Five Sad Songs (and one even sadder)

As Tears Go By - Marrianne Faithfull - 1965 (Oldham/Richards/Jagger)

I’m a Loser - The Beatles - 1964 (Lennon/McCartney)

I Am a Rock - Simon and Garfunkel - 1964 (Paul Simon)

Is That All There Is? - Peggy Lee - 1969 (Leiber/Stoller)

My Way - Frank Sinatra - 1969 (Anka/Francois/Revaux)

I was nine or ten years old when I watched Marianne Faithfull sing As Tears Go By on NBC’s Hullabaloo. I will confess I was smitten. Such a beautiful song with such a beautiful arrangement sung by a girl with such sadly beautiful eyes. . . sigh. At the time, I had no idea it was a Rolling Stones song (it is the only Rolling Stones song I’ve ever performed).

“My riches can’t buy everything” - sad; but true.

“My tears are falling like rain from the sky.” More tears going by in this Beatles song. “I realize I have left it too late/And so it’s true pride comes before a fall/I’m telling you so that you won’t lose it all.” Kind of like the rich man and Lazarus - I can’t imagine the taste of regret ever being anything but bitter.

This is not a song reflective of better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all (Tennyson). “If I never loved I never would have cried . . . and a rock feels no pain/and an island never cries.”

This song should come with a prescription for an anti-depressant; at least if you’re planning to listen to it more than once! From a house burning down, to attending the circus, to falling in love, right up to “breathing my last breath” the response is always the same . . .”Is that all there is?” I can honestly say “No, it’s not!”

The saddest (and most arrogant) song I’ve ever heard: My Way. “And not the words of someone who kneels/Let the record show I took all the blows/And did it my way.”

The record will show exactly how we “did it” and when it does . . . we’ll each be kneeling.

Even sadder is the situation described by Phillip Bliss in this verse of his hymn, Almost Persuaded (1871) -

Almost persuaded, harvest is past/Almost persuaded doom comes at last

Almost cannot avail, almost is but to fail/ sad, sad that bitter wail

Almost but lost