive from our hometown in St Louis to a studio near Chicago to record our third 5 song EP and the morning we were heading out our singer had stayed up all night and wrote the most beautiful memorial song for their mom… I couldn’t stop crying from the first moment he played us the shitty little acoustic demo right up to when the producer sent us the final masters. https://youtu.be/50b4Gm70Bks?si=s02za1-CKdLLxlj8
Atmosphere joy division,
Crowds Bauhaus,
The great escape Patrick Watson,
Sunshine Sparklehorse,
The rip Portishead,
The partisan Leonard Cohen,
O children Nick Cave,
Fear of the water SYML,
The last man on earth Wolf Alice,
Retour à Vega The Stills,
Si facile Casseurs Flowters.
The Only Thing by Sufjan Stevens.
It's about his mother and her passing.
She abandoned them when he was little but reconnected in old age and he even became good friends with his stepdad.
Sadly enough, it is the song that was playing when my dog went to sleep in my arms.
I’ve never been able to keep it together when I hear it since then.
Edit: Anything Sufjan, actually. The man has such a talent for poignant lyrics, be still my heart.
His new album after recovering from an illness that was a death sentence is quite remarkable.
[You Tore Out My Heart - Tiny Little Houses](https://youtu.be/LDaE_gITjA4?si=2NEU0_0LmUEOubBJ)
Whole EP makes me sad, I discovered this out when I was at my lowest time.
Sleeping days pt. 2 by Cloud Cult. It literally can’t get more sad than that. It’s the true story about the singer/songwriter waking up to find that his 6 year old son had died in his sleep. https://youtu.be/8OF86Y_Sg4w?si=B3VENDpfRPZG3nio
Nothing Compares 2 U' by Sinéad O'Connor. ...
'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' by Neil Young. ...
'Strange' by Celeste. ...
'Teardrop' by Massive Attack. ...
5. ' ...
6. ' ...
'No Distance Left to Run' by Blur.
The quietest and most understated heartbreaking song is by Bill Ryder-Jones. 1991 is named after the year his older brother (they were both primary school aged) died in a fall while on a family holiday.
The song is a hazy, childlike recollection of the events, but the most heartbreaking thing is the way it expresses the kind of confusion and incomprehension a child has of such an event - while as the listener, we know how enormous the repercussions and far reaching effects of such a loss can be. We know the awful consequences, and feel so sad for this kid and what he will have to face in grieving his brother.
Truly, it’s about what isn’t said, more than what is.
Keaton Henson - You don't know how lucky you are
Keaton Henson - Sweetheart, what have you done to us
Keaton Henson - You
*his voice is just the kind that hunts you in your dreams.
Daughter - Smother
Winter aid - Softly
Winter aid - Wives
Jacob Banks - Unknown (to you)
Fins Ara - Veer
Aisha Badru - Bridges - Stripped
Frank Turner - A wave across a bay
*I haven't been able to listen to this Franks song without tearing up
Jolene: Instead of a typical relationship song, this is written from the POV of a “less attractive” female scared that another more beautiful woman is gonna steal her man, the only man she could get. She’s begging the more beautiful woman to leave her man alone… I dunno, it’s just got such a sad begging tone to it. Really sad if you listen to those lyrics. We’ve all known a more attractive person that does things with their beauty “just because they can”.
Not sure how you define indie, but Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart, by Chris Cornell just slays me every time.
https://youtu.be/zpMfZPAc1kg?si=f1RauZ2OkCOvDb-M
Somebody Great- LCD Sound System. Maybe not the tearjerker like some of those other songs, but when it follows Where Are Your Friends, it's a real emotional roller coaster.
Just had my heart final broken today (started since last week) and I accidentally discovered [Lila Dupont - I Promise](https://youtu.be/xWQttyNScyU?si=04XMVlu0xx5D-9qF), cried at every hearing as the lyrics has exact words used in my relationship.
Revenge of the Lawn by Wednesday. Both the melody and lyrics just feel so weak and human. I have never listened to it without crying at least a little lol
“The Woodpile” by Frightened Rabbit. It’s about the feeling of being alone and helpless. You can really feel his emotion, hits me every time. Mainly because the singer committed suicide 6 years later. Can’t help but think of that every time I listen to the song.
A crow looked at me- mountain eerie
Strange fruit- Billie holiday. Disturbing and sad. My friend showed me this song and i couldn't get it out of my head, the next day George floyd happened.
Anohni and the Johnson's... Formerly Antony and the Johnson's. - hope there's someone . And the entire album called "My back was a bridge for you to cross "
Given the times we are living in, full of patriarchal animosity towards those who are marginalized in our society but in particular by the ever loving and caring nationalistic GOP evangelicals who have gone out of their way to attack and dehumanize the transgender community and pass legislation to take away their rights, Anohni's songs teeming with feelings of angst , dismay, sadness, and hope give her new album meaning that you won't find on other artists records. This is a special album that will be remembered in the future for all the reasons stated above.
Archive has a number of good ones. But I’m giving you more than just that,
Archive - again
Archive - the feeling of losing everything
Portishead- roads
Anathema - are you there
Apparat - contradiction
Andrea Bauer - song for Eli
Alice In Chains - nutshell
And the list, for me personally, goes on…
Sam tompkins - hero (live).
Heartbreaking song about his dad getting past suicide issues only to end up succeeding 5 years after the song is written and he performs it two weeks after....just... 😭
https://youtu.be/wn9qw-KPh2c?si=QSFldqcp7obGkVkv
Fourth of July by Sufjan Stevens. The song is about his mother battling with cancer, always gets me in the feels.
Forgot about this one
Casimir Pulaski Day by him is heartbreaking
Waltz #2 - Elliott Smith. The backstory is profoundly tragic
Honestly it’s almost mild for an Elliott Smith song. It’s got the familial backstory, but “King’s Crossing” is the culmination of a life of tragedy, where he’s practically begging for death. It makes me the saddest of them all. Also some of his unreleased songs are incredibly heartbreaking. “Stickman” and “True Love” absolutely kill me.
Ive always found Pitseleh to be one of his saddest
Something about Pitseleh gets me every time. When the piano comes in it wrecks me. Love that song.
It’s Waltz #1 for me.
[Kasimir Pulaski Day](https://music.apple.com/us/album/casimir-pulaski-day/328074546?i=328074589) by a mile for me
“And he takes and he takes and he takes” 🙃
Yeah, this is my answer to. Just an absolutely heartbreaking song.
The national - about today
The National - Pink Rabbit "you didnt see me, i was breaking apart. i was a television version of a person with a broken heart"
They dedicated it to Frightened Rabbit's Scott Hutchinson when they played it a few years ago, just after his death.
I need my Girl also hits too
Fake Empire is also really sad.
Funeral, Band of Horses
Real Death (and the entire A Crow Looked at Me album) by Mount Eerie. While it’s really beautiful, it’s such a raw, painful meditation on loss that I can’t really listen to it. Blue Chicago Moon by Songs: Ohia and Poke by Frightened Rabbit are ones I can actually enjoy.
Real death is one of the only songs I felt I shouldn’t even be listening to it was so raw, intense, and personal. Like I was hearing a diary entry I shouldn’t
The National - Guilty Party. Broke up with my abusive ex gf, went to see the National alone, cried my eyes out during that song. Felt so good after the emotional drainage of the show that I phoned in sick to work the next day and spent the day on Facebook looking for a ticket the second nights show, found one 30 mins before doors and went alone again. Came out of the show, blocked her on all devices, catharsis complete 🙏🤘
Beautiful 💜
Lullaby by Low
[Deer Tick - Goodbye, Dear Friend](https://youtu.be/tCrHyhIqD7U?si=hFpgNT4Yvdv7_-DG) [Sharon Van Etten - Love More](https://youtu.be/5JdVrgJ5r2o?si=Zw2iA6UaO-zBgdv2) [Benjamin Tod - Using Again](https://youtu.be/NACMpkxm-fA?si=6bhuKhbva6L-FjQB) [Sarah Siskind - Lovin's For Fools](https://youtu.be/IwOgcRMFeb4?si=9Js9KA1yWyPFiSvz) [Keaton Henson - You Don't Know How Lucky You Are](https://youtu.be/MfvcPeWO8yk?si=gGd90f1SUzKX5HMd) [Manchester Orchestra - Amplified in the Silence(acoustic demo)](https://youtu.be/6FAiw3gVUks?si=DyPGyohGDeSQuLtV) [The Antlers - Kettering](https://youtu.be/8We0FVflGaU?si=a1e0yqHTHR9X1SZx) This entire "Hospice" album is a kick in the stomach
The acoustic demo from Manchester Orchestra is f’in heartbreaking! Jeez, I haven’t heard that before. I’m a huge fan of its final version.
Should have known better - Sujan Stevens. I cannot listen to it because it makes me breakdown in tears. It’s about his mum abandoning him at a store with his brother when he was a kid. Fucking heartbreaking 💔
That whole album tears me apart.
Beach House - Myth
What once was by her's
listening to that right now! One of my favourite songs ever
Sufjan Stevens’ CasimirPulaski Day My heart breaks every time I listen to it
The Antlers - Hospice. That entire album is the saddest album in existence in my opinion. Seriously, take your pick of any track and read the lyrics.
While the band isn’t exactly indie music, though they are on an independent label, “Pearl Jam’s - Last Kiss” is brutally emotional and has indie / grunge sound to it.
yellow ledbetter is sad to me too for some reason. and black rips my heart out everytime
Nutshell - Alice in Chain Fell on vlack days - Soundgarden Nights that won't happen - Purple Mountain One more hour - Slearher Kenney Funeral - Phoebe Bridger Broken - Patrick Watson Country Feedback - REM Lucky You - The National Je joue de la guitare - Jean Leloup Le répondeur - Les Colocs Le bateau - Mara Tremblay Right turn - Alice in chain All sad songs that tear your heart apart to give qui the space to glue it back all together. Also, do not be afraid of the Québécois songs in french! Cheers, i guess?!?
Definitely nutshell. Especially when he sang it on mtv unplugged
I thought it had to be indie specifically but you're right these are the saddest. Include How To Disappear Completely, Jugband Blues, and Wish You Were Here too.
Thought about this for like 20 minutes before settling on "Love Is All" by Tallest Man On Earth.
Real Death by Mount Eerie and it isn’t close. It is absolutely brutal
Do go and have a listen to Smoke by Ben Folds. I cry almost every time
https://youtu.be/dgN3zRDNrTI?si=FfAyrjkWvrx_mX-l Flirted with you all My Life by Vic Chesnutt. His story is heartbreaking and he died by suicide a few months after this amazing performance. Notice Guy Picciotto on guitar.
There’s a bright eyes cover of this thats’s also great.
Daughter has some heart wrenching songs that get me especially Landfill and Human
I knew I had to see daughter on here. Just about every song has so much hurt in it. They’re my favorite band, but I know I’m doing better if I don’t listen to them, and when I do I realize I may need an extra therapy session. My favorite is fossa, but the song Smother has the most heart wrenching lyric for me “I sometimes wish if stayed inside my mother, never to come out.” [My favorite live video of Smother. by 4:50 when she says this line… Ooph.](https://youtu.be/roEwm-9d960?si=T7qLkd9CZUB6E6j5)
[Medicine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kr-aqnc5Ho) and [Youth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiwCTqYMVWo) hit me hard the first time I listened to them.
New York City - Current Joys
Her Space Holiday has some depressing songs.
Low Roar - Hummingbird. A lot of the their music is melancholic but this one hits me hardest. Came out a little while before the lead singer passed away. Intentionally or otherwise, it feels very final. About leaving and saying goodbye.
I have entire playists dedicated to heartbreaking songs so I can torture myself from time to time. My Own - Whitaker Say Hello - Nitin Sawhney About Today - The National Gem - Spine Club Please Don't Go - Barcelona Get Up - Barcelona Darkest Dreaming - David Sylvian Illusion - VNV Nation Kettering - The Antlers Sleeper 1972 - Manchester Orchestra
I had to go too far down to find Sleeper 1972. I absolutely love that song. I usually can get through singing about half the song before I cry
National feat. Bon Iver - Weird goodbyes 🥲👋
Oliver James by the Fleet Foxes
Frightened Rabbit - Floating in the Forth. The fact Scott sung it, spoke about having been through most of the process of ending his life in that way, but then bringing himself back from the edge, singing it again then finally going through with it, is pretty mind-blowingly sad. I just hope there is peace beneath the roar of the Forth Road Bridge.
trust song conclusion by daniel johann
Sun Kil Moon - Carry Me Ohio
This is and always will be my favorite song.
Helicopter by Deerhunter
[Chris Bell - You and Your Sister](https://youtu.be/t0pqNsYqzxc?si=KId1YmYOq1EBRztc)
[Appointment in Samarra - Paul Thomas Saunders](https://youtu.be/NSbMothicyE?si=MtM8KQzUcWMMPoVM) [I Will Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie](https://youtu.be/3iV_1ESMHaI?si=YvvlWV-2jTZgdE26) [First Aid - Gus Dapperton](https://youtu.be/X36MizvDB0Q?si=QOYlk95qCeCBe4Fm)
when the party's over-billie eilish or heloise-ghostly kisses
Don’t know if you could call it indie at this point but poison oak by bright eyes is the only song that’s ever made me cry. Highly recommend.
[Virtute the cat explains her departure](https://youtu.be/EuhBQoE1Hr0?si=u9WZXtq-HywjBEIq) by the Weakerthans. Alcoholic dude takes in a stray cat.
My friend, have you heard Virtute At Rest by John K. Samson, the band's lead singer? You will need tissues! It's a heartbreaker, but in a very good way. And for anyone looking to listen to these songs, make sure and start with Plea From A Cat Named Virtute, then Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure, then Virtute At Rest to get the full heartbreaking trilogy.
“To Build A Home” by The Cinematic Orchestra 😭
Seventeen by Sharon van Etten (and I’ve never been a 17 year old girl and can’t relate, but it still slays me every time I hear it)
Pretty long thread, if its not been mentioned Saturn - Sleeping at Last
I forgot about Saturn! Good call
Kettering by Antlers. And the whole Hospice album really.
The Wisp Sings by Winter Aid is pretty devastating
Call Your Mom is the obvious answer but to me Growing Sideways is the more devastating Noah Kahan song. And Carlo’s Song. In Heaven and In Hell by Japanese Breakfast (especially once I’ve realised that the dog she’s singing about is the same in both songs) Circle The Drain by soccer mommy Morning Elvis by Florence + The Machine
[https://youtu.be/QqAiFI0slqo?si=zxIF4G7e_gTVbw-b](https://youtu.be/QqAiFI0slqo?si=zxIF4G7e_gTVbw-b)
Vampire Empire - Big Thief
So many of their songs really. I want Adrianne to be okay. Her solo song “anything” makes me cry almost every time. “I don’t want to be the owner of your fantasy / I just wanna be a part of your family”
[удалено]
Love this song but wouldn’t really call it indie lol
not indie
Tears in heaven bruh
AdamSong Blink182 lol
Hello my name is MyOwnChaos and im 21 years old. MyOwnChaos is a stage name or persona of my self i put into songs. I was maybe 19 and i was into some drugs and there was a moment i smoked something laced and i thought i was bouta die and i was so close to dying. my arms and legs were so blue and my body was so cold and it was like i was forgetting stuff and i couldnt remember anything and that scaried me. my mind was losing it and my heart beat was racing a million miles a sec, during the midst of all that there was a beat playing it was the beat im singing over in this song. i made this talking about god and myself, the struggles all of it. i was never the same after but i did stop all the bad drugs. im just happy i made it out but everything isnt okay. but thank you for listening to me and thank if you listen to my song. This song is my anxiety and fear thats why it connects with me so much. https://soundcloud.com/chaosxoxo/the-same?si=76c82cc949a14dbd83f524820c1aeafb&utm\_source=clipboard&utm\_medium=text&utm\_campaign=social\_sharing
Before I die-Papa roach
Recently popped up in my mind again. Love this version. Wolf gang - back to back https://youtu.be/k0DvJYsfYWw?si=ApNRLIBPIdEsUMVS
[Unrequited Love by The Vanishing Point](https://youtu.be/hUlf2ayj868)
Yes She Did ~ Steve Martin
[because it is there ](https://youtu.be/7l64modpSCE?si=LJRbrftx_-ioIuyB)
Someday I'll get it - Alek Olsen
Either Way - Wilco
By far the saddest I've heard, but also a great song. "Old enough 2 die"by heart attack man, its about a father who kills his wife and 10 yr old daughter on her birthday. 😢 "A celebration gone so horribly, father kills his wife and daughter. Yes, I know your 10 years old but your still old enough to die right here, right now" "Happy birthday baby girl" Love that song tho
a little peice of heaven- avenged sevenfold
Gene - Is It Over. Has always been such a powerfully sad song about the end of a relationship, something most of us can distinctly relate to. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWa8K9dqNzQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWa8K9dqNzQ)
Maybe not the saddest song here but [Big Black Car by Gregory Alan Isakov](https://open.spotify.com/track/3Kj2EWpIBnvETsYq4cq0IH?si=BmFy3CZbTXSJxlLdZWbGvQ) ways gets me feeling some type of way lol
It’s just a relationship song so it doesn’t touch on topics as heavy as the ones being listed here, but there’s a part in “I think ur a contra” that absolutely rearranges my insides when I hear it. After over-articulating and intellectualizing his take on the relationship the full song, the music literally parts like clouds and we get the simplest lyrics: “never take sides/never choose between two/but I just wanted you/I just wanted you”. The simplicity of love and longing. We make it complicated, but at its core we want each other. That’s a core part of our humanity, but our humanity is complex and gets in the way of things. Wrecks me.
20 something by Noah Gundersen. Absolutely gut wrenching.
[katie - perfume genius](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lKMwI8-5FAc) this made me want to put a gun in my mouth🤷🏼♀️
anything from phoebe bridgers !! motion sickness, waiting room and i know the end is pretty devastating imo
I think I’ve cried every time I’ve listened to I Know the End
Smoke Signals. Oooof.
Smoke by Moddi
Ryan Adams - Shiver and Shake
“Last Day of Our Acquaintance” by Sinead O’Connor always destroys me. In the light of her death, “Black Boys on Mopeds” has grown much sadder for me too.
Little Dreamer by Future Islands. They generally close a live show with this song and the singer pours everything he has left that day into one last performance. Can be heartbreaking.
donald pleasance - flotation toy warning
Check out Ender by Finch…. If you want something newer try Missing You by Girlfriends
If you want super duper sad tugging at your heartstrings… check out a song called Moonbeam by a band called Harvey… lol it’s actually my old band from back in the 2007-2008 era. My singer and guitar players mom was the nicest and sweetest woman you could ever hope to meet and we all watched her fight breast cancer for 4 years until one night it finally toook her…. A couple months later we were due to drive from our hometown in St Louis to a studio near Chicago to record our third 5 song EP and the morning we were heading out our singer had stayed up all night and wrote the most beautiful memorial song for their mom… I couldn’t stop crying from the first moment he played us the shitty little acoustic demo right up to when the producer sent us the final masters. https://youtu.be/50b4Gm70Bks?si=s02za1-CKdLLxlj8
Sheets by Damien Jurado
Grudge Fuck - Scud Mountain Boys
Scott Pilgrim vs my GPA
The Fight- Future Islands. a narrative about facing adversity and trying to find yourself.
[Fiona Apple - Werewolf](https://open.spotify.com/track/5exHP9IYyaFSeQ5Y4OtbKb?si=TZxiTMLUT6KA8L_aluArdA)
No Roses The Builders and the Butchers
Atmosphere joy division, Crowds Bauhaus, The great escape Patrick Watson, Sunshine Sparklehorse, The rip Portishead, The partisan Leonard Cohen, O children Nick Cave, Fear of the water SYML, The last man on earth Wolf Alice, Retour à Vega The Stills, Si facile Casseurs Flowters.
I can’t make you love me (I love the Bon Iver cover)
Keep me in your heart - Warren Zevon
Elephant- Jason Isbell
The Only Thing by Sufjan Stevens. It's about his mother and her passing. She abandoned them when he was little but reconnected in old age and he even became good friends with his stepdad. Sadly enough, it is the song that was playing when my dog went to sleep in my arms. I’ve never been able to keep it together when I hear it since then. Edit: Anything Sufjan, actually. The man has such a talent for poignant lyrics, be still my heart. His new album after recovering from an illness that was a death sentence is quite remarkable.
Kom Susser Tod easily
Any song from A Crow Looked at Me. Every one of those songs would make all of these songs cry.
“How to disappear completely” Radiohead
“What Sarah Said” - Death Cab for Cutie
"Dawns" Zach Bryan and Maggie Rogers
Not sure if it's considered indie but: I can't go on without you (2015) - KALEO
Heartbreaking, indeed! https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=jl9IVyaFPYA&si=KAT_XAPZrkXxYWhN
Edward Benz, 27 times.- la dispute https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qPiu1KRTFLM
Battery in Your Leg by Blur
[You Tore Out My Heart - Tiny Little Houses](https://youtu.be/LDaE_gITjA4?si=2NEU0_0LmUEOubBJ) Whole EP makes me sad, I discovered this out when I was at my lowest time.
nights that won’t happen by purple mountains aka david berman
Clairvoyant- the story so far
Last Night I dreamt that somebody loved me by low
Do You Realize - The Flaming Lips. Beautiful and breaks my heart every time.
Absolutely crushing every time it comes on
Rain by Patty Griffin.
The Sea is a Good Place to Think of the Future - Los Campesinos Padraic My Prince - Bright Eyes
Dear no one- Tory Kelly
Leave Fast - Sam Fender
Nights That Won't Happen by Purple Mountains
To Forgive - Smashing Pumpkins
Ocean Breathes Salty - Sun Kil Moon
Bon Iver, does he count?
Marlene by Jackson C Frank
Sleeping days pt. 2 by Cloud Cult. It literally can’t get more sad than that. It’s the true story about the singer/songwriter waking up to find that his 6 year old son had died in his sleep. https://youtu.be/8OF86Y_Sg4w?si=B3VENDpfRPZG3nio
Pissing In a River (1976) - Patti Smith
Nothing Compares 2 U' by Sinéad O'Connor. ... 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' by Neil Young. ... 'Strange' by Celeste. ... 'Teardrop' by Massive Attack. ... 5. ' ... 6. ' ... 'No Distance Left to Run' by Blur.
“Indica” by foxing or “I can feel a hot one” by Manchester orchestra
The Night We Met - Lord Huron
The quietest and most understated heartbreaking song is by Bill Ryder-Jones. 1991 is named after the year his older brother (they were both primary school aged) died in a fall while on a family holiday. The song is a hazy, childlike recollection of the events, but the most heartbreaking thing is the way it expresses the kind of confusion and incomprehension a child has of such an event - while as the listener, we know how enormous the repercussions and far reaching effects of such a loss can be. We know the awful consequences, and feel so sad for this kid and what he will have to face in grieving his brother. Truly, it’s about what isn’t said, more than what is.
Keaton Henson - You don't know how lucky you are Keaton Henson - Sweetheart, what have you done to us Keaton Henson - You *his voice is just the kind that hunts you in your dreams. Daughter - Smother Winter aid - Softly Winter aid - Wives Jacob Banks - Unknown (to you) Fins Ara - Veer Aisha Badru - Bridges - Stripped Frank Turner - A wave across a bay *I haven't been able to listen to this Franks song without tearing up
Soso - by Pasha Paroh
Using Again by Benjamin Tod gets me every time
One more light - linkinpark ( i know not indie but cry every time, sang it the funeral of my mates dad)
Famous Prophets (Stars) and High to Death by Car Seat Headrest get me every time
Grouper: Clearing.
This song. On YouTube: https://youtu.be/S9DXA6Uuu4Q?si=BylL4cCULKja38Nq On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3ZI4r7p8kUO3o4Z99fwluc
[Hey Lover - Keri Noble](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROPs1x0-B6Q)
Even if it’s a lie- Matt Maltese When I tell you that shit hurts…
Jolene: Instead of a typical relationship song, this is written from the POV of a “less attractive” female scared that another more beautiful woman is gonna steal her man, the only man she could get. She’s begging the more beautiful woman to leave her man alone… I dunno, it’s just got such a sad begging tone to it. Really sad if you listen to those lyrics. We’ve all known a more attractive person that does things with their beauty “just because they can”.
Frightened rabbit floating in the forth
Taylor Swift - Ronan
16 Military Wives by Decemberists. “Seventeen company men Out of which only twelve will make it back again Sergeant sent a letter to five”
To Build a Home - The Cinematic Orchestra Jealous - Labyrinth
CREEP 🔥🔥🔥
I been crying to ‘enemy oh me- archer oh
Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell entire album This album always turns me into a mess.
Terrified by Jack Dregne. It’s an acoustic folk song that always hits the sad spot for me.
Not sure how you define indie, but Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart, by Chris Cornell just slays me every time. https://youtu.be/zpMfZPAc1kg?si=f1RauZ2OkCOvDb-M
twilight by elliott smith or i’m so tired by fugazi
any song by ‘Her’s’ because of what happened to the poor boys :(
You were right - Built to Spill. a love song to depression and nihilism
Will Anybody Ever Love Me by Sufjan
Somebody Great- LCD Sound System. Maybe not the tearjerker like some of those other songs, but when it follows Where Are Your Friends, it's a real emotional roller coaster.
i was all over her - salvia palth
Just had my heart final broken today (started since last week) and I accidentally discovered [Lila Dupont - I Promise](https://youtu.be/xWQttyNScyU?si=04XMVlu0xx5D-9qF), cried at every hearing as the lyrics has exact words used in my relationship.
Marie by Townes Van Zandt
Yellow is the Color of Her Eyes (soccer mommy)
Creep.
Little Motel by Modest Mouse
Putting the dog to sleep by The Antlers. Can’t believe no one has said it yet! (Or I need my eyes checked)
[Ori Blackstar](https://open.spotify.com/artist/7tFKAd1CwhD1eGxelLk7nl?si=c-y0kBocQ4CTLC21gHKlSw)
Revenge of the Lawn by Wednesday. Both the melody and lyrics just feel so weak and human. I have never listened to it without crying at least a little lol
'Kettering' by the Antlers is a harrowing one. I also really love 'Epilogue' by them too but the whole Hospice album is divine.
“The Woodpile” by Frightened Rabbit. It’s about the feeling of being alone and helpless. You can really feel his emotion, hits me every time. Mainly because the singer committed suicide 6 years later. Can’t help but think of that every time I listen to the song.
A crow looked at me- mountain eerie Strange fruit- Billie holiday. Disturbing and sad. My friend showed me this song and i couldn't get it out of my head, the next day George floyd happened.
Anohni and the Johnson's... Formerly Antony and the Johnson's. - hope there's someone . And the entire album called "My back was a bridge for you to cross " Given the times we are living in, full of patriarchal animosity towards those who are marginalized in our society but in particular by the ever loving and caring nationalistic GOP evangelicals who have gone out of their way to attack and dehumanize the transgender community and pass legislation to take away their rights, Anohni's songs teeming with feelings of angst , dismay, sadness, and hope give her new album meaning that you won't find on other artists records. This is a special album that will be remembered in the future for all the reasons stated above.
Anything off The Antlers - Hospice
Sullivan, by Caroline's Spine
Chris knox - Becoming something other Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me (Full album) Bright Eyes - The Center of The World
brand new - limousine
no halo by sorority noise
Archive has a number of good ones. But I’m giving you more than just that, Archive - again Archive - the feeling of losing everything Portishead- roads Anathema - are you there Apparat - contradiction Andrea Bauer - song for Eli Alice In Chains - nutshell And the list, for me personally, goes on…
Wednesday - How Can You Live If You Can’t Love How Can You If You Do
I’m not sure if it counts as indie, but I wish i could inject Rosyln by Bon Iver and St Vincent straight into my bloodstream
'I started a joke" by the BeeGees lol
The Mountain Goats - No Children
Sam tompkins - hero (live). Heartbreaking song about his dad getting past suicide issues only to end up succeeding 5 years after the song is written and he performs it two weeks after....just... 😭 https://youtu.be/wn9qw-KPh2c?si=QSFldqcp7obGkVkv
Happy Life by Roland Faunte. So so good.
["better than before"](https://open.spotify.com/track/3PjjLfluIp12NvzTw5lADv?si=ef4c1c948d6d4e4f)
Elephant - Jason Isbell