# Favorite/Most Depressing Song Lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 25, 2002, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634 "2002-11-25T10:53:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/41 "2002-11-29T00:08:36Z")
Some great choices so far, particularly the **Radiohead** ones (I’m going through a bit of a nutty Radiohead phase right now). As for mine, naturally, a **Leonard Cohen** one - just as a random choice - they’s dozens of good and depressing ones ;): I heard of a saint who had loved you, so I studied all night in his school. He taught that the duty of lovers is to tarnish the golden rule. And just when I was sure that his teachings were pure he drowned himself in the pool. His body is gone but back here on the lawn his spirit continues to drool. _One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong_ ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/42 "2002-11-29T02:45:29Z")
Here’s another Radiohead one. “I jumped in the river. What did I see? Black-eyed angels swam with me. A moon full of stars and astral cars. All the things that I used to see. And all my lovers were there with me. All my pasts and futures. We all went to heaven in a little row boat. There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt.” ~Pyramid Song Somewhere I heard someone say that Thom Yorke could read the stock reports from the newspaper and make you cry. And it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/43 "2002-11-29T02:57:06Z")
Almost every song on Pink Floyd’s _The Final Cut_ Sweetheart, Sweetheart, are you fast asleep? Good. That’s the only time that I can really speak to you There is something that I’ve locked away, A memory that is too painful, to withstand the light of day ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/44 "2002-11-29T05:51:23Z")
**Sublight** , I was in a really depressed mood this week, and pulled out _The Final Cut_ for the first time in a few years - it’s easily the most miserable record I’ve ever heard, and was perfect for the mood. By the nuclear war-ending, I almost felt happy knowing that at least I’m not Roger Waters 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dryga\_Yes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@Dryga\_Yes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dryga_Yes)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/45 "2002-11-29T14:37:34Z")
Yay! Here comes even more Radiohead! \*A heart that’s full up like a landfill A job that slowly kills you Bruises that won’t heal You look so tired, unhappy Bring down the government They don’t, they don’t speak for us **I’ll take a quiet life A handshake of carbon monoxide** No alarms and no surprises No alarms and no surprises No alarms and no surprises Silent. Silent.\* –No Surprises ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/46 "2002-11-29T18:05:49Z")
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, my 4th favorite all-time song is _Messages_ by OMD, which contains such uplifting lines as: So don’t ask me if I think it’s true that communication can bring hope to those who have gone their separate ways. Of course, the music is equally depressing, probably the saddest music I have ever heard in a medium-paced song.\* \*Saddest, but not most \*depressing[i/]. Some country music, while musically not sad, has a weird meter and pace to it that I theorize actually makes me well on the road to being depressed. It makes my brain feel slow even if my thoughts are happy. ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/47 "2002-11-29T18:12:22Z")
I agree with The Final Cut being a terribly depressing album. And it wasn’t purely based on the fact that it was Roger’s last album with the band. To stay on track with Pink Floyd, how about _Goodbye Cruel World_ on The Wall. No depressing metaphors, just something of a suicide note and at the end of the song, Roger is cut off in the middle of saying goodbye. That was pretty disturbing to me. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/48 "2002-11-30T04:49:05Z")
Here’s another from \*_John Prine_ - “Mexican Home” \*My father died on the porch outside on an August afternoon I sipped bourbon and cried with a friend by the light of the moon so its hurry! hurry! step right up it’s a matter of life or death the sun is going down and the moon is just holding its breath. CHORUS: Mama dear your boy is here far across the sea waiting for that sacred core that burns inside of me and I feel a storm all wet and warm not ten miles away approaching my Mexican home. … \* ---
**Author:** ![Grit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@Grit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grit)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/49 "2002-11-30T07:18:53Z")
SAMSTONE has submitted a couple of John Prines sunny lyrics but this one IMHO is the absolute saddest song I’ve ever heard HELLO IN THERE-John Prine We had an apartment in the city, Me and Loretta liked living there. Well, it’d been years since the kids had grown, A life of their own left us alone. John and Linda live in Omaha, And Joe is somewhere on the road. We lost Davy in the Korean war, And I still don’t know what for, don’t matter anymore. Chorus: Ya’ know that old trees just grow stronger, And old rivers grow wilder ev’ry day. Old people just grow lonesome Waiting for someone to say, “Hello in there, hello.” Me and Loretta, we don’t talk much more, She sits and stares through the back door screen. And all the news just repeats itself Like some forgotten dream that we’ve both seen. Someday I’ll go and call up Rudy, We worked together at the factory. But what could I say if asks “What’s new?” “Nothing, what’s with you? Nothing much to do.” Repeat Chorus: So if you’re walking down the street sometime And spot some hollow ancient eyes, Please don’t just pass 'em by and stare As if you didn’t care, say, “Hello in there, hello.” ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/50 "2002-11-30T08:42:43Z")
Savatage has a couple of really sad songs that just get to me. Unfortunately I only know a couple of people up here who have even _heard_ of them. > [@](#): > > Why all the things we asked > Or prayed would come to pass > Have gone unheard > Like silent words > That slip into the past > > For Lord they’re not schemes > Can’t you tell dreams > Why do you > Let them slip by > Never even tried > > **St Patrick’s** and > [@](#): > > Somewhere on that long empty road > We all stand lone > Searching for clues > From our different views > > In the dark I call out your name > It echoes in vain > Over again > In an empty room > > **If I Go Away** and > [@](#): > > Your childhood eyes > were so intense > While bartering your innocence > For bits of string > the grown up wings you needed > > But when you had to add them up > You found that they > were not enough > To get you in > Pay for sins repeated > > **Believe** All from the Streets: A Rock Opera album ---
**Author:** ![desdinova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@desdinova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/desdinova)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/51 "2002-11-30T09:20:15Z")
**Obsidian Flutterby** , I’m actually more partial to _Dead Winter Dead_ myself. BUT, the grand award for most depressing song lyrics of all goes to Marillion’s _Misplaced Childhood_ album. “I saw a war-widow in a launderette, washing the memories from her husbands clothes… she had medals, pinned to a threadbare great coat, a lump in her throat, with cemetery eyes…” I buried my grandfather humming that bit in my head. It was quite cathartic, actually. ---
**Author:** ![McJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@McJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McJohn)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/52 "2002-11-30T22:51:14Z")
How is it that nobody has mentioned the certified hands-down winner of Most Depressing Album Ever Made, Lou Reed’s “Berlin”? (Honest to God, when it first came out, people were calling their buddies to say, “You gotta get this album. This is the most depressing album ever made. It’s real sit-right-down-and-shoot-yourself music.” And then their buddies would go, “Most depressing album ever made? Meet me at Cactus; we’re on a mission!”) “Berlin” appears to be the album Reed put together in the early 70s when he was living in Germany, hiding from the fallout of his success with “Walk on the Wild Side”. It’s apparently a memoir of this guy’s relationship with a totally screwed up woman who hangs out with the soldiers at the U.S. Army base and later commits suicide. Permit me to attempt the reconstruction of some of the lyrics–I apologize if they’re not accurate, but the CD is buried at the bottom of a box and only removed twice a year when we get fresh Prozac and have spent a lovely day communing with nature. We handle it with tongs. * * * Caroline says As she gets up from the floor You can hit me all you want to But I don’t love you any more But she’s not afraid to die All of her friends call her Alaska When she takes speed they laugh and ask her What is in her mind * * * They’re taking her children away Because they said she was not a good mother They’re taking her children away Because of the things she would do with the others The black Air Force sergeant was not the first one * * * My castle, kids and home I thought she was Mary Queen of Scots I tried so very hard Just goes to show how wrong you can be I’m gonna stop wasting my time Somebody else would have broken both of her arms * * * Oh, yeah, good stuff. From the woozy, boozy opening, a distorted, slowed-down, drugged-out rendition of the traditional Call to Chug in a German pub, to the children’s agonized screams of “Mommy, Mommy!” to the full orchestra topped off by despairing flutes, “Berlin” is one of those thoroughly miserable, enormously cathartic experiences. Another one that gets my vote, although this is more lightly horrific than depressing, is the magnificent “Gaslighting Abbie” from Steely Dan’s latest album, “Two Against Nature”: * * * There’s a few items we need in town–allez-vous, girl There’s no time to waste Such as fresh cable and fifteen watt bulbs Couple dozen–it’s a big old place You can choose the music I’ll set up my gear Later on we’ll chill and watch the fireworks from here * * * Eew. I’m going to go pick up an old Nancy Drew now. Maybe slip some Carpenters into the CD player. ---
**Author:** ![ZooMetropolis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e480ec/32.png) [@ZooMetropolis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZooMetropolis)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/53 "2002-12-01T01:00:24Z")
I always get depressed listening to U2 - Love Is Blindness \*Love is blindness I don’t want to see Won’t you wrap the night Around me Oh my love Blindness A little death Without mourning No call And no warning Baby…a dangerous idea That almost makes sense\* ---
**Author:** ![penny\_dreadful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@penny\_dreadful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penny_dreadful)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/54 "2002-12-01T09:04:55Z")
I know the Cure has been mentioned at least a couple of times, but my vote for most depressing goes to “A Letter to Elise” from _Wish_, probably because the only guy who ever dumped me told me that this song expressed his feelings at the time. > [@](#): > > Elise, believe I never wanted this. > I thought this time I’d keep all of my promises. > I thought you were the girl I always dreamed about, > but I let the dream go > and the promises broke > and the make-believe ran out… > > And every time I try to pick it up > like falling sand, > as fast as I pick it up > it slips away through my clutching hands. > But there’s nothing else I can really do, > there’s nothing else > I can really do > at all. ---
**Author:** ![Global\_Citizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Global\_Citizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Global_Citizen)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/55 "2002-12-01T15:14:18Z")
_How Soon Is Now?_ by **The Smiths** You go home, you cry and you want to die. It’s my favourite song. Global Citizen ---
**Author:** ![Homer\_J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c37758/32.png) [@Homer\_J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer_J)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/56 "2002-12-01T15:28:10Z")
'its commin round again its slowly creeping in again time and its command soon enough it comes settles in its place the shadow inmy face puts pressure in my day CHORUS this life, well its slipping right through my hands these days turned out nothing like i had planned its commin round again its slowly creeping in time and its command settles in its place the shadow inmy face puts pressure in my day soon enough it calls here it is again slowly creeping in, time and its command soon enough it comes settles in its place puts pressure in my day im dignified and lame this life, well its slipping right through my hands these days turned out nothing like i had planned control, well its slipping right through my hands these days turned out nothing like i had planned these days - powderfinger, its not sung slowly or depressing its just very beautiful, melancholy, and passionate. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/57 "2002-12-14T03:26:03Z")
i think that rory gallagher’s ‘daughter of the everglades’ is a real downer…i love it! [http://www.8ung.at/bluesrock/daughter\_of.txt](http://www.8ung.at/bluesrock/daughter_of.txt) ---
**Author:** ![Nightime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Nightime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightime)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/58 "2002-12-14T04:37:00Z")
Lifting the mask from a local clown Feeling down like him Seeing the light in a station bar And travelling far in sin Sailing downstairs to the northern line Watching the shine of the shoes And hearing the trial of the people there Who’s to care if they lose. And take a look you may see me on the ground For I am the parasite of this town. _Parasite_, Nick Drake And in my dreams you’re alive and you’re crying, As your mouth moves in mine, soft and sweet, Rings of flowers round your eyes and I’ll love you for the rest of your life _Two-Headed Boy Pt 2_, Neutral Milk Hotel Sunny day, highway If it rains it’s all the same I can’t feel a thing I can’t feel a thing I’ve got a big black car The lights above, oh yes I see the stars above _Big Black Car_, Big Star I am puzzled as the newborn child I am troubled as the tide Should I stand amid the breakers? Should I lie with death my bride? Hear me sing, “Swim to me, Swim to me, Let me enfold you: Here I am, Here I am, Waiting to hold you” _Song to the Siren_, Tim Buckley ---
**Author:** ![Justhink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@Justhink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justhink)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/59 "2002-12-14T23:20:15Z")
## I’m pretty big on “Killing Me Softly” |Strumming my pain with his fingers |Singing my life with his words |Killing me softly with his song |Killing me softly, |with his song |Telling my whole life, |with his words |Killing me softly |With his song. ## I suppose it can be seen as rebirth or validating/redemptive articulation; however, I tend to veiw it as a total sense of worthlessness that someone so effortlessly plays your entire soul and being as a peice of entertainment, a casual remark, an insignificant part of themselves. |And there he stood this young boy |A stranger to my eyes The idea that not only has this being absorbed everything you know you can be or would ever want to be, but that they have accomplished this in their youth, and in one stroke totally annihilated your purpose, and didn’t even require you for reference to accomplish this. I find this song to be so honestly raw and vulnerable, almost the essence of emotional longing itself - the articulation of a tear. Ones complete aknowledgement of submission, when they have tried so hard to form an identity; only to be sideswiped by the unexpected, suddenly realizing they’re the living dead; the worst of all fates. Then to cast your vision around at others and simply cry hoping they die in ignorance, and knowing that your truth is now a curse; your only compassion can be your withdraw and deception. There’s so much in this song, but that’s the general idea of it to me. -Justhink ---
**Author:** ![IThinkNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ce73a5/32.png) [@IThinkNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IThinkNot)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634/60 "2002-12-14T23:34:59Z")
Favorite lyrics? Anything by Alanis Morrisette. I’m thinking of “All I Really Want”: “Do I stress you out my sweater is on backwards and inside out and you say ‘how appropriate’ I don’t want to dissect everything today I don’t mean to pick you apart you see but I can’t help it and there I go jumping before the gunshot has gone off slap me with a splintered ruler and it would knock me to the floor if I wasn’t there already if only I could kill the killer…” Most depressing lyrics? Beyond a shadow of a doubt, “Waste”, by Staind. "Your mother came up to me she wanted answers only she should know it wasn’t easy to deal with the tears that rolled down her face I had no answers because I didn’t even know you but these words they can’t replace the life you waste how could you paint this picture? was life as bad as it should seem that there were no more options for you? I can’t explain how I feel I’ve been there many times before I’ve tasted the cold steel of my life crashing down before me but these words they can’t replace the life you waste did Daddy not love you or did he love you just too much did he control you did he live through you at your cost? did he leave no questions for you to answer on your own— well f_ck them and f_ck her and f_ck him and f_ck you for not having the strength in your heart to pull through I’ve had doubts I have failed I’ve f\*cked up I’ve had plans but that doesn’t mean I should take my life with my own hands…" It’s a song about a kid who killed himself with the Staind song “Outside” playing over and over and over. Yeah, that’s one hell of a downer… ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-most-depressing-song-lyrics/138634.md?page=4)