Surviving life’s ups and downs with Jo Dee Messina.

Okay, so last week probably wasn’t the best week for Sad Songs. But hey, none of us knew how last week was going to play out.

No official theme this week, but I promise to keep it upbeat!

To escape coronavirus news, last night I watched Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much.

It was a great diversion, and featured Doris Day singing this song that seemed perfect for the moment.

Que sera, sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see
What will be, will be

Vince Gill at his very best, with a little help from Patty Loveless.

This version, sung at George Jones’ funeral, is not the most technically perfect version, but it’s the rawest and most honest expression of the song.

Dry your tears…I’ll post a happy song tomorrow. I promise.

I grew up hearing this song, and it’s another one I understand better as an adult, now that I’ve seen people who’ve buckled under a weight they could not bear.

If you were alive, you know where you were. And what you were wearing. And who you were with.

Never forget.

If you can get this one without shedding a tear, you don’t have a heart.

The singer is remembering when she was seven and she didn’t know her mother was dying. As an adult, she wonder who has the worst pain – her, for growing up without a mother, or her mother, who knew she was going to be leaving her daughter.

Hey, I called it SAD SONGS WEEK. I’m not messing around, and neither is Lori McKenna.

If I’m really paying attention, I can’t listen to this song without crying. In Anna Quindlen’s novel Black and Blue, the narrator says (and I’m paraphrasing) that the good thing about country music is that you can listen to it and cry, and pretend it’s the music you’re crying about.

I always think of that passage when I listen to this song.

Three legged dog, out there making a fuss.
I’m trying to get to sleep. It’s down to the two of us.

Those lines get me every time.

And since we’re on the subject of husbands their cheating wives (a country song staple), here’s Billy Ray Cyrus.

Country music is know for its heartbreakers and tearjerkers, so this week we’ll listen to seven of my favorites, starting with this maudlin duet by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss.

The Cardigans…remember them? No. You’ll remember when you watch the video.