Monday, January 26, 2009

Sing Me a Sad Song

What's the saddest song you ever heard? | Houston Music | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "George Jones thought the saddest song was too sad. So he carried He Stopped Loving Her Today around with him for nearly a year, insisting to his producer that it needed a different ending.

The song opens with the line “He said, ‘I’ll love you ‘til I die,’” and makes good on that promise when its protagonist, distraught over a breakup, finally expires. Jones thought the “she” who prompted this lifelong infatuation needed to return. Despite decades of flying like a bottle rocket on a diet of booze and drugs, the singer had a whisper of sentimentality that told him the song was too bleak to connect with anybody.

She ultimately did return in a spoken coda added to the song, which was released in 1980. “I still didn’t think it would ever be a hit because it was so sad,” Jones said. “I was wrong because it ended up being my signature song.”"

4 comments:

Rie Sheridan Rose said...

I used to feel that way about "Honey" by Sammy Kaye (at least that's who is credited on the lyrics page: http://www.mtv.com/lyrics/kaye_sammy/honey/86405/lyrics.jhtml). I cried every time I heard that song. It's still terribly sad to me...

David Magayna said...

It's a great song, Bill. There's a reason it was voted the number one country song of all time. It just grabs at your heart.

Rie - Bobby Goldsboro (sp?) was the singer of the song when it became a pop hit.

Steven said...

Kenny Rogers singing about a paralyzed Vietnam vet with a straying wife. Ruby, you see, "takes her love to town."

You'd think she'd at least have the decency to smother the poor bastard with his pillow.

Unknown said...

Now that would be a great song.