NOTE: In its native form, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" is one of the three saddest songs ever written together with "Tomorrow Never Comes" (Creedence Clearwater Revival) and "Ashokan Farewell" (Various).
NOTENOTE: By the authority vested in me as blog administrator, I am the arbiter of what counts as the saddest songs ever written. No song is in this category until I hear it and judge it so.
NOW: A good piece back I started getting into the unique sound of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
The Dirt Band’s sound was unique in that it didn’t fit into any of the typical categories of popular music in its day (the late 1960s and 1970s). "What is it?" some promos asked. Was it Rock? Country? Folk? Bluegrass? Or something else?
Truth be told, the Dirt Band’s music is today what we might classify as Country-Rock. This was before Rock n’Roll fell apart in the late 1980s and the ensuing remnants were swept up into contemporary Country (which is surprisingly Rock-like), insipid Pop, noxious Hip-Hop, and offensive Rap.
But not all the Dirt Band’s work is Country-Rock. A notable exception is its 1971 album Will The Circle Be Unbroken.
This album is much more traditional, with melodious melodies courtesy of Country-Folk-Bluegrass artists such as Doc Watkins, Earl Scruggs, and Mother Maybelle Carter.
It was a meeting-of-the-generations album, with the Dirt Band (representing youth) joining established artists (representing the older generation) to create wonderful, traditional music.
In a time when the "generation gap" was the talk of the nation, the cover of the album bore the hopeful legend: "Music forms a new Circle."
Indeed it did.
The title song of of the album was sung by country-legend Mother Maybelle, together with the Dirt Band and all the other artists appearing on the album.
The song tells the story of a person who is forced to surrender one’s mother to the reality of death and who wonders whether the whole of the family circle will or will not be reunited with God in heaven.
The central lyric and the chorus of the song is as follows:
Will the circle be unbroken?
By-and-by, Lord, by-and-by?
There’s a better home a-waitin’,
In the sky, Lord, in the sky!
As the chorus suggests, the song has notes of hope, caution, and loss.
It was fitting that Mother Maybelle take the lead in singing the song since she was a member of the original Carter Family. The Carter Family was centered on A. P. Carter, who originally wrote the song. The Carter Family also included his sister-in-law Mother Maybelle Carter and, eventually, her daughter June Carter.
June Carter married music-legend Johnny Cash, to become June Carter Cash.
Mother Maybelle died in 1978, leaving her daughter (June Carter Cash) and he son-in-law (Johnny Cash) behind her.
In the 1980s, the Dirt Band decided to do a sequel album titled Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Volume 2.
This time around, Johnny Cash was one of the main guest singers on the album, and he took the lead on the album’s rendition of the song "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" (which, once again, was sung with the Dirt Band and all the artists participating on the album).
It was a nice touch.
A. P. Carter had written the song.
His sister-in-law, Mother Maybelle, took the lead in recording it the first time around.
Now Mother Maybelle’s son-in-law, Johnny Cash, took the lead.
But the Dirt Band didn’t leave it untouched. They made one of the three saddest songs ever written sound . . . happier, with more hope than before in it. And they added a new stanza to it:
We sang the songs of childhood,
Hymns of faith that made us strong,
Ones that Mother Maybelle taught us,
Hear the angels sing along!
AND THEIR (CLASSIC!) PREDECESSORS!
There’s also a “Volume 3” – which is pretty darn good.
I’ve mentioned them before in another post on similar music but a San Francisco band called The Crooked Jades have made it their musical ambition to make music quite like the Dirt Band did in WTCBU. They write their own stuff & play old songs, too, some known & some not so known. Excellent stuff! Jimmy, they’ve recorded some very sad songs, though perhaps not in the “saddest song ever” category. And, though I’m a fan, I’m not a shill, I just love lettin’ others know about talented little-known bands who play amazing music! (But, in the interest of full-disclosure, they are friends of a friend of mine, Richard Buckner, who co-produced a couple of their albums.) Check their site below. There might be MP3’s, or at least links to some. Get some o’ that Old Time Jollification!
http://www.crookedjades.com/
Sad song nominee — There’s a Heartache Following Me by Hank Williams
Oops. That should be Jim Reeves not Hank Williams.
Another sad song nominee: “Frozen Man” by James Taylor (from his 1991 release _New Moon Shine_). There’s an important message about the running amok of amoral science in this song that is more than timely.
Jimmy, you may also like The Chieftan’s two albums, Down the Old Plank Road and Further Down the Old Plank Road.
Didn’t know about Vols. 2 & 3, but I’ve bought Vol.1 in every format since the LP! One of my all-time favorites.
My nominee for saddest song? “On the Willows”, from Godspell.
My sad song nominee is – “I Hung my Head” by Johnny Cash on American IV.
I’d nominate De Danann’s “Song For Ireland” as one of the saddest songs out there. Archie Fisher’s “Coshieville” and Connie Dover’s “On Castle Rock” are beautifully mournful too. It’s one of the strangest things I’ve experienced, that way those songs and airs can simultaneously fill me with sorrow and joy.
Saddest song nominee: “Funeral in the Rain” by Chris Isaak.
It’s one of those songs that is so sad, it borderlines on humorous.
So Lonesome, I Could Cry. ‘Nuff said.
Okay, may as well jump in here, too…
James Taylor has penned some genuinely sad tunes. I think “Frozen Man” has too much humor to be truly heartbreaking, but “Enough To Be On Your Way” or “Junkie’s Lament” fit the bill. The latter benefits from the haunting backing vocals of Art Garfunkel.
I think songs need an element of hope to be truly sad. A sad song without hope is merely depressing. One of my most favoritest sad songs is a haunting song of Ireland called “The Risin’ of the Moon”. …shiver…
“I Mourn for the Highlands” by Andy Stewart
About the Clearances.
Hits home, as there are about a quarter as many farms back home as there were when I was a child, before the new clearances.
Sad songs, eh?
I think ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles has to be up there.
What about some of the tear jerkers from the late 50’s/early 60’s – ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’. Okay, a bit immature.
Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand – ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers Anymore’.
And Sandy Posie had some sad stuff, C & W.
‘To Be a Woman’ – (I think, can’t remember the title)
Must be heaps out there.
What not to listen to when you’re feeling miserable already!
Crying ~ Roy Orbison
In the Ghetto ~ Elvis Presley
Everybody Hurt’s ~REM
You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling ~ The Righteous Brothers
All by Myself ~ Celine Dion (humour me…I could have said the theme to ‘Titanic’ 😀 )
Help me Make it through the Night~Gladys Knight and the Pips
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted~ Jimmy Ruffin
always on My Mind ~ Elvis
Are you Lonesome Tonight ~ Elvis
..ok, i’m going to stop now, this is just depressing…j/k
God Bless
I’ll second the Old Plank Road CDs by the Chieftans. Great stuff. And, John, my sister calls Chris Isaak “Dr Depression”. He put out a Christmas album last year she’d have nothing to do with!
Jared, do you mean the one with lines like “Walking all the day/by tall towers where falcons build their nests”? That’s not that sad, I don’t think…perhaps De Danaan sings it more sadly than Paddy Reilly, who’s version I have..
My mom says that the saddest song is “The Green Fields of France.” Which I think is a legitimate answer, but I disagree.
My sister says the saddest song is “The Saddest Song” by the Ataris. Obviously she’s wrong, but its a good guess given the name :).
I would probably say the song that makes me saddest are “Red is the Rose”, because it seems to be about losing love, and family, and home. Also “Lough Sheelin Side”/”Skibereen” (not remotely the same song, but basically about the same exact thing. And I prefer Lough Sheelin Side, it’s less cliche than Skibereen). Those are really sad. Basically, for sad songs you just can’t beat the Irish…
I have all three of the “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” albums on CD and on my computer. They are really good, I haven’t listened to them extensively because people tend to look down on the playing of bluegrass songs in college dorms. All three of them have versions of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” which are of varying good-ness, I’m afraid.
I had that album (Volume 1) years and years ago. Now I wish I had it again.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band can be linked to another celebrity – Steve Martin would sometimes play with them. (His banjo was not just a comedy prop.)
For sad songs, I do not believe that one can top the Carpenters. You’d swear the woman was bipolar, alternating between the occasional happy tune (“Top of the World”) and the rest of her repertoire. Or perhaps they sound sad because we know how Karen’s story ended.
Sorry, the one without a name is me.
“Jared, do you mean the one with lines like ‘Walking all the day/by tall towers where falcons build their nests’? That’s not that sad, I don’t think…perhaps De Danaan sings it more sadly than Paddy Reilly, who’s version I have..”
Yes, that’s the one. It’s the title track of De Danann’s 1983 release. (By the way, they spelled their name De Danann, not De Danaan — confusing, I know, but I’ve seen Tuatha De Danaan, Tuatha De Danann, Tuatha De Danand, and of course just Tuatha De.) I haven’t heard Paddy Reilly’s version, but Mary Black sings it perfectly in my opinion, and the final verse is what real gets me in the heart:
“Dreaming in the night/I saw a land where no one had to fight. Waking in your dawn/I saw you crying in the morning light.”
“You” refers to Ireland, the Irish people, who have suffered so much, and still do. (And no, I’m not Irish — the name is Olar, not O’Lar. Olar is a Romanian name, and though the Romanians suffered horribly under Communist tyranny and under earlier tyrannies, I’ve not heard any Romanian songs that evoke their sorrow and suffering the way the songs of Ireland evoke the sorrow and suffering of that most noble folk.)
Anyway, I hope you can get a chance to hear Mary Black’s version of “Song for Ireland.” As I said, it’s from De Danann’s 1983 album, Cara Records, Sugar Hill Records, The Pamlico Sound Series, P.O. Box 4040, Duke Station, Durham, North Carolina, 27706.
Try “Guess I’m Doing Fine” or even “Lost Cause” from Beck’s album “Sea Change”.
Actually Jimmy, I think the Creedence song you’re refering to is SOMEDAY Never Comes. It’s on the MARDI GRAS album, my favorite album, although the least favorite with critics and fans.
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