Ella Fitzgerald singing Gershwin’s “But Not For Me”:
“With Love to lead the way
I’ve found more clouds of gray
Than any Russian play could guarantee…”
Thought of a couple more!
Sarah McLachlan “Full of Grace”
I feel just like I’m sinking
And I claw for solid ground
Pulled down by the undertow
Never thought I could feel so low
Oh, darkness
I feel like letting go …
The Cure “To Wish Impossible Things”
Now the sun shines cold
And all the sky is grey
The stars are dimmed
By clouds and tears
And all I wish is gone away.
Two by Richard Thompson come to mind immediately:
Can’t Win:
*I started to cry, they put gin in my cup
I started to crawl and they swaddled me up *
… and it just goes downhill from there.
Behind Grey Walls is an uplifting little number about committing a girlfriend (or wife?) to the looney bin. I’m not even going to quote it here, but it’s pretty damned depressing.
Great stuff, at least IMHO.
Death in June- Hollow of Devotion
And the death of dreams shall be a beautifull end, with flowers of filth, wine and fine men.
The Smiths- asleep
- Sing me to sleep
Sing me to sleep
And then leave me alone
Don’t try to wake me in the morning
'Cause I will be gone
Don’t feel bad for me
I want you to know
Deep in the cell of my heart
I will feel so glad to go *
Crooked Fingers, “A New Drink for the Old Drunk”
Full lyrics can be found here (just click on the song title): http://www.crookedfingers.com/discography/
Some highlights:
"Now you waste all your days in the dark in the corner
Without light without grace where you wait for the slaughter
Where they spit in your face as the hours grow late
And they laugh as they lie and then seal up your fate
And you cringe as you binge to forget how you hate
All the doom in this pitiful room you create
Hours pass by half forgotten
Night turns black cause it’s rotten
And we slide right to the bottom
Our tongues made out of cotton
Eyes seal shut in a slumber
Til we hear someone mumble
Could you spare from the tumbler
A new drink for the old drunk?"
“I dim the lights, and think about you
Spend sleepless nights, and think about you
You said you loved me - or were you just being kind?
Or am I losing my mind?”
Losing My Mind - from the musical “Follies”
*Sam Stone, came home
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas
And the time that he served
Had shattered all his nerves
And left a little shrapnel in his knee
But the morphine eased the pain
And the grass grew round his brain
And gave him all the confidence he lacked
With a purple heart
And a monkey on his back
There’s a hole in Daddy’s arm
Where all the money goes
Jesus Christ died for nothing I suppose
Little pitchers have big ears
Don’t stop to count the years
Sweet songs never last too long
On broken radios…*
Forgot the credit: “Sam Stone” - ** John Prine*
I love that song…
*There is another world
There is a better world
Well, there must be
Well, there must be
Well, there must be
Well, there must be
Well … *
All my favorites are from Aimee Mann. I think the most depressing thing about her lyrics is the overwhelming sense of resignation.
Momentum:
But I can’t confront the doubts I’ve had
Can’t admit that maybe the past was bad
And so, for the sake of momentum
I’m condemning the future to death so it can match the past.
Humpty Dumpty:
Say you were split, you were split in fragments
and none of the pieces would talk to you
Wouldn’t you want to be who you had been?
Well baby I want that too.
Nothing is Good Enough:
Critics at their worst
could never criticize
the way that you do
no, there’s no one else, I find,
to undermine or dash a hope
quite like you
and you do it so casually, too
All real good party-enders, too.
Another is 10,000 Maniacs’ Eat for Two:
Baby blankets and baby shoes, baby slippers, baby spoons, walls of baby blue.
Dream child in my head is a nightmare born in a borrowed bed.
Now I know lightning strikes again. It struck me once, then struck me dead.
My folly grows inside of me.
New favorite is “Wicked Little Town” from the Hedwig & The Angry Inch soundtrack.
*You think that Luck
Has left you there.
But maybe there’s nothing
up in the sky but air.
And there’s no mystical design,
No cosmic lover preassigned.
There’s nothing you can find
that can not be found.
'Cause with all the changes
you’ve been through
It seems the stranger’s always you.
Alone again in some new
Wicked little town.*
…oh, and the rest of the soundtrack kicks ass too.
Oh, wait! Almost forgot one of my favorites:
from The Pogues, “Fairytale of New York”
You’re a bum, You’re a punk
You’re an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead
on a drip In that bed
You scum bag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it’s our last
– Sung by Kirsty MacColl and Shane MacGowan
Actually, a fair bit sung by the Pogues is depressing lyrically:
The Turkish Song of the Damned
Sit down by the Fire
Worms 
Of course, you can always listen to Bottle of Smoke to lift your spirits again.
Suzanne Vega, Knight Moves
Blast
Oxygen mask
Smoke filled cockpit
Depressurized
Don’t be afraid
Hold on to me
We’re going down
But not our love
Death
Don’t seem so bad
When I’m with you
My only love
So close your eyes
Kiss me one last time
We’re gonna die
But not our love
NoFX - Falling in Love - So Long and Thanks For All the Shoes
From the Monongaleh valley
To the Mesabi iron range
To the coal mines of Appalacchia
The story’s always the same
Seven-hundred tons of metal a day
Now sir you tell me the world’s changed
Once I made you rich enough
Rich enough to forget my name
Bruce Springsteen - Youngstown
Radiohead is wonderful for things like this.
“Karma police
I’ve given all I can
It’s not enough…
I’ve given all I can
but we’re still on the payroll…”
~Karma Police
“Either way you turn,
I’ll be there.
Open up your skull,
I’ll be there.
Climbing up the walls…”
~Climbing Up the Walls
“I’d tell all my friends
but they’d never believe me.
They’d think that I’d finally lost it completely.
I’d show them the stars,
and the meaning of life…
They’d shut me away.
But I’d be all right.”
~Subterranean Homesick Alien
Actually, Subterranean Homesick Alien is one of the saddest, most beautiful songs ever. I love it so much.
The first time I heard Dubliner Ronnie Drew sing, “The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda,” I was utterly devastated. I was used to hearing him sing crude drinking songs, and didn’t expect to hear something that heartbreaking.
If you don’t know the song, it’s a grim story of an Australian soldier, maimed at the battle of Gallipoli in World War I.
As his ship is returning to Australia, he sings:
“And when the ship pulled into Circular Quay,
And I looked at the place where my legs used to be,
I thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
To grieve and to mourn and to pity.”
But Mirror Image, you forgot Radiohead’s most depressingest, Motion Picture Soundtrack
and Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Hell, you could pick just about any Radiohead song and get a damn depressing lyric out of it. That’s just the way they are.
Thanks to Sam Stone mentioning John Prine, I feel obliged to add this one:
“There’s flies in the kitchen
I can hear them there buzzin’
And I ain’t done nothing since I woke up today
But how the hell can a person
go on to work in the morning
to come home in the evening
and have nothing to say”
From Prine’s Angel From Montgomery