The saddest song

[Villavic]

Looking for movies that have Mac songs in their soundtracks, to check if I've seen them and refresh my memory, I found this page that lists the Fleetwood Mac 4 saddest songs.

Landslide
So afraid
Storms
When I see you again

I wouldn't choose WISYA cause it's not a good song, I don't like it, but I admit its lyrics are very sad. And I found Landslide more nostalgic than sad. If I had to choose a Stevie (Mac) sad song, it would be Silver Springs.

Yes I'm So Afraid is sad, perfectly combined with a dark melody. Never Going Back Again is sad too. But the live version of Say Goodbye is THE Lindsey saddest song, to me.

I find Songbird and Never Make Me cry nostalgic but not sad. I can't remember a real sad Christine song right now, I have to check her entire catalog to find one.


https://americansongwriter.com/4-of-fleetwood-macs-saddest-songs-of-all-time/#:~:text=When%20it%20comes%20to%20Fleetwood,changes%20us%20and%20ages%20us.

[Mr Scarrott]

How about Over and over? Many of Christine's songs seem to tell of overcoming sadness and moving on (Why, Don't Stop, All over again spring to mind. Over and over maintains a more melancholic feel, at least to me.

[FuzzyPlum]

The Second Time is sad.
It’s also just…. sad!

[Macfan4life]

Easy one. Why still can water my eyes. The emotional slide guitar beginning makes me weep and so do the lyrics and Chris's singing.

Never Make Me Cry is an opposite of sad song. Its a strong song. Go and do what you want because you will never make me cry. Its power and strength not sadness.

Storms is emotional but not nearly as sad as Why.

[FuzzyPlum]

Wish You Were Here is a pretty sad CM song

[BLY]

This is a good one but a hard one. If I looked at only the five albums from 1975-1987 it would be…

I’m so Afraid
Songbird
Beautiful Child (so many “sad songs” IMO on Tusk
Wish You Were Here
When I see You Again

[Macfan4life]

We all see songs differently. I don't see Songbird as a sad song. Its a love anthem and very uplifting.

[SteveMacD]

Man of the World
Wish You Were Here
Goodbye Baby
Say Goodbye (probably more melancholy than sad)

[Street_Dreamer]

Man Of The World is easily Fleetwood Mac's saddest song and I don't think anything else comes close.

[David]

Crystal is sad to me — when you’re feeling more than mildly depressed and you hear the words “I turned around / And the water was closing all around / Like a glove / Drove me to the sea.”

Dragonfly is not exactly sad but nostalgic — the kind of nostalgia that makes you take in your breath with a tiny gasp.

Never Forget makes me a little sad because it quietly ushers out not only the last Mac album of the Seventies but an entire era. The song has that little tag out that feels like you’re the last one left in the recording studio and you have to turn off the lights for good.

When Man of the World kicks in with its turn-around bridge — “I don’t say I’m a good man / Oh, but I would be if I could” — it makes you feel rather lost for the guy who wrote it in despair.

Did You Ever Love Me isn’t exactly sad but, again, nostalgic, wistful: “You made me happy / But time has gone by / Please leave me something.” You feel bad for the McVie relationship.

A lot of the great torchy blues songs that they either wrote or covered — Love That Burns, I Have to Laugh, Leaving Town Blues, I Loved Another Woman, Something Inside of Me, Worried Dream — are great examples of feeling morose, down in the dumps, enraged, whatever, but not sad, exactly.

When Stevie sounds so dispirited and deflated in The Second Time, it’s a great sad song. “And someone that you love / And would always love.” This is the song that is more shipper than any of the songs the shippers pine over.

[bombaysaffires]

Why.

Heartbreaking.

[HomerMcvie]

For me(and y'all ain't going to believe this), it's

HAEWAFY, followed by

Do You Know.

Both of those songs happened during difficult breakups for me.

[aleuzzi]

Never Make Me Cry
Oh Daddy
Don’t Stop (it’s also, paradoxically, among the happiest)
Songbird
Beautiful Child
Storms
When I See You Again

[aleuzzi]

Why.

Heartbreaking.

The Way That I Feel from the same record is also a weeper.

[Macfan4life]

Yes for sure Man of the world is very sad. The mood of the song projects loneliness and you feel Peter's sorrow.

Why is heartbreaking.

Come A Little Bit Closer is also heartbreaking and very sad. Don't let the synth strings and the upbeat tempo fool you. Chris is begging "please don't leave me all alone cause I cant make it on my own" I think we had a thread about this song where there was an old demo or something that took the song in another direction. The lyrics are sad but the music is uplifting. The contrast works nicely IMHO.

[jbrownsjr]

Why
Oh Daddy
When I See You Again
Crystal

[aleuzzi]

If we’re going with pre-75 stuff, like some are, I’d say:

World Keep on Turning
Love that Burns
Trying So Hard to Forget
Worried Dream (stagecoach!)
Something Inside of Me
Without You
Man of the World
Before the Beginning
Homeward Bound (vocal sounds desperate)
The Way That I Feel
Why
Come a Little Bit Closer

and (maybe) Green Manalishi

Oddly, I don’t consider any Jeremy song to be truly sad (not even One Together) and don’t think about Bob Welch’s songs as either happy or sad—but emotionally and intellectually complex.

[FuzzyPlum]

I haven’t really analysed the lyrics (but then, is there much point with Danny Kirwan?)…. But I often feel a bit melancholy listening to Woman of a Thousand Years.

[DownOnRodeo]

I agree with MrScarrott's pick for a very sad Chris song: Over and Over. You get the sense that it's never gone right for the song's hapless protagonist and never will. Chris's voice and lyrics are gut-wrenching and haunting. The coda is like a descent into madness. The live version even gears toward angry.

Never Make Me Cry has sad music and aching vocals but as Macfan says it's there in the title: she ain't crying. (Unless the lyric is meant to be ironic?)

Saddest Stevie FM album song for me would be Illume (the latter with a big dose of scared along with the sad). (Goodbye Baby is a good option but has a bit too much optimism.)
Hard to choose the saddest Lindsey one because he is often defending that emotion with layers of irony and aggression (and, depending on the version, jauntiness) instead. Say Goodbye, NGBA, and GYOW should be sad but are instead triumphant and angry. Solo Lindsey exposes his hurt more vulnerably; Go Insane and Street of Dreams would have to be his saddest, though he gets worked up into an angry frenzy in some parts or versions of both, and the former's album music is a jaunty affair that obscures the slit-your-wrists situation being conveyed in the lyrics.

Pre-Rumours:
"Why" is a tear-jerker but it's full of hope. It's all there spelled out in the lyrics and backed by the upswelling, confident music.
"Man of the World" is a great contender but it's also hard to feel too sorry for this guy who is humble-bragging about his globe-trotting material successes. "Albatross" to me is very sad (I think of it as a good song for a funeral service), but it is also transcending and uplifting in its way.

[Macfan4life]

I agree with MrScarrott's pick for a very sad Chris song: Over and Over. You get the sense that it's never gone right for the song's hapless protagonist and never will. Chris's voice and lyrics are gut-wrenching and haunting. The coda is like a descent into madness. The live version even gears toward angry.

Never Make Me Cry has sad music and aching vocals but as Macfan says it's there in the title: she ain't crying. (Unless the lyric is meant to be ironic?)

Saddest Stevie FM album song for me would be Illume (the latter with a big dose of scared along with the sad). (Goodbye Baby is a good option but has a bit too much optimism.)
Hard to choose the saddest Lindsey one because he is often defending that emotion with layers of irony and aggression (and, depending on the version, jauntiness) instead. Say Goodbye, NGBA, and GYOW should be sad but are instead triumphant and angry. Solo Lindsey exposes his hurt more vulnerably; Go Insane and Street of Dreams would have to be his saddest, though he gets worked up into an angry frenzy in some parts or versions of both, and the former's album music is a jaunty affair that obscures the slit-your-wrists situation being conveyed in the lyrics.

Pre-Rumours:
"Why" is a tear-jerker but it's full of hope. It's all there spelled out in the lyrics and backed by the upswelling, confident music.
"Man of the World" is a great contender but it's also hard to feel too sorry for this guy who is humble-bragging about his globe-trotting material successes. "Albatross" to me is very sad (I think of it as a good song for a funeral service), but it is also transcending and uplifting in its way.
Yes. I think Never Make Me Cry is a pure love anthem in very typical McVie style professing her love for a man but she knows he has infidelity issues or some other issue that hurts her. She is far more direct in this song telling the man "go and do what you want, I know that you have the need" "I may not mean everything but I'm happy to have your love"
She is so direct. She is in such love she's willing to look the other way. Its not a Say You Love me song "if you use me again it will be the end of me" She's telling him, its ok, I love you so much. It wont make me cry and guess what? I wont hound you and make you cry about it either.
I am guessing this song is about Dennis who was a complete psycho. She also wrote Only Over You and Ask Anybody about him. Those songs also have this thread of you are such a bad guy but I love you so much I dont care what anyone says or what you do. I am loyal to you. One More Lonely Night is another such song. In any other woman, the lyrics would be a metaphor. But Chris wrote like this her entire career. She always seemed to fall for a bad guy or someone that did not treat her right all the time. She apparently made peace about it with herself. She ends the song, "Don't worry baby, I'll me alright You'll never make me cry"
I cant imagine a love so strong that she loves him so much that no matter what he does, she will never cry about it.

[Villavic]

Never Make Me Cry has sad music and aching vocals but as Macfan says it's there in the title: she ain't crying. (Unless the lyric is meant to be ironic?)

.
It's possible ironic, but I think she really meant she is not crying. I find no clues in the lyrics that she is deceiving herself.

Not like 10 CC's I´m Not In Love. He insists so much that he's not interested in her that I think he's fooling himself. I'd like to see you but it doesn't mean you mean that much to me... I keep your picture upon the wall, it hides a nasty stain that's lying there, so don't you ask me to give it back... Oh please he's actually missing her a lot! (Big boys don't cry...)

[bombaysaffires]

Yes. I think Never Make Me Cry is a pure love anthem in very typical McVie style professing her love for a man but she knows he has infidelity issues or some other issue that hurts her. She is far more direct in this song telling the man "go and do what you want, I know that you have the need" "I may not mean everything but I'm happy to have your love"
She is so direct. She is in such love she's willing to look the other way. Its not a Say You Love me song "if you use me again it will be the end of me" She's telling him, its ok, I love you so much. It wont make me cry and guess what? I wont hound you and make you cry about it either.
I am guessing this song is about Dennis who was a complete psycho. She also wrote Only Over You and Ask Anybody about him. Those songs also have this thread of you are such a bad guy but I love you so much I dont care what anyone says or what you do. I am loyal to you. One More Lonely Night is another such song. In any other woman, the lyrics would be a metaphor. But Chris wrote like this her entire career. She always seemed to fall for a bad guy or someone that did not treat her right all the time. She apparently made peace about it with herself. She ends the song, "Don't worry baby, I'll me alright You'll never make me cry"
I cant imagine a love so strong that she loves him so much that no matter what he does, she will never cry about it.

Chris had a propensity for picking men who did not do her right. She took too much **** from all the men in her personal life.....

Feels like maybe by the end she plucked herself up, and realized she indeed is "Christine F*cking McVie" and should be treated with proper respect.

It kills me that in her personal possessions listed for sale in the upcoming auction are numerous teeshirts and things with "Christine F*cking McVie" emblazoned on them in glittery sparkles.

[HomerMcvie]

Chris had a propensity for picking men who did not do her right. She took too much **** from all the men in her personal life.....

Feels like maybe by the end she plucked herself up, and realized she indeed is "Christine F*cking McVie" and should be treated with proper respect.

It kills me that in her personal possessions listed for sale in the upcoming auction are numerous teeshirts and things with "Christine F*cking McVie" emblazoned on them in glittery sparkles.

It's a thing. All the women in my family like @$$holes. They LIKE being treated like crap. They run from nice guys, like they've got the plague.
Chris seemed to be the same.

[Penguin Emeritus]

It's a thing. All the women in my family like @$$holes. They LIKE being treated like crap. They run from nice guys, like they've got the plague.
Chris seemed to be the same.

well that's kind of sad...:(i don't think she "liked" being treated like crap. i think her own addictions affected her behavior in relationships. and i don't wish to speak on dennis or ed, but i do think john was/is a genuinely good guy who clearly loved her deeply his entire life. unfortunately, he also had a horrifying problem with alcohol. i think chris was a person who tried to see the good in everybody, i suppose to her detriment, being that she put up with more than she should have in many cases...

--Lis

[HomerMcvie]

well that's kind of sad...:(i don't think she "liked" being treated like crap. i think her own addictions affected her behavior in relationships. and i don't wish to speak on dennis or ed, but i do think john was/is a genuinely good guy who clearly loved her deeply his entire life. unfortunately, he also had a horrifying problem with alcohol. i think chris was a person who tried to see the good in everybody, i suppose to her detriment, being that she put up with more than she should have in many cases...

--Lis

Well, I think John is wonderful, once he finally got sober. And I agree that her own addictions got in the way. No partier wants to date a teetotaler.

[bombaysaffires]

well that's kind of sad...:(i don't think she "liked" being treated like crap. i think her own addictions affected her behavior in relationships. and i don't wish to speak on dennis or ed, but i do think john was/is a genuinely good guy who clearly loved her deeply his entire life. unfortunately, he also had a horrifying problem with alcohol. i think chris was a person who tried to see the good in everybody, i suppose to her detriment, being that she put up with more than she should have in many cases...

--Lis

Dennis was a dog......but one who could be very charming for five minutes at a time it seems. He was cute, he was sweet (sometimes) and he was never faithful to her (or anyone). I never really got him. I mean as a fling, sure, but.....:shrug: A guy who breaks your antique furniture, who dumps his kid on you (who said she was great), who spends your money, who f*cks around...... I mean jeebus I hope the hell he was miraculous in bed because... (but even then... cooties....:eek::distress:

[HomerMcvie]

Dennis was a dog......but one who could be very charming for five minutes at a time it seems. He was cute, he was sweet (sometimes) and he was never faithful to her (or anyone). I never really got him. I mean as a fling, sure, but.....:shrug: A guy who breaks your antique furniture, who dumps his kid on you (who said she was great), who spends your money, who f*cks around...... I mean jeebus I hope the hell he was miraculous in bed because... (but even then... cooties....:eek::distress:
I always thought the same thing, on people who hang with losers. That loser must be a good bell ringer!

[Macfan4life]

Dennis was a dog......but one who could be very charming for five minutes at a time it seems. He was cute, he was sweet (sometimes) and he was never faithful to her (or anyone). I never really got him. I mean as a fling, sure, but.....:shrug: A guy who breaks your antique furniture, who dumps his kid on you (who said she was great), who spends your money, who f*cks around...... I mean jeebus I hope the hell he was miraculous in bed because... (but even then... cooties....:eek::distress:
******clears throat*****
You forgot to mention he lived with Charles Manson

[Penguin Emeritus]

I always thought the same thing, on people who hang with losers. That loser must be a good bell ringer!

how good a bell ringer can one be when you're smashed off your *ss? she was cleaning up his puke and wiping his bottom. is doing that gonna put you in the mood for romance later on?? :laugh: i don't get it either.

--Lis

[bombaysaffires]

Ironically, someone has just posted a link to a Creem article from 1982 which says in part: "An electrician who did some wiring in her home assures CREEM that keyboardist Christine McVie, in marked contrast to her boyfriend at the time, Dennis Wilson, is as unaffected and gracious a person as one might yearn to do wiring for"

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lQbsHD3HGnU2O-YC7Z-od4WB1sxeuOTn/view

[HomerMcvie]

how good a bell ringer can one be when you're smashed off your *ss? she was cleaning up his puke and wiping his bottom. is doing that gonna put you in the mood for romance later on?? :laugh: i don't get it either.

--Lis

You're right. I must've missed the memo on the wiping of the old bum(in more than one warm ways) memo.

Once there's a whiff of poo, SHOW'S OVER. Nothing to see, here. Move(not your bowels) along. :laugh:

[Macfan4life]

how good a bell ringer can one be when you're smashed off your *ss? she was cleaning up his puke and wiping his bottom. is doing that gonna put you in the mood for romance later on?? :laugh: i don't get it either.

--Lis
So that was the inspiration for Brown Eye?

[Penguin Emeritus]

So that was the inspiration for Brown Eye?

:laugh::laugh: yeesh you guys need to stop. so nasty. but if i had to do that for someone...the bell is off limits for a good long while.

--Lis

[jbrownsjr]

:laugh::laugh: yeesh you guys need to stop. so nasty. but if i had to do that for someone...the bell is off limits for a good long while.

--Lis

no doubt that it would be a turn off... double and triple... "ewwww"

[HomerMcvie]

no doubt that it would be a turn off... double and triple... "ewwww"

How have I never heard about her having to wipe him? BLECK!

There should be a certification process for cleanliness, before going on a date. "I'm sorry, but I'll need to see your inspection card"...:p

[HomerMcvie]

:laugh::laugh: yeesh you guys need to stop. so nasty. but if i had to do that for someone...the bell is off limits for a good long while.

--Lis

So Lis, in my almost 50 years of following this band(I'll be 29 this December), I've NEVER heard the poop story. Please tell us. Seriously. IDK how I could have missed that, because believe me, I'd never forget it!

[jbrownsjr]

How have I never heard about her having to wipe him? BLECK!

There should be a certification process for cleanliness, before going on a date. "I'm sorry, but I'll need to see your inspection card"...:p

because you took everything Wendy Welch said at face value, knowing she was batsh*t crazy, and still believed every word she said, anyway??? :laugh::wavey:

[Penguin Emeritus]

So Lis, in my almost 50 years of following this band(I'll be 29 this December), I've NEVER heard the poop story. Please tell us. Seriously. IDK how I could have missed that, because believe me, I'd never forget it!

omg, i'm trying to dig it up....i'm having surgery tomorrow and running around doing a thousand things. but anyway she said she had to 'wipe his bottom and clean up his sick,' she'd get him all sobered up and cleaned up and he'd go back out again, but that once she started mothering him it was sort of the beginning of the end...doesn't anyone else remember this interview ?? lol i know it's out there... ok here it is...

https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/1704222/christine-mcvie-dead-fleetwood-mac-lesley-ann-jones


--Lis

[Macfan4life]

omg, i'm trying to dig it up....i'm having surgery tomorrow and running around doing a thousand things. but anyway she said she had to 'wipe his bottom and clean up his sick,' she'd get him all sobered up and cleaned up and he'd go back out again, but that once she started mothering him it was sort of the beginning of the end...doesn't anyone else remember this interview ?? lol i know it's out there... ok here it is...

https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/1704222/christine-mcvie-dead-fleetwood-mac-lesley-ann-jones


--Lis
Wow really crazy.
The more shocking part from this article (IMHO) is not the wiping of his bottom. Its Chris's admission that she made him a cocaine addict. I would have thought he was already addicted to every drug when they met.
But we did get some of her best songs written for or inspired by Dennis.
Its sad that he never got to hear Chris's solo album that was released after he died. I think I read before she played him some tracks before release. However that must have been a sucker punch for Chris. She was just about to break into her solo career when he died.

[Penguin Emeritus]

Wow really crazy.
The more shocking part from this article (IMHO) is not the wiping of his bottom. Its Chris's admission that she made him a cocaine addict. I would have thought he was already addicted to every drug when they met.
But we did get some of her best songs written for or inspired by Dennis.
Its sad that he never got to hear Chris's solo album that was released after he died. I think I read before she played him some tracks before release. However that must have been a sucker punch for Chris. She was just about to break into her solo career when he died.

Yeah, I find it hard to believe that dennis had not done a sh*tload of coke and other drugs before he met chris. i think her money just made it much easier for him to get but i think chris is being a little too hard on herself w that admission. It must have been sad for her when he died... but on the other hand i don't think they were in touch too often by then.... it was a bit of a lonely time for her in those years, which may be why she fell so quickly and so hard for that keyboardist guy whose name i prefer not to say lol

--Lis

[SteveMacD]

Yeah, I find it hard to believe that dennis had not done a sh*tload of coke and other drugs before he met chris. i think her money just made it much easier for him to get but i think chris is being a little too hard on herself w that admission. It must have been sad for her when he died... but on the other hand i don't think they were in touch too often by then.... it was a bit of a lonely time for her in those years, which may be why she fell so quickly and so hard for that keyboardist guy whose name i prefer not to say lol

I seriously wonder if that’s why Todd, who introduced her to said keyboardist, was never asked to join the band. I think Fleetwood Mac would have been much more stable if they’d put him in over Rick and Dave.

[Macfan4life]

I seriously wonder if that’s why Todd, who introduced her to said keyboardist, was never asked to join the band. I think Fleetwood Mac would have been much more stable if they’d put him in over Rick and Dave.
The only thing wrong with that theory is when Fleetwood Mac needed a guitarist Chris was still in love with said keyboardist.
Was it not you or discussed on this board that Billy was the easy hire, the band worked with him and knew him. Rick was the studio hire thinking Billy could not be a full time lead guitarist. Todd has or had a website and did a Q& A once and he was asked if he was ever asked to join and he said no. But many of us always wondered why Todd was not asked.

[Macfan4life]

Yeah, I find it hard to believe that dennis had not done a sh*tload of coke and other drugs before he met chris. i think her money just made it much easier for him to get but i think chris is being a little too hard on herself w that admission. It must have been sad for her when he died... but on the other hand i don't think they were in touch too often by then.... it was a bit of a lonely time for her in those years, which may be why she fell so quickly and so hard for that keyboardist guy whose name i prefer not to say lol

--Lis
Yeah I agree. Their relationship facilitated his substance abuse and addiction. He could have never had a normal relationship with a woman who was not a big partier. But it was the best off all worlds. Chris was beautiful, famous, rich, and had access to a ton of blow that he did not have to pay for.

[bombaysaffires]

Yeah, I find it hard to believe that dennis had not done a sh*tload of coke and other drugs before he met chris. i think her money just made it much easier for him to get but i think chris is being a little too hard on herself w that admission. It must have been sad for her when he died... but on the other hand i don't think they were in touch too often by then.... it was a bit of a lonely time for her in those years, which may be why she fell so quickly and so hard for that keyboardist guy whose name i prefer not to say lol

--Lis

yeah, he came off as such a total moocher. he used her money (including buying her nice/expensive things and putting them on her tab) and used her to watch his kid and used her to have a place to crash out.....while he still f*cked around and was a basic deadbeat. I didn't realize at the time how scuzzy her second husband was as well.

[HomerMcvie]

yeah, he came off as such a total moocher. he used her money (including buying her nice/expensive things and putting them on her tab) and used her to watch his kid and used her to have a place to crash out.....while he still f*cked around and was a basic deadbeat. I didn't realize at the time how scuzzy her second husband was as well.

How sad is that? Multimillionaire, wonderful person, and keeps picking losers.

[Macfan4life]

We got some great songs from Chris about Dennis or at least inspired by him.

Brown Eyes - even though Dennis had green eyes Chris said it was about Dennis

Think About Me - I dont hold you down and maybe that's why you're around sums up their relationship fairly well. Its almost passive aggressive to say. If I'm the one you love, THINK ABOUT ME
just think about me? She's not asking for much. That line really implies how he treats her. She has no high standards. Just think about her. In the first verse she admits "didn't think it would work out"

Never Make Me Cry - pretty much Chris allowing Dennis to do whatever he wants

One More Lonely Night - Chris sad how he's around town and not with her

Only Over You - her head over heals love song for Dennis telling the world she is literally out of her mind and she's standing by her man

Ask Anybody - even though Dennis can be a devil and everyone tells Chris to walk out. That's not what she wants