That Reena Girl

• Um, who is this again?

08-30-11

The Saddest Song I’ve Ever Heard

The album Hospice by The Antlers has been recommended to me many times over many months for the last couple years. Each person told me how great it is…but warned me of how it is also devastatingly sad.  I heeded the warning and did not listen in mixed company, at work, or any other place I didn’t want to be seen getting teary-eyed.

Hospice is a concept album; it tells the story of a caretaker and a terminally ill patient. You don’t get much more depressing than that right?But finally, curiosity got the better of me and I listened to the song “Kettering” and felt my chest cave in. Heartbreaking. My only hope is that this is truly just a concept album and not a depiction of a time in singer Peter Silberman‘s life.

Prior to listening to this, all my sad song choices were your typical you-don’t-love-me-anymore/we-broke-up type songs. But as sad as those are, breaking up is not the same as well, DYING. For reference, here are my top 5 favorite sad songs, in no particular order:

1. Everything I Once Had- The Honorary Title

2. Ambulance- Eisley

3. In the Arms of Sleep- Smashing Pumpkins

4. Delicate- Damien Rice

5. After the Movies- Cursive

Honorary mention: It’s Cool, We Can Be Still Be Friends/Haligh Haligh A Lie Haligh- Bright Eyes, Everything’s Too Cold…- The Early November, This Bitter Pill- Dashboard Confessional

But seriously, none of those even compare to this. I decided that the song “Kettering” would be the easiest to start with since it was used on an HBO trailer so I had briefly heard it before. Um, nope. I listened to this yesterday and half hour later in my car I was choking back tears just THINKING about the song, thinking about if I were in that position, thinking about losing people I love… just listen.

Because you’d been abused
By the bone that refused you
And you hired me
To make up for that

And walking in that room
When you had tubes in your arms
Those singing morphine alarms
Out of tune

They had you sleeping and eating
And I didn’t believe them
When they called you
A hurricane thundercloud

When I was checking vitals
I suggested a smile
You didn’t talk for a while
You were freezing

You said you hated my tone
It made you feel so alone
So you told me
I had to be leaving

But something kept me standing
By that hospital bed
I should have quit but instead
I took care of you

You made me sleep all uneven
And I didn’t believe them
When they told me that there
Was no saving you

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So tell me, what’s the saddest song you’ve ever heard?