The 52 most depressing songs you’ve ever heard.
Did a search and couldn’t find this book mentioned. It is hilarious, and I picked it up for $7.
The downside of course is that some tunes I used to like I now feel guilty about.
Oh, it has all the usual suspects- Honey, Ruby Don’t take Your Love To Town and Mandy.
I won’t give away the final ratings. If you see this book, grab it. Highly recommended.
My kinda book!
Is “I Hate Myself and Want to Die” in that book? I remember it was a song released by Nirvana just before Kurt Cobain’s death. Eerily prophetic.
I did once take all my depressing songs and put them in a playlist on my iPod. I remember playing that playlist one day and by early afternoon, I just wanted to cry and couldn’t figure out why.
It’s not but Kurt Cobain gets a few mentions 
In that case, ever read Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs ?
Meh, FWIW, “Same Old Lang Syne” and Beth do the trick for me given my then-current situations, still hurt today.
I had this up as my staff choice for a couple of weeks. It seemed to me that the cover art alone was worth the price of the book. Apparently not, though. Everyone picked it up and smiled, but nobody bought the thing.
I recommended this at the book store where I work too! Funny stuff.
The version I bought has different artwork. A stuffed rabbit- I don’t quite get the connection. Maybe something to do with bunny boilers.
Picture by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow has to be up there. I love the song but is is a real downer.
The first verse:
“Living my life in a slow hell
different girl every night at the hotel
I aint seen the sun shine in 3 damn days
been fuelin up on cocaine and whiskey
wish I had a good girl to miss me
but I wonder if I’ll ever change my ways
I put your picture away
sat down and cried today
I cant look at you while I’m lying next to her
I put your picture away
sat down and cried today
I cant look at you while I’m lying next to her”
I’m guessing this is the cover of the German version of the book. I’m curious as to why the main title isn’t translated, but the subtitle is. Maybe because it’s the title of a song?
Slight hijack: every time I hear this, I think, “this country & western song is a lot better than most of what they’ve been playing for the last ten years.” But then I remember that I’ve never heard it on a country station, only pop stations. Anyone else think it sounds country, or is it just me?
My vote for depressing is Gary Allen’s Smoke Rings in the Dark. Good song, but sad.
Mandy? What the hell? its great, just don’t listen to hard to the lyrics and pretend you are Barry.
But it was supposed to be about his pet dog which he kicked out in the rain.
So…this isn’t a Valterion thread?
Yup.
I saw this book in the bookshop, but it didn’t make me feel for it. I didn’t like the artwork too much and the songs weren’t my kind, but it did seem like something I wouldn’t mind flipping through if I happened to find it lying around at, say, a friend’s place.
I used to hear it on country stations a lot down here in FL (presuambly it still gets played, I just don’t listen to the radio anymore).
Main reason I remember this is because the country stations would always play a version with the word “cocaine” bleeped out, which struck me as sorta bizarre.
My personal top 10 of right now:
I got the book some months back. It was great.
The book makes a distinction between depressing songs and sad songs. The author says that for a song to really be depressing it has to be truly bad as well.
