There'll be sad songs to make you cry. 

Er . . . And to make you . . . Happy. 

And that's really were this one starts from. It is true that there are a bucketful of songs that are sad, sound sad and make you feel sad, like . . . “Crying” by Roy Orbison or “Are you lonesome tonight”, one of my favourites that one and Elvis’ voice as he says the word “LIED” aw, immaculate!  And perhaps the greatest sad song of all and one that still makes me cry to this day ...”Puff the magic dragon” (I tell you, if I ever catch up with that little shit jackie piper . . . )

I don't know who thinks that, that . . . Dragon song is suitable for children, because it's really not. But the point is that these sad songs make people cry and that's the point of sad songs, right? Well, the more I started to think about it, no. You see I started flicking other sad songs through my head and many of the ones I came up with where either ones we all love to hear or where incredibly cheery.

For example . . . I think i'm gonna be sad, I think it's today YEAH, the girl that's driving me mad is going away, YEAH is as good a place as any to start. The lyrics to this song are miserable as hell, bitter, nasty, resentful, and yet as soon as I hear those opening notes i'm like "OH YEAH!" and it's not the only one.

MAMA, JUST KILLED A MAN, well, this can't end . . . Er, well. And yet it does. It does just that, because by the time you get to NOTHING REALLY MATTERED TO ME, ANYWAY THE WIND BLOWS, BWAH!  You can guarantee you're in a good mood.

And as for this next one, it is mind blowing to me how much of a feel-good song this is considering the subject matter (like “Ticket to Ride”) is so bleak!  It’s about a guy who you feel happy for, sad for and by the end of it ashamed for and yet, AND YET . . . I deny most people to stop feeling good when they hear the beginning of this transatlantic million selling monster...(Funny picture though. Ha ha!)

But perhaps the strangest of the bunch is the one that started this entire sad song journey recently and started me thinking just how weird it is how our feelings can be so twisted by music when the lyrics are so down!  It is a song that countless couples across the world have danced to AT THEIR WEDDINGS!  It is a song that famously features as a cheery end bit to one of the funniest films ever and I can’t believe I missed how depressing the lyrics were.  It is of course “BUILD ME UP, BUTTERCUP”.  The song is meant to feel like a cheery little love ditty but the lyrics are anything but that.  Here’s a sample

I'll be over at ten  You tell me time and again  But you're late  I wait around and then  I went to the door  I can't take any more  It's not you  You let me down again

Why do you build me up (Build me up)  Buttercup baby just to  let me down (Let me down)  And mess me around

And perhaps the clincher...

If you'd just let me know  Although you're untrue  I'm attracted to you  All the more  Why do I need you so Baby Baby.....

Just awful.  Clearly this guy is hung up on someone that just doesn’t feel a fucking thing for them, and yet there everyone is, bopping around at a wedding like it’s the happiest story in the world of disinterest and infidelity.

So, on that bombshell, I will let you all feel better to what may be the worst cheery song of all time.  TAKE IT, FOUNDATIONS!

And after fantastic feedback from my first purchasers I would also like to point out that FREE AT LAST: A NOVEL is still available on Amazon Kindle in both the UK and the US for both £2.29 and $2.99 respectively (**** you, VAT!)


Thanks for reading.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/images/2008/08/06/billy_ocean_70s_203_203x152.jpg

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/502240/502240,1295958337,1/stock-photo-dino-baby-dragon-so-sad-69746467.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHbCE53s9hQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY_6b4-N9Uo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPudE8nDog0&ob=av3e

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-g7yosMKdw