Five folk songs so devastating you can only listen onceGreat art is capable of extracting emotions you never knew were buried deep inside of yourself, and folk music – of all the musical forms – is particularly adept at conjuring up a plethora of gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, life-altering emotions. There are plenty of melancholic, often devastating folk songs that have nevertheless become irrefutable classics – Bob Dylan’s ‘It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’, for instance, is among the most heartbreaking songs ever pressed onto wax. However, there is a whole realm of folk songs which are simply too harrowing for any well-adjusted audience to return for multiple listens. These are the songs we have catalogued here: five examples of folk songs so utterly heartbreaking, harrowing, or, in some cases, disturbing to ever be added to your daily mixes. The five most devastating folk songs: