Agreed on many, particularly Kilkelly, There Were Roses, Deportees, Streets of London, Sam Stone, This Old House, Who Will Sing For Me, Christmas In The Trenches, and the Stan Rogers ones.

How about:

(not in any particular order or ranking)

Half of everything Eric Bogle ever wrote including: Singing The Spirit Home

Tom Anderson: Da Slockit Light (yeah, I know, it's instrumental)

John McCuthcheon: The Brown's Head Light (no, not the beer, dummy)

John Prine: Paradise

Garnet Rogers: Frankie and Johnny

Jez Lowe: The Bergen Bruce "Utah" Phillips: The Telling Takes Me Home The Goodnight/Loving Trail Nevada Jane Si Kahn Aragon Mill Go To Work On Monday A whole bunch of Fred Small songs as well as "Heart of the Appaloosa"

Nanci Griffith: Just Once In A Very Blue Moon

Steve Gillette: Darcy Farrow

Phil Ochs: The Crucifixion

Desaparacidos(sp?) Ludlow Massacre The Writing of "Tipperary" (Iain Mackintosh version) The 41st Highlanders Farewell to Scotland (Dick Gaughan version) Anachie Gordon The Arbutus Way Down The Line

World Turned Upside Down As I Walked Along The Road The Ballad of Joe Hill A Mother's PArting Words To Her Daughter

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I'm sure there's hundreds more that I'm forgetting. Maybe a reason for that. ;-)

Now before you get the idea that I need immediate professional care or even confinement for my own protection, I do know some happy songs as well, e.g.:

Heart of the Appaloosa Nevada Jane Frankie and Johnny (Garnet Rogers version) Christmas in the Trenches Singing The Spirit Home

Take that, Art. ;-)

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My _personal_ all-time tearjerker, however, is "Kilkelly". I'm one of the diaspora siblings, all over stateside, of an immigrant family. And I dont' _do_ anything about it. The guilt and loss really gets to me at times when I hear that one. And on the way-too-rare occasions I see my cousins from Norway.

Cheers,

-- Arne Langsetmo