A wide range of tracks were available to Pink Floyd fans choosing the band’s saddest song.
Some listeners turned to an “underrated” album from the band’s discography, while others took to more obvious choices from Wish You Were Here. A post to the r/PinkFloyd subreddit saw one user ask which was the saddest song from David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and the rest of the band. One user asked: “What is the saddest Pink Floyd song? In your opinion. Be it lyrically or instrumentally.” Many members immediately pointed out The Final Cut, which one user described as “one big therapy session” if you had the right background.
They wrote: “The Final Cut is just one big therapy session, especially if you’ve got a military heavy family!” Another added: “First instinct was to say Nobody Home. But shout out to perhaps one of my favourites, Southampton Dock. Others have suggested The Final Cut is as good as The Wall. One wrote: “Somehow my Mom got me a wall sized The FInal Cut poster. She knew what it was because she heard me playing it so much. Never thought I’d hear something to live up to The Wall, but I did.”
Separate threads of comments also praised The Final Cut as being the most emotionally powerful Pink Floyd line. One user wrote: “I mean, my second pick was The Gunners Dream which is basically just a devastating. To be fair, the entirety of The Final Cut is just crushingly sad and bleak.”
Other users pointed out the parallels of Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Syd Barrett’s life post-Pink Floyd. One user wrote: “Shine on is very sad especially knowing Syd Barrett’s story. While it seems like a perfect tribute to Syd it still is very sad, the lines describing him are depressing.”
Another replied: “Well, it depends on which part. The first parts, with the guitar solos around 2:03 and 4:13 and synth solo around 6:27, have always seemed to me like David Gilmour and Richard Wright stepping forward and almost verbally eulogizing or sadly recounting memories of Syd.
“Then, when Gilmour comes back around 7:36, it is as if he has moved from resigned to more agitated sadness, like crying, what a shame it all was. But I do think that the uptempo portions are less sad, they seem to convey that Barrett’s art will persist and continue to inspire.”
Another disagreed and suggested Shine On You Crazy Diamond was instead an “uplifting” song. They wrote: “I find that surprising, the lyrics are such a small part of Shine On that, to me, they’re insignificant, and I find the music very uplifting.”
One user suggested Time and, though it was definitely a sad song from Pink Floyd’s catalogue, some have considered it too obvious a choice. One wrote: “I think that’s because it’s one of the easiest picks on this topic, I imagine some people want to go for deeper cuts. I myself fully agree with you, Time wrecks me on levels I never imagined when I was enjoying that song as a kid.”
I had a wall poster size of The Final Cut too. Loved that album. Great piece.
Jug Band Blues off of Saucerful of Secrets is by far the saddest.
Easily The Final Cut or The Gunner’s Dream. The album is melancholy defined. It’s lead me down a melancholy path my whole life since I first listened…. Some 30+ years ago…. Listening to Slowdive as I write this, while very different, the influence of Pink Floyd’s, error Roger’s lyrics, sent me here also some 30 years ago.
When the tigers broke free
Absolutely!
That isn’t on the original album mainly because it’s from The Wall film and nothing to do with The Final Cut.
Us and them. Powerful thought provoking.
Out of the way its a busy day, I’ve got things on my mind.
For want of the price,of tea and a slice, the old man died.
Those lyrics have stayed with me a lifetime, and stay as relevant now as they did over fifty years ago
You could pretty much site the whole of The Final Cut album as the saddest Pink Floyd track. SOYCD can be extremely uplifting in the right moment, we recently had it as the walk in music at my father’s funeral, I don’t see it as sad. In fact I can hear him now, loudly humming along to it in my head, and it gives me happy memories.
The Final Cut is heart breaking at times “I never had the nerve to make the Final Cut” gets me every time.
“Through the fish-eyed lense of tear-stained eyes,
I can barely define the shape of this moment in time
And far from flying high in clear blue skies
I’m spiralling down to the hole in the ground where I hide”
“Somewhere old heroes shuffle safely down the street.” It’s a lyric that always stayed with me. I wrote short story about such a hero and got my first writing sale.
Sorrow, one of my 100s of favorates, silence speeks louder than words, your promises broken.the song and video mean so much to me.
I had the vicar read out Time at my wife’s funeral, 4 years ago. Ending at “The time is gone , the song is over, thought I’d something more to say……”
Doesn’t get any more personal or any sadder than that. Bye bye Julia. Miss you every day.
Love the Final Cut album. The gunners dream “And the silver in her hair shines in the cold November air you hear the rolling bell and touch the silk in your lapel “. Roger has a gift for putting you right in the scene without being overly descriptive
Everyone is saying The Final Cut.
I totally agree, it’s the only album I listen to constantly from start to finish from the first time I heard it, In every aspect it is my favourite Pink Floyd album. Out of all my musical friends a lot don’t know the album. But I am educating them. The first album I bought as a teenager back in the 70’s was Dark Side of the Moon. The Final Cut wins hands down.