Songfacts®:

• "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" is a tribute to those songs that let us share a little pain, letting us know we're not the only ones going through tough times. Elton John's lyricist, Bernie Taupin, is a very astute writer, and in this song he articulates this phenomenon quite clearly:
  
  It feels so good to hurt so bad
  And suffer just enough to sing the blues
• There are plenty of sad songs out there, but this isn't one of them. Elton John put an upbeat melody to Bernie Taupin's lyric, making it quite uplifting. It gave us all a license to wallow to songs by The Cure, The Smiths or Hank Williams and not feel like sociopaths. It helps to know exactly why a few spins of "Alone Again (Naturally)" after a breakup can lift our spirits. Sinking into the feeling can be better than ignoring it.
• "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" is part of Elton John's resurgence after some down years in the early '80s. Released as the first single from his 1984 album Breaking Hearts, it gave him another hit to follow up "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" and "I'm Still Standing," both from his previous album, Too Low For Zero, released in 1983. He was 37 when "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" was released, and he still had many more hits in front of him.
• When Elton was writing music for the Breaking Hearts album, he was using a synthesizer and drum machine, which let him work quickly. He wrote the music for "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" in one pass, which wan't unusual during these sessions.
• The first version of the song that Elton recorded was slower, with a gospel feel. He sometimes played the song this way at his concerts.
• The music video was shot in Sydney, Australia. Like many of his videos from the MTV era, it finds him surrounded by dancers as he sings the song. The director was Russell Mulcahy, whose other videos include "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Bangles and "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Leppard.
• If you can't help singing this as "Sasson Says So Much," that's because Elton sang it that way in a commercial for Sasson jeans, one of the many purveyors of "designer" jeans that was big in the '80s. This was Elton's idea, and he got Sasson to also sponsor his American tour.
  
  The commercials use footage from the music video, which works because the difference in mouth movement between "sad songs say so much" and "Sasson says so much" is imperceptible. It was easy money for Elton, who didn't even have to wear the jeans, which aren't his style. "Sasson Says So Much" was the company's tagline for their collection in autumn 1984, when the song was popular.