You kind folk who take time to be interested in my humble scribblings are certainly into your music.

It doesn't feel so long ago that I wrote in a blog of why I don't - unlike quite a few other authors - quote or mention songs in the tvdetective books (to recap - because I think it can be exclusive to those who don't know the works in question was the reason).

Well, another musically themed question has arrived, asking what my favourite sad songs are?  And as I'm in a kind of appropriate mood to answer it, here we go.

A quick aside (you're used to them by now, come on) - part of the reason is that I've been feeling a little nostalgic of late.  It's hard to say exactly why, but at least some of the explanation is a song I heard on the very fine BBC Radio Station Number Two. 

It was Roger Whittaker's The Last Farewell, and it took me straight back through the many intervening years, an instant transportation, to my childhood.  I recall my parents playing it in the car, back in what must have been 1975 or so, and thus suffered the old misty eyes syndrome for days long lost.

Anyhow, back to the question, and away from another of the familiar Hall digressions.  The answer is as follows -

Oh, first one more little caveat.  I might just be speaking for Dan and myself here, if you know what I mean - and I suspect you do.

Probably the saddest song in our limited scope of knowledge and floundering efforts of opinion is Fleetwood Mac's Man of the World.  It's that ruthless puncturing of an image - one of someone so successful they could never have a care.  It's pure Dan, who on the surface is doing so well, but scratch a little at the surface and....

Following that, and not in any particular order now - Elvis's I Just Can't Help Believin' (the live version) is tearful for its summation of forlorn, lovelorn hope. Then there's For the Good Times, the Perry Como recording (although Elvis also did a belter), for its lament of the end of a precious relationship.

Another which thuds the heart is Kevin Johnson's Rock and Roll I Gave You the Best Years of my Life, because of the way it captures the cold death of a dream.  And finally for this little roll call, Dan would always point you to the Stones' Paint it Black, for the way it portrays how we - sorry, he - can sometimes feel.

Cor, that was quite a blog, it just flowed out and felt remarkably cathartic to write.  I hope it provides some kind of passable answer for my questioner (you know who you are!).  I guess, as Elton John once memorably sang, Sad Songs say so Much.

Don't forget, if you've got a question about the tvdetective books, or any area of my writing, you can get in touch via the contact page of the site - www.thetvdetective.com/contact.html