Most depressing song ever?

The classic rock station here in NYC called Mother by Pink Floyd the most depressing song ever.� I would have to disagree with that, but I can't think what would qualify.�

Just thinking for a few moments, I believe Older by They Might Be Giants is very depressing.

Any suggestions?

Jackson Brownes Late for the Sky actually the whole album except red neck friend is pretty depressing

I have always felt that� "He Stopped Loving Her Today�" by George Jones is the most depressing song no matter what kind of music you like. "Wish You Were Here" is pretty sad as well.

Alone Again, Naturally by Gilbert O'Sullivan

In a little while from now
If I�m not feeling any less sour
I promise myself to treat myself
And visit a nearby tower
And climbing to the top will throw myself off
In an effort to make it clear to who
Ever what it�s like when you�re shattered
Left standing in the lurch at a church
Where people saying: "My God, that�s tough
She's stood him up"
No point in us remaining
We may as well go home
As I did on my own
Alone again, naturally

To think that only yesterday
I was cheerful, bright and gay
Looking forward to well wouldn�t do
The role I was about to play
But as if to knock me down
Reality came around
And without so much, as a mere touch
Cut me into little pieces
Leaving me to doubt
Talk about God and His mercy
Or if He really does exist
Why did He desert me in my hour of need
I truly am indeed Alone again, naturally

It seems to me that there are more hearts
broken in the world that can�t be mended
Left unattended
What do we do? What do we do?

Alone again, naturally
Now looking back over the years
And whatever else that appears
I remember I cried when my father died
Never wishing to hide the tears
And at sixty-five years old
My mother, God rest her soul,
Couldn�t understand why the only man
She had ever loved had been taken
Leaving her to start with a heart so badly broken
Despite encouragement from me
No words were ever spoken
And when she passed away
I cried and cried all day
Alone again, naturally
Alone again, naturally

The Altered Beast album by Matthew Sweet. Even Strong Sad thinks it's depressing!

On second thought, roughly 70% of Matthew's catalog could be nominated for this prestigious award.

nutshell by alice in chains, and time by pink floyd. so many others as well but, these fit perfectly under "depressing" and not just "sad" both muscally and lyrically. (time's lyrics are especially depressing to me)

"goodbye Blue Sky" ALWAYS brings me down. It has such a foreboding sound to it.

There's something even about the opening part before it turns dark that's depressing. That's the mark of an expressive musician, to play notes which should technically be quite happy but make them sound sad instead..

"Look�mummy...there's an airplane up in the sky"...there's just something about the kids voice saying that that gives me chills.

I love Pink Floyd. So much other music has taken my focus away (they used to be my second favorite band) but every time I go back and listen to Floyd I remember how much they affect me emotionally.

"The Final Cut" is a song that is very personal to me. I think it's one of the most beautiful songs ever. And I just love the end "I held the blade in trembling hands, prepared to make it..but...just then the phone rang. I never had the nerve to make the final cut." I can relate.

I just had a flash back of all the nights I spent watching The Wall laser show at midnights before I turned 21 and found other things to do (You can only see The Wall and Rocky Horror so many times).

Can you have an acid flash back if you weren't on acid?

sure, I had one when I first watched "yellow submarine". That film is a trip.

I have a cousin that has nightmares about the Blue Meanies

yes, their voices are a bit on the creepy side, I think. And the Peter Max design kind of creeps me out as well me thinks.

I have nightmares about Oompa Loompas.

XTC - This World Over

Perhaps "Old Mistake" by Susan Werner

if david morreale and rod picott ever wrote a song together, it would be so depressing that everyone who heard it would commit suicide.

The album would come with a cyanide capsule.

I guess this is a good place to put in a few of my choices.

Haunted Man by the aforementioned Mr Picott. Check out these Lyrics.

The absolute saddest song ever is Hank Williams' I'm so lonesome I could die. The title alone is more depressing that most entire songs.

Hear that lonesome whooperwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is runnning low
I'm so lonesome I could cry

Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves turn brown and die
That means he's lost the will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry

I never seen a night so long
When the leaves turned brown and died
The moon just went behind the clouds
I'm so lonesome I could die

The silence of the falling stars
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could die

Hear that lonesome whooperwill
He sounds too blue to fly
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry
I'm so lonesome I could die

Country music, the music of pain.

yay xander ref!!!!!

"cry," not die.
and word on "haunted man." i'll also throw in a vote for slaid's "cold and lonely."

I knew I should have looked that up. They are both "die and cry" are in the lyrics.

Was anything scarier than that nine year old boy requesting Cold and Lonely? How many years of therapy is he looking forward to?

Deep Dark Truthful Mirror is an incredibly depressing song for me. And any Nick Cave song.

I've always found Round Here by Counting Crows to be extremely depressing.

dunno if THE most depresing.

but. if you really listen to the words. major downer.

Simon & Garfunkel, check out the lyrics.

Who will love a little Sparrow?
Who's traveled far and cries for rest?
"Not I," said the Oak Tree,
"I won't share my branches with
no sparrow's nest,
And my blanket of leaves won't warm
her cold breast."

Who will love a little Sparrow
And who will speak a kindly word?
"Not I," said the Swan,
"The entire idea is utterly absurd,
I'd be laughed at and scorned if the
other Swans heard."

Who will take pity in his heart,
And who will feed a starving sparrow?
"Not I," said the Golden Wheat,
"I would if I could but I cannot I know,
I need all my grain to prosper and grow."

Who will love a little Sparrow?
Will no one write her eulogy?
"I will," said the Earth,
"For all I've created returns unto me,
From dust were ye made and dust ye shall be."

Oh, for REAL. I thought that song was so depressing when I first heard it when I was like, 7. (Of course, my thoughts on the lyrics back then consisted of "The birdie DIED?!")

Actually, a handful of Simon and Garfunkel songs are quite depressing. In that can't-feel-happy-for-a-week-after-listening-to-them kinda way.

I've always thought that Ani Difranco's Dilate was incredibly depressing.

-you had time.
-not angry any more.

and then i feel like a big sap and it's bad.� damn you ani, with your weird...cry-inducement.

Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks has always depressed me to no end with its lyrics.

yes, but the sappiness of the tune and Terry's delivery just pushes my gag button. Like most of the Poppy Family stuff (Which way you goin' Billy?) I'm sorry I have to remember those songs. But I love Susan Jack's voice and hey, they made scads of money so who am I to judge?

Dude.. Once he was the King of Spain.. but now he just eats humble pie.� *cry*

*laughs ass off*

umm...no...if i had to pick the most depressing song out of frurepetoire...it would have to be Lee

well not the band, but this song used to always make me sob (i still can't listen to it that much when it plays on our work's Musak)

"well the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon

little boy blue and the man in the moon

when you comin' home son i don't know when

but we'll be together then, boy,

we're gonna have a good time then"

*sniff sniff* i don't really know the title (Cat's in the Cradle, i'm assuming)�or who sings it but i ALWAYS pulls at my heart

also, Paul McCartney's "She's Leaving Home" is qutie depressing if your listen to it from the parent's perspective.

Cat Stevens

I thought it was Harry Chapin who sang that song.

And it is a lovely, very touching song about a father and son that does bring a tear to my eye at times when I listen to it.

Until Ugly Kid Joe butchered it.

yup, harry chapin.

Is he the same guy that wrote "Leader of the Band"?

'cause that one always gets me too.

"And papa I don't think I said 'I love you' near enough"...sniff

If we're thinking of the same song�it definitely is�Dan Fogelberg.�Same Old Lang Syne�-the song song�after Leader Of�The Band� is just as depressing. The whole album is a masterpiece.

Yes. That's the one. I always thing of my band director from highschool when I hear it. I'll go add that album to my wishlist! Thanks!

Oops, I was wrong! As pointed out by Chris and Carey, the song was written by Harry Chapin.

that one always got me too.

cry!

Sung by Harry Chapin

Yesterday

Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh I believe in yesterday

Suddenly I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
Oh yesterday came suddenly

Why she had to go? I don't know she wouldn't say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday

Yesterday love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh I believe in yesterday

Why she had to go? I don't know she wouldn't say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday

Yesterday love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh I believe in yesterday



I was twelve when I heard it and immediately burst out crying. Ah, puberty.

And in her eyes you see nothing
No sign of love behind the tears
Cried for no one
A love that should have lasted years

now see, I find Eleanor Rigby and Yesterday to be sad but not that depressing. They are just too beautiful to be depressing. :)

out of curiosity, do you all know the song "lonely people" by ray charles? it is the same song as elenoor rigby by the beatles. i'm curious if any of you know whether it was ray charles or the beatles first.

peace, Jymi

"eleanor rigby" is a beatles song. lennon/mccartney. as far as i know, and as far as google shows, ray charles recorded it under its own name, not "lonely people." lots of others have recorded it as well, including aretha franklin and john denver. i haven't yet heard a cover that did it justice, tho.

I can never ever take Eleanor Rigby seriously. You know why.

ahahahahahahahaha.

i guess the same goes for "the night they drove old dixie down" as well. :)

It was the beatles, it is a Lennon-McCartney song.

gah. "for no one" gets me every time.

Me too. And I was singing it on the wall yesterday because stefan always gets it stuck in my head. :)

Oh lord,� For No One is wrist-slitting inducing.� I mean, any song that starts out "Your day breaks/ Your mind aches..."� and then just gets more depresssing...�

�� There are a number of Beatles songs that aren't necessarily depressing as a whole, but which have depressing lines. Like Love You To� ("there's people standing round who'll screw you in the ground") or Girl� ("a man must break his back to earn his day of leisure- will she still believe it when he's dead?")

�Somedays by Paul McCartney is rather a downer, especially when you consider it was written when Linda was dying of cancer.� I mean, it's pretty and most of the lyrics themselves aren't depressing, but there's a definite aura of melancholy to it.

� However, if you really want to be depressed, listen to Mother by John Lennon. (although I gotta say, if you're in a cynical mood-- it just comes across as whiny)

That is one of most emotional performances I've ever seen.� No one can top what he did, and anyone who tries to cover it ends up as an exercise in futility.

I'm sure this is common knowledge, with all the Beatles fans�and all.� A friend of mine brought me this story from his class "HIstory of Rock and Roll: The Beatles" (makes you want to come to IU, doesn't it?).

When Paul wrote "Yesterday," he was so convinced that he'd heard the music before that he wrote complete nonsense into the lyrics, along the lines of:

Yesterday/ For breakfast I had scrambled eggs/ Oh, my darling, how I love your legs/ Oh I believe in yesterday

When everyone told him that the music was really his own, he reworked the lyrics into their recorded form.� Since I didn't take the class, I can't vouch for the truth of the story.� But I've never been able to hear the song without laughing since.

My Beatles prof told us the same story, with the same lyrics, so I'd say it's true.

That story's true, at least according to McCartney himself.

Slowdive are easily the most depressing band its not just the lyrics but the music aswell

[...You...] tell me I'm lost and I don't seem too sure what to do
There's a fire in my head and I'm blinded by bullets
Dancing to nowhere, I'm losing my head and I'm
And the man at the bar that [...night...] recall that he needed me
Sister, I've lost all the feeling
I'm lost and I'm sold
I lay down beside you
Sister, I'm blinded
It's only my eyes
I've sold them before
The man said the drinking is handled [...by pouring it right...]
And It seemed much the same when he pointed the gun at his head
[...Who'd need me then...]
In raise of much noise and I checked out the time, yeah
Let all my face down [...in the words...] of a stranger [...]
Sister, I've lost all the feeling
I'm lost and I'm sold
I lay down beside you
Sister, I'm blinded
It's only my eyes
I've sold them before

Track 5 from ( ) by Sigur R�s. Sure, it's not in English, but it's pretty depressing. You can hear it in the tone and in the whimpering of the voice.

Oh oh oh! Kenna - Hellbent. That is damn depressing, especially if you see the music video. As long as I'm talking about depressing song/videos, how about Coldplay�- The Scientist. It never fails to give me goosebumps and make me feel like crying.

A couple songs on "Amplified Heart" always depress me. "Two Star" and "Get Me"...

I'm a stone inside a box,
I'm a spring inside a clock,
you can wear me on your wrist
and I'll tell you things ten thousand times,
but do you ever get me?
Do you ever get me?

Emm Gryner's "Fetching Decay" does it for me.

I mean, look at this line "help me vanish/help me get myself out of here, out of here"

rebecca

anything Britney Spears

But to lose all of my senses... that is just so typically me

I do find it depressing that she is still recording...does that count?

The single off her new album is called "Me Against the Music." I haven't heard it, but I think the title is very appropriate. Let's just hope music wins in the end.

LMAO!!

oh my...

Leaving on a Jet Plane.

When I was a little girl, even then, I loved lyrics.� First time I heard the song in the car, I burst out crying.� My dad pulled over to see what was wrong, and I said something like .."the song is so sad, daddy!� They're leaving, and they don't know when they're coming home!" ..I think I started crying again!

until I was a teenager, I would always turn to another station if it came on.� ALWAYS makes me cry, but the John Denver version is WORSE, because he DIED on a plane...so I just don't listen to it at all any more.

*sigh*

but it's soooooo beautiful

Well, two things about that John Denver statement.

1. He was not flying a jet plane. It was an experimental Rutan design that was prop-driven. (and, also, was modified dangerously by another individual... specifically the fuel selector.)

2. He was flying despite a suspended pilot's license due to his medical disqualification for alcohol abuse.

It's sad, yes, but he really brought it upon himself.

I'm not quite sure how the specifics and blame are relevant....?

I mean yeah...my dad died of liver disease...and mostly he brought that on himself...but would you ever bring that up if I said hearing a song about dads made me sad?

Sorry. I might be a bit punchy right now. I just didn't get why it was worth expanding on.

You took the words right out of my keyboard.

yup.
and john denver wrote the song; ppm just made it famous.
i loved when tom paxton played "the marvelous toy" at frff and followed it up by asking, "ok, so how many of you thought peter, paul and mary wrote that?"

*shrugs*

I just thought it was interesting.
:)
Not necessarily relevant, no... but reading the full accident report was interesting. Sorry you took that the wrong way.

just for the record

I never said he died "on a jet plane"

(thanks to Andrea and Gordon for the support *hugs*)

ob Fruvous...
they played a bit of Leaving on a Jet Plane w/ Susan Werner on 2/21/99 "Fruvous & Friends For Choice" show.

That was an amazing little medley. Cemented my falling in love with Susan Werner, who I had heard for the first time that evening.

I'm such a dork, but "Luka" by Suzanne Vega always makes me mist up.

Also, "End of the Summer," Dar Williams.

"Also, "End of the Summer," Dar Williams."

Totally.� I saw her live in August and I cried when she sang it.� It WAS the end of the summer, and it was so sad.

*sobs*

there are so many dark songs I like that also have an element of hope in them. even TMBG's "End of the Tour" isn't totally depressing.

The Nields have a lot of dark songs, but most of them - even Forever and I'll Meet You In the Sky, which are about death, have hope in them. although their song Goodbye is pretty much a total downer.

since I first heard it, I've thought Aimee Mann's song Ghost World was extremely depressing, depending on how you interpret the ending. (one of the few songs of hers that I've heard that sounds truly hopeless)

Moxy Fruvous (ack, Fruvous content!) have a bunch that could qualify - Down from Above, Fly (depending on the interpreation), My Poor Generation, Misplaced...

I think Guster's I Spy would be depressing if I had any clue what it meant. but some of their older songs, like Demons and Dissolve are more clearly Not Happy Songs.

Ben Folds Five's Magic (which Ben Folds didn't even write) is about death, but has the same element of hope that The Nields' death songs have. even Brick, which isn't happy (and that's an understatement), at least isn't a total "let's all go jump off a bridge" song.

I think the great thing that a lot of songwriters I like do is put together unlikely combinations of lyrics, music and tempo that make more songs sound depressing than actually are.

so really, I think that trying to figure out the "most depressing song ever" is really not possible, since there are so many ways in which a song can be depressing, but taken as a whole, most songs have something uplifting about them.

Speaking of Guster, how about Rainy Day?

Speaking of Guster, how about Rainy Day?

that's only depressing because it's so bad. :)

ehh... it's not THAT bad.

*tries to be optimistic*

> that's only depressing because it's so bad. :)

That's one of my favorite tracks on the CD :)

I love that song... that whole album rocks, and it all stemmed from Ryan's break up with his girlfriend. Lots of anger and hurt on that album.

Word.
Luckily it's at the end of the album, so I can just stop the CD before it comes on. (My CD player doesn't skip tracks.)

Cat Stevens - Father and Son.

For me, it is "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton, the song itself on it's own has a depressing feel, but if one knows the subject matter (his three year old son fell out his apartment window and dies), it is heart wrenching, acoustic version is the more depressing as well

He (Clapton) had the best poem on the inside of his From the Cradle album:

"And all along this path I tread
my heart betrays my weary head
with nothing but my love to save
from the cradle to the grave"

Clapton all the way

at the risk of reviving a sleeping branch of this thread...

one of my friends in elementary school sang this song at a concert, in memory of her dad, who'd recently died.

-- Pauley

I feel the need to mention the undisputed king of the depressing song: Townes Van Zandt. Every one of his songs makes you want to blow your brains out - "Waiting Around To Die", "Tecumseh Valley", "Marie". He's got some of the most beautiful lyrics, though:

Days up and down they come
Like rain on a conga drum
Forget most, remember some
But don't turn none away
Everything is not enough
Nothin' is to much to bear
Where you been is good and gone
All you keep is the gettin' there
To live is to fly
Low and high
So shake the dust off of your wings
And the sleep out of your eyes

or the ever-uplifting

A friend said he knew
where some easy money was
we robbed a man, and brother did we fly
the posse caught up with me
and drug me back to Muskogee
it's two long years I've been waitin' around to die

Now I'm out of prison
I got me a friend at last
he don't drink or steal or cheat or lie
His name's Codine
he's the nicest thing I've seen
together we're gonna wait around and die
together we're gonna wait around and die

Did anyone else immediatly think "suicide" when they heard that Townes had died?

by James Taylor

Charlene by Vancer Gilbert.

jeh.

and just found out. fire and rain isn't about his girlfriend dying on a plane, szanne was a friend who committed suicide while he was recording his first solo album and his friends kept it from him until after he was finished.

*sigh* I 've passed along that misinformation to a lot of people. damnit.

Ooh.� I didn't know that.� I'll need to re-listen to that now.

-- Pauley

Yep, and actually the whole song isn't particularly about that fate of Suzanne...

more:

http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/firerain.htm

yah, that's actually where i found that info out :)

i *heart* snopes!

aw holy craps.

I, too, have passed along this misinformation.

Damn.

"Maribel" by Sam Shaber

On a related note Sam played an incredibly depressing song about her dad's passing away at the Living Room, NYC about 2 years ago. Unfortunately I don't even have a title for this song. This was the type of song that will never get recorded. It was definitely a therapeutic song for herself.

Jen Cass' Train Song�really is sort of depressing.�I love it to pieces though - even got Jen to play it during the Emerging Artists' Showcase at FRFF this year:)

Since it's quite long I put the lyrics here.�

Cat's in the cradle����- even before my dad died it made me teary but now it reminds me of all the missed opportunities I had with him.� (getting weepy in the computer lab, thinking I should have gone home to write this)

One Tin Soldier���� - �I still get shivers and a little teary when I hear that song

I would include the lyrics but, hey, there's google.� And if I were to read the lyrics right now, I would seriously need some tissue.

"Cats In The Cradle" is a depressin' one.� I think my dad has mentioned it a few times when I'd come home to visit, in in a rush and out again...

-- Pauley

one tin soldier...*SOBBBBB*

i agree with 'cats in the cradle' too.

http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/gloomy.htm

Anyone ever heard this song? (Gloomy Sunday)

http://www.bizarremag.com/ask/rock.php

Heard Danny Michel play it a couple times live, and I think it's on "Clear", but I don't have the cd on hand to check. There's a section on the Urban Legends site (Lori still has it on her user info I think) on songs, and this one is on it.

Yeah, it's on Clear.

There was an episode of FAther Ted (an Irish comedy about a sinful cathollic priest) where a suicidal priest is ent to Ted to be cheered up� (suicide not being too good a thing for a Catholic priest to do) so Ted cheers him up after half an hour and then he gets the bus back, all is going well until the radio comes on "wake from you sleep, the drying of your tears, today we escape, we escape..." Yup it's Radiohead and "exit music(for a film)"...thing is I always liked the idea of being soulmates together forever in death after the struggles of life and used to play it all the time, which really depressed my parents though much less than when I played mmbop constantly.

"wake from your sleep the drying of your tears today we escape we escape

pack and get dressed before your father hears us before all hell breaks loose

and you can laugh a spineless laugh

we hope your rules and wisdom choke you

and now we are one in everlasting peace

we hope that you choke that you choke

we hope that you choke that you choke"

Also "damaged" by primal scream

"Ah yeah i felt so happy my my my[...]I'll never feel that way again"�

Ain't Life a Brook by Ferron. Sad, sad, sad, and beautiful.

My mistress left me she don't beat me no more.
My mistress left me she don't beat me no more.
She took her whips and her leather and she marched right out the door.

Now that's sad.

mainly sad because of the way gordon and i sing it. but yeah. :)

I know I'm not alone in my love for Broadway and what a wealth of depressing songs can be found there! Some obvious ones:

Les Mis - On My Own, Empty Chairs and Empty Tables...and every other song...

Evita - Another Suitcase in Another Hall

Miss Saigon - I Still Believe

Cats - Memory

Sting also offers many good ones : Fragile, They Dance Alone, Island of Souls, Why Should I Cry for You

Not to mention ANYTHING by Morrisey

I'd agree with Morrisey being very depressing, at least is was depressing for awhile, then after hearing him whine over and over, I kind of became numb to it, and now whenever I hear him, it's almost comical.� Operative word there is ALMOST�

True. I can't listen to Girlfriend in a Coma without giggling a little.

Odd book though. Not what I was expecting...

We hate it when our friends become successful
And if they're Northern, that makes it even worse
And if we can destroy them
You bet your life we will
Destroy them
If we can hurt them
Well, we may as well ...
It's really laughable
Ha, ha, ha ...

Ok, so a lot of his work with the Smiths was a bit dark, but I think that was a lot of Johnny Marr's doing.� My clip is from a very lighthearted solo song.� While I'd describe Morrissey (solo and with the Smiths) as dark, I'm not sure about depressing.

My roommate votes for anything by Ryan Adams, especially "To be the One," from _Heartbreaker.
I would agree with Gordon and vote for Townes van Zandt. Pick a song. Four minutes of abject self-destruction.

I'm gonna vote for nearly all the songs on the first Nickel Creek album to make it mainstream.. [y'know.. the one with the song about the Lighthouse.. which was especially depressing]... Sweet Afton is a REALLY sad melody... of course, Corpus Christi carol by Jeff Buckley is pretty sad.. and his rendition of "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen always bringeth me tears..

OHH!!OHH!!!OHHH!OHHH!OHH

i know its supposed to be a happy song.. but "Satisfied Mind" by Jeff Buckley is �ber-depressing... whaow

My Poor Generation is so deliciously depressing...but *so* damn depressing...makes me depressed to listen to it, and when I listen to it when I'm already depressed I get even *more* depressed. Yet I listen anyway. Sweet Jian...sweet masochism...

- Tracie

Wait.. isn't that a dave-o song?

dood. the way i sang it was a sin against nature. :P

And the Band Played On is the most depressing song she's ever heard lol

While watching "The Wonder Years", "Circle Game".I mean that song just makes you wanna die of nostalgia. The whole show is kinda that way.

When She Talks?

It's pretty darned depressing that THAT song was ever made.

;)

*guffaws* true.

but what about Independence Day? ;)

oh, and�I Will Hold On. ;D

hey, why not just make Thornhill most depressing album? *ducks* :D

I know it depressed me.

Do I need to say how I feel about Thornhill?

Yes, well, you like "C", so your opinion is automatically discarded.

;)

Hey, I *like* Independance Day.

It's actually my favorite fr�vous song, period.

sorry to resurrect old threads and whatnot, but...

i *like* thornhill. granted, i just got it today, and i'm usually enamoured with every fr�vous cd when i first get it, at least a little.

not that i don't cringe when "when she talks" comes on, and have to get up and skip it....but i still like the album as a whole. it's not my favorite ever, but it's good. some of my favorite (at least currently) fr�vous songs are on there, as a matter of fact. (although it's not hard to get on that list.)

However, as i write this, 'splatter splatter' ends and 'independence day' begins....and i like both of these a lot. and although the cd is less....fr�vousy to me, which i don't like, there's still some great stuff there. i just didn't see it at first.

and now i'll stop. because i could talk about this cd all day. (and not just good stuff mind you...some things annoy the heck out of me)

Agreed!

I like a LOT of the songs on thornhill... and even a lot of the VERSIONS of songs.

It's just that, to me, it feels a lot less cohesive as an album.

And it's the only album of theirs where I actively dislike some songs.

I never thought of�I Will Hold On�as depressing.� Sure, it may have a somber tone to it, but it seems a sappy love song written as�more hopeful�than depressing, but that's just me.� If any of you know the band Barachois, Le Mari Jaloux is a very depressing song, if you don't know it, I suggest looking it up, it is extremely beautiful.�

Y'know, Nuits de R�ve is pretty depressing too...ooooh, somehow I still *love* that one. Tu disais q't'allais toujours m'aimer...::/bad french::

- Tracie

Maybe not the most depressing song ever, but I wanted to mention that I've always found Vincent�pretty depressing.� Beautiful, but sad -- which I always forget until I'm still enough to remember/listen to the lyrics.

I have to stop making random posts while doing four other things, don't I.

Speaking of Don McLean, "American Pie" gets�depressing once you realize (and I didn't until maybe 4 or 5 years ago) that American Pie was the name of the plane that crashed in Mason City, Iowa on Feb. 3, 1959,�killing Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.� Truly "The Day The Music Died."

-- Pauley

I met a girl who sang the blues
and I asked her for some happy news
but she just smiled and turned away

I went down to the sacred store
where I'd heard the music years before
but the man there said the music wouldn't play

And in the streets the children screamed
The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
but not a word was spoken
the church bells all were broken

Yeah... moving.� Not really depressing, but moving.

I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride...

-- Pauley

but something touched me deep inside...

You shoulda stuck with not realizing it until 4 or 5 years ago because it's false. :)

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/amerpie.htm

Gets me every time.�� Theres also a John Prine Song "Sam Stone" about a viet vet with the chorus beginning "there's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes...."� cant listen to it more than once every 8 or 10 years

Tori Amos's rendition of Nirvanas - Smells Like Teen Spirit is a really haunting and depressing song,

BUT, the most��depressing song ever must be Gary Jules - Mad World (originally Tears for Fears). Check out the lyrics:

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places � worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere � going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression � no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow � no tomorrow

And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I�m dying are the best I�ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it�s a very very
mad world mad world.

Tori Amos's rendition of Nirvanas - Smells Like Teen Spirit is a really haunting and depressing song,

Yeah, but mostly just because it's sooo bad.
;)

Well, it isn't like she had much to work with in the first place.

Well, she had a good song to work with.
It wasn't one of their best.... but....

I heard that Kurt used to listen to her version...that he said he liked it better than his...

But I thought she recorded it after he died...can anyone confirm?

It's on Tori's Crucify album which was released in 1992 and Kurt Cobain died in 1994 so at least theoretically it would have been possible for him to give it a listen...

Yeah... that cover is bad enough to make me want to kill myself, too.
Wouldn't it murder, in that case? I wonder if she was investigated.

Crucify was a five track EP, featuring the single Crucify, Tori's Winter, Angie (Rolling Stones), Thank You (Led Zeppelin), and Smells Like Teen Spirit.� I covered this elsewhere, but Tori's covers are always a little dark and tend to make you see a song in a different way.� Take '97 Bonnie and Clyde (Eminem) or I Don't Like Mondays (The Boomtown Rats)�from the Strange Little Girls album.�

the ENTIRE album "Disintegration" by the Cure.� oh, hell.. the Cure's entire oeuvre (minus "Wish")

Hello what the hell am I doin' here
That's a really nice suit
This is a really comfortable chair
See I don't know if you can help me or not
Cause I don't feel sick
But the pains in my head have almost put me
Underground
I don't really care if I'm healthy or not
Just clean my head up doc
I'll give you anything you want
See I don't know why I don't fall in love
Well maybe I know why and maybe you could make it stop
Then we'll cut it up and bury it and leave it
Underground
And I'll take to wishing and fall under
Sleeping safe and sound
Just give me medicine prescribe me anything
Just knock me out and walk me through the door
I have no desire to see through my own eyes anymore
Hello what the hell are you doing here
You made a really strange face
This is a really uncomfortable air
I see I'm boring you, maybe I bore myself too
That's why I need help, I'm cleaning blood off dusty shelves
I been cut up in this room so many times it might take days
And those stress cracks in the wood
How nicely the soak up the stains
Been telling myself these jokes for so long well so long
I'm a has been who is heckled on the stage

This song is pretty depressing, and the thing is, with most of�their songs, it's really depressing lyrics with a happy beat, which makes it more depressing in a way. -.-

Kyrie--

Hey I need some really depressing songs.� I don't mean stupid songs like "Britany Spears" or crap like that.� I mean real songs.� I like depressing songs and I like being depressed.� It's my nature.� Though I'm not suicidal, I like songs with a suicidal message (i.e. "Last Resort" by Papa Roach or "Bother" by Stone Sour).� If you know any good, and fairly new, songs, please tell me.� Thanks.

How about "I Wanna Live" by the Ramones

As I load my pistol
Of fine German steel
I never thought I'd be so down and out
Having my last meal
But I know I can do it
It just took a few years
As I execute my killer
The morning is near

It's not exactly new, but it is a rather forboding piece.� I'll keep my ears open for others.

Oh, and Britney has a great voice.� Her songs are crap, but that's in the writing... not her fault. ;-)

Eh, I get the idea Britney is trying to sound sultry, but she just sounds stupid.

listen to smoe Joy Division...Fil was crying on his bed the other day as a result of their album Closer.� Love Will Tear Us Apart is also quite dark, Ithink it is in the stark teutonic instrumentation and the vocal performance mostly.�� In� similar vein Bender are actually scary, dark, depressing and petifying.� Great stuff.

According to my rock and pop miscellany though the most depressing song ever is, of course "Gloomy Sunday" which is funny because i find it sad but not depressing, but apparently the lyrics keep getting used in suicide notes.

OKay, so I practically breathed their music, but these lines always struck me:

Girl of sixteen, whole life ahead of her
Slashed her wrists, bored with life
Didn't succeed, thank the lord
For small mercies

...

Girl of eighteen, fell in love with everything
Found new life in jesus christ
Hit by a car, ended up
On a life support machine

Sure, it probably had a lot to do with the fact I was trying to reconcile my own thoughts on religion, but still.

Ack. It's stuck in my head now!

you're welcome.� ;)

Desintegration is my "bust out crying" album.

a few samples:

Plainsong

"I think it's dark and it looks like rain"
You said
"And the wind is blowing like it's the end of the world"
You said
"And it's so cold
It's like the cold if you were dead"
And then you smiled
For a second

"I think I'm old and I'm feeling pain"
You said
"And it's all running out like it's the end of the world"
You said
"And it's so cold it's like the cold if you were dead"
And then you smiled
For a second

Sometimes you make me feel
Like I'm living at the edge of the world
Like I'm living at the edge of the world
"It's just the way I smile"
You said

The Same Deep Water as You

Kiss me goodbye
Pushing out before I sleep
Can't you see I try
Swimming the same deep water as you is hard
"The shallow drowned lose less than we"
You breathe
The strangest twist upon your lips
"And we shall be together... "

"Kiss me goodbye
Bow your head and join with me"
And face pushed deep
Reflections meet
The strangest twist upon your lips
And disappear
The ripples clear
And laughing
Break against your feet
And laughing
Break the mirror sweet
"So we shall be together... "

"Kiss me goodbye"
Pushing out before I sleep
It's lower now and slower now
The strangest twist upon your lips
But I don't see
And I don't feel
But tightly hold up silently
My hands before my fading eyes
And in my eyes
Your smile
The very last thing before I go...

Iwill kiss you I will kiss you
I will kiss you forever on nights like this
I will kiss you I will kiss you
And we shall be together...

and one more:

Closedown

I'm running out of time
I'm out of step and
Closing down and
Never sleep for wanting hours
The empty hours of greed
And uselessly
Always the need
To feel again the real belief
Of something more than mockery
If only I could
Fill my heart with love

<a href="/mod/discuss/bounce.php?url=http://www.thecure.com/ALL%20CURE%20LYRICS%20html%20Folder/1988-1990words.html">Here's a link to the rest :)</a>

Sunday is gloomy
My hours are slumberless
Dearest the shadows Dreaming, I was only dreaming
I wake and I find you asleep
In the deep of my heart here
Darling I hope
That my dream never haunted you
My heart is telling you
How much I wanted you

Gloomy Sunday

I live with are numberless
Little white flowers
Will never awaken you
Not where the black coach
Of sorrow has taken you
Angels have no thoughts
Of ever returning you
Would they be angry
If I thought of joining you?

Gloomy Sunday

Gloomy is Sunday
With shadows I spend it all
My heart and I
Have decided to end it all
Soon there'll be candles
And prayers that are said I know
But let them not weep
Let them know that I'm glad to go
Death is no dream
For in death I�m caressing you
With the last breath of my soul
I�ll be blessing you

Gloomy Sunday

�� According to the legend that has grown around it, "Gloomy Sunday" has a strange, magic effect. Supposedly, if you listen to it, you will become so depressed that you will commit suicide. It is impossible to tell how much of the legend is true and how much is just a clever publicity trick. However, it happens to be a fact that the text of the song was found in the hands of many people who had killed themselves especially in Hungary. This country has always had a prominent place in suicide statistics, but the headline of The New York Times, which says: "Hundreds of Hungarians kill themselves under the influence of a song" must surely be considered as an exaggeration.

When the song was born in 1935 the people of the world were suffering from an economic depression on the eve of World War II. This fact has not been ignored by those who tried to examine the causes of the suicide phenomenon. They say this little, monotonous song expresses something essential with the help of its simple harmonies in c-minor. Each and every age has had its own "chanson'macabre".

That's funny. Danny Michel covers it, and I've heard it many a time.

Still here :)

I was in a friends room a few minutes ago, and we decided to be self-destructive and listen to depressing music. We found that Joni Mitchell's "River" and Dan Fogelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne" (both vaguely appropriate for the holidays) are both contenders for the Most Depressing Song Ever Award.

"River" has got my vote.

1. anna begins - counting crows, by far the most depressing song ever.

... she's talking in her sleep, its keeping me awake and anna begins to toss and turn. And every word is nonsense but i understand, oh lord, i'm not ready for this sort of thing ...

2. pray your gods - toad the wet sprocket (just pick most songs on fear/dulcinea/coil)

... I feel my body weakened by the years ss people turn to gods of cruel design. Is it that they fear the pain of death? Or could it be they fear the joy of life? ...

3. exit music for a film - radiohead (most of the bends as honourable mention)

http://www.followmearound.com/lyrics/exitmusic.html

4. champagne high - sister hazel

... and for the million hours that we were. well I'll smile and remember it all
then I'll turn and go your story's completed mine is a long way from done ...

5. hallelujah (live) - martin sexton

hmm. just the way he sings this song is moving.

6. i'm going to go back there someday - gonzo (yea, i know, its still a pretty song)
7. the winner takes it all - abba

... i don't want to talk, if it makes you feel sad and i understand you've come to shake my hand ...

8. flag day - the housemartins

.. so you thought you'd like to change, decided to stage a jumbo sale for the poor, for the poor.. its a waste of time (flag day), you know what they mean, try shaking your box infront of the queen (flag day), cause her purse is fat and bursting at the seems, flag day, flag day ...

9. pictures of you - the cure
(see sheryl's post)
10. i don't have anything - vast (which should be sad, but is too damn pretty of a song)

... What can I buy to make the sky turn blue again? Where can I go to feel
like I'm alive again? Show me the places where I can forget your name ...

11. small wonders - dog's eye view

... Here we go again your hair, my face, your head, my hands, oh.. my clumbsy hands ...

oh i am sure given a few minutes i could come up with a number more...

I know there's a difference between "depressed" and "pissed off", but for some reason pretty much anything I hear by Bruce Cockburn these days depresses me.

Strikes across the frontier and strikes for higher wage
Planet lurches to the right as ideologies engage
Suddenly it's repression, moratorium on rights
What did they think the politics of panic would invite?
Person in the street shrugs -- "Security comes first"
But the trouble with normal is it always gets worse

Or

Sinister cynical instrument
who makes the gun into a sacrament --
the only response to the deification
of tyranny by so-called "developed" nations'
idolatry of ideology

I'm sure he's going to for "angry" with these lyrics, but for some reason that's not the dominant emotion they trigger in me.

Another person I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned (given that I'm several months late to the party) is Nick Drake. You can pretty much pick any song off of "Pink Moon" and make a case for it being the most depressing song ever; and that's not even just based on the lyrics -- the music is terribly sparse as well, which gives the whole album a very specifically depressing feel.

And that was even before Josh told me about the circumstances surrounding the album's creation.

Yes, it's kind of unfortunate that he seems to be trying to incite riots and instead the natural reaction to these lyrics seems to be, "Damn, we're all doomed. I'm never leaving my house again."

At least for me.

PJ Harvey wrote a really upsetting song with the words "No hope for Joy" that gets me personally down more than any other song I know. Yikes.

I'm pretty sure he wasn't writing about you. Schiller was though when he wrote "Ode to Joy."

i'm pretty sure he wasn't writing about joy, if only because pj harvey is a SHE.

ummmm, I decided that genderspecific pronouns are sexist. yeah that's it.

I would have to say "Someone To Pull The Trigger" by Matthew Sweet is the most depressing song ever written.

Matthew does some good depressing stuff... that one's definitely a contender, but I can't help but giggle at "hold me, love me, tie me up and drug me." I know it's not funny, but the fact that it's Matthew saying that... heh.

Sorry. This whole thread made me think of the following passage:

What came first�the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person?

People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands�literally thousands�of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss. The unhappiest people I know, romantically speaking, are the ones who like pop music the most; and I don't know whether pop music has caused this unhappiness, but I do know that they've been listening to the sad songs longer than they've been living the unhappy lives.

High Fidelity
Nick Hornby
(pg. 24-25)

Atlantic-EFO

Tears-Rush

Music because i am miserable.� Certain thoughts appear.� Not good times for Alex...� Sad Today?

LATE FOR THE SKY

The words had all been spoken
And somehow the feeling still wasn't right
And still we continued on through the night
Tracing our steps from the beginning
Until they vanished into the air
Trying to understand how our lives has led us there

Looking hard into your eyes
There was nobody I'd ever known
Such an empty surprise to feel so alone

Now for me some words come easy
But I know that they don't mean that much
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch
You never knew what I loved in you
I don't know what you loved in me
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be

Awake again I can't pretend and I know I'm alone
And close to the end of the feeling we've known

How long have I been sleeping
How long have I been drifting alone through the night
How long have I been dreaming I could make it right
If I closed my eyes and tried with all my might
To be the one you need

Awake again I can't pretend and I know I'm alone
And close to the end of the feeling we've known

How long have I been sleeping
How long have I been drifting alone through the night
How long have I been running for that morning flight
Through the whispered promises and the changing light
Of the bed where we both lie
Late for the sky

1. The Drinking Song (obvious, I know, but there was a while I couldn't listen to it without getting morose)

2. Good Feeling - Violent Femmes

3. Some Girls - Adam Brodsky (also my favourite song of his *sniff* I love the commentary on it, too: It was his mom's favourite song of his just before she passed away from Alzheimer's)

4. I Will Not Take These Things For Granted - Toad the Wet Sprocket (word on "Pray Your Gods," Bill)

5. Sorry About That - Alkaline Trio

6. Mexican Wrestler - Jill Sobule

7. Baby Don't Lie - Jian (this song brings me back to the summer of 01 and the shit I was dealing with then. ymmv!)

8. Gulf War Song (and yet, still relevant...)

9. Canadian Rose - Blues Traveler (that summer of 01 thing again)

10. Paper Cup - Heather Nova

the other thing about Some Girls that I remember is he mentioned that even after she didn't remember him anymore, she would smile at the song.

I heard that just after visiting my grandmother, who has alzheimer's. she didn't remember me, except when I mentioned a plane, and then she asked where the rest of my family was. and said something about me being far away. and then it was gone.

My current "most depressing song" is probably WA9's "For One More."

I'd concur.

In some rather unrelated not it's one of the songs I'd love to see performed in church...
Along with Terry Teddy Goldstein's Widow and Carey's Labyrith of St. Gregory's :p

ahahahahahaha.

I second it.

Yeah....
Just...

Yeah.

...but Carbon Leaf's "On Any Given Day" sounds pretty sad to me...

I�woke, I broke free drove a long time
It didn't purge you from my mind...
Hang up the halo, maybe you're right
Chalk it up to a starry night...
To be set free, to live and learn
Did we pass or fail the term?
You wrote a note with chalk on my door
A message I'd known long before:
On any given day, you'll find me gone...
On any given day, you'll find me gone...

-- Pauley�

A song I only ever heard once, but I remember it cutting to the quick of everyone in the area...

The band Tanglefoot has a song about the Candian forces killed in WW2 who are buried on a patch of land in France(?) that is designated Canadian.

I know Drea knows the song I'm talking about.

Gorgeous. Wasn't a dry eye anywhere.

That would be "Vimy". An awesome, awesome song.

At a Rod Picott houseconcert someone shouted out:

"Why all the wrist slitters Rod?"

I think he should have a BYOH [bring your own hemlock] party.

Oh god where to start.

The Moon - The Microphones (From the album Song Islands only, the other versions are not as much). Phil refuses to play this song live now, as he has in the past become inconsolable on stage crying, and I heard that he actually got sick and puked.

Baby Blue Sedan - Modest Mouse - The first time I heard this song I hated it, listen to it once or twice all the way through. You'll get it.

Lurgee, Fake Plastic Trees, Street Spirit, Scatterbrain, Idioteque, Let Down, Talk Show Host (and many others) - Radiohead - I Love Radiohead.

Scattered, Slow Motion, God of Wine - Third Eye Blind

There are many more, but I am lazy.

alot of people i know would say eric clapton's tears in heaven is the untimately depressing song, though i don't find it very depressing. i always thought 'if i could change the world' was more depressing then that.

- Lee and Fly are songs that i like to listen to when i need to hear depressing music, to mention fruvous. Oh, and Sad Today, haha.
- Gary Jules' version of the tears for fears song Mad World is pretty depressing.
- all the beatles people have mentioned is good choices, like she is leaving, and love you too.
- I Am Cow!
- there was something i was gonna pick as the top of my list and i don't remember what it is. ARG!

I started listening to her song "Living in the Wasteland of the free" again.It has become relevant again and that makes it pretty depressing. What also makes it depressing is the death threats she received after recording it...



Living in the wasteland of the free...

We got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines
and their speech is growing increasingly unkind
They say they are Christ's disciples
but they don't look like Jesus to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got politicians running races on corporate cash
Now don't tell me they don't turn around and kiss them peoples' ass
You may call me old-fashioned
but that don't fit my picture of a true democracy
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got CEO's making two hundred times the workers' pay
but they'll fight like hell against raising the minimum wage
and If you don't like it, mister, they'll ship your job
to some third-world country 'cross the sea
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

We got little kids with guns fighting inner city wars
So what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors
and we call ourselves the advanced civilization
that sounds like crap to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got high-school kids running 'round in Calvin Klein and Guess
who cannot pass a sixth-grade reading test
but if you ask them, they can tell you
the name of every crotch on mTV
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We kill for oil, then we throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight, and we call that the sin
but he's standing up for what he believes in
and that seems pretty damned American to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

While we sit gloating in our greatness
justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free

"Wise Up" by Aimee Mann

One of the most pitiful excuses for a song I've ever heard!� I forget who it is by...I'll post that when I find out.

Ray Peterson did it.� While I wouldn't listen to it daily, labeling it as a pitiful excuse for a song may be a bit extreme.

yeah, it's no When She Talks.... :)

I agree on "Wise Up" - Aimee Mann, but I also think that "People Aint No Good" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is pretty damn depressing. And, on a more obscure scale, "Coin Operated Boy" by the Dresden Dolls. Well, I guess that's really only depressing depending upon how you look at it and how chronically single you've been. Its kinda upbeat.

I think Who wants to live forever by queen is pretty depressin'�But The most depressing song ive ever heard is probly Good Die Young - d12

peace out

Maxxy

I know the Smiths have been mentioned but some people doubted how depressing they really are what about the lines in "I know it's over":
"you see the sea wants to take me
the knife wants to slit me
do you think you can help me"
That is a truly depressing song

I can't believe I haven't mentioned Dylan's Desolation Row here. The ultimate depressing expression of nihilism.

Check out the lyrics

Here is one verse.

Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend, a jealous monk
He looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet
Now you would not think to look at him
But he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin
On Desolation Row

I've always loved that song...
And it is definitely depressing... but... in a good way.

That said.... I always thought of it as a classic example of dylan jibberish. I mean, yeah, it's about homeless folks.... but it's not easy to crack that code. :)

This is what I consider the most depressing song... too bad I can't post a url to it being performed. Wayne's a baritone... with a vibrato.

I have a strange eclectic collection of music.

Wake - by the Mission UK

( oh - I should say... it was written AT Andrew Eldritch of the Sisters of Mercy. When Andrew disbanded the Sisters the first time - in 1986, Wayne and Craig  went on to form the Mission. a lot of bad blood and such ensued. lawyers.  accusations.  words...  and a couple of songs...)

The tried and the trusted talk of plans
Master, past and present
Heartless wordplay, and dreams of revenge
Living on the edge, the razor edge, living on the razor edge

One day we'll look back at this
And laugh and laugh and we'll die laughing
One day we'll look back at this and laugh

Pillar of wisdom and soul of iron
Alone, in the crumbling tower of power

All your friends are dead and buried, they died laughing
All your friends are dead and buried
My heart would bleed for you if i wasn't a victim
My heart should bleed for you

Circumstance, eternal, forever
For the love of god, it's a crying shame
For the love of god

Treasure the moments touched with joy
But the remember the moments, tarnished and stained
For you, sunshine, for you
It's a taste of your own medicine
God's own medicine for you
Wake, wake for you
Wake for you
Wake, wake for you my precious
Wake for you