Sad, Sad, Sad

Today is Hank Williams birthday. The "Father of Country Music" would have been a ripe old 91 years old. Instead, Hank died at the age of 29 from heart failure exacerbated by pills and alcohol. The body of work left behind, however, is the blueprint of country music and casts a long shadow. There are several excellent books about Hank WIlliams, beginning with Colin Escott's "Hank Williams: The Biography." There's also Escott's more visual  "Hank Williams: Snapshots from the Lost Highway," which includes a treasure trove of photographs, lyrics, and memorabilia. Lastly, there's the utterly charming "Hank Hung the Moon . . and Warmed Our Cold, Cold Hearts" by Rheta Grimsley Johnson.

In honor of Hank's birthday, we're going to nominate "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" as the saddest song ever writtern. Its' heartbreaking and desperate lyrics, set off by plaintive accompaniment comes from a deep, dark and lonely place. What do you think is the saddest song ever written? We've included the lyrics below; it is a tall order to find something so raw, but the gauntlet has been thrown.

"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I'm so lonesome I could cry

I've never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind the clouds
To hide its face and cry

Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves begin to die?
Like me, he's lost the will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry