"So Why So Sad" was released by Manic Street Preachers in 2001 and was jointly the first single to be released from the Know Your Enemy album. All three members of the band - James Dean Bradfield, Sean Moore and Nicky Wire - share the writing credits. The song reached number 8 in the UK Singles Chart.

The song includes the line "a burnt down expressway to your skull" - a reference to the final track on Sonic Youth's EVOL album, or maybe to a Buddy Miles song.

For all its instrumental eccentricities, "So Why So Sad" is quite simple both structurally and lyrically even if its full meaning is obscured. It has been suggested that a reference to the Dead Sea scrolls and the line “dependent on above” imply that there is a religious connection, but there’s no further support for this outside the chorus.

The song is the only song from "Know Your Enemy" to be featured in the 2002 compilation Forever Delayed, it was track number 18.

Surprisingly launched on the same day as "Found That Soul" this was the first sign of the Manics since the surprise number 1 hit "The Masses Against the Classes" thirteen months earlier.

It reached the UK chart position of number 8 on 10 March 2001, spending 16 weeks in the chart, it is the second longest run in terms of singles in the UK chart by the band. "So Why So Sad" is only beaten by If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next which spent 17 weeks in the chart. In Ireland it peaked on number 16.

The song did better in Finland than in the UK, spending less weeks, only 3, the single reached number 4 in the Finnish Charts. In Sweden it reached number 26, spending 5 weeks, in the Netherlands it reached position number 88, and in Germany it peaked on number 94.

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