# Great Pathetic Songs. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487 "2005-05-12T00:54:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ultraviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c77e96/32.png) [@Ultraviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ultraviolet)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/41 "2005-05-12T23:42:45Z")
What about **The Smiths** , they have some great pathetic songs (not to be taken too seriously, of course) : Heaven knows I’m miserable now, Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me, I want the one I can’t have and Please, please, please let me get what I want. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/42 "2005-05-13T00:34:21Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I disagree. The titular character of the song might seem pathetic at the beginning but he quickly crosses the line into creepy and menacing. To each their own interpretation. I see a sad, self-loathing little drunk fast on his way to death and/or prison. To me, the bass riff sounds like a soul slowly winding down. (OK, I listened to _Pork Soda_ a few too many times as a teenager) ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/43 "2005-05-13T00:46:48Z")
Almost everything ever written by Elliott Smith. For some reason I’m thinking particularly of “Bottle Up and Explode” and “I’d Better Be Quiet Now”. ---
**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/44 "2005-05-13T00:56:14Z")
> [@plnnr](#): > > **Hello In There** , by 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.” > > Whew. Well, if you’re going for John Prine, what could be sadder and more pathetic than **Sam Stone**? “There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes. Jesus Christ died for nothing I suppose.” I’ll nominate any number of songs from the Patsy Cline catalog. Start with **I Fall To Pieces**. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/45 "2005-05-13T01:00:46Z")
> [@BurnMeUp](#): > > I think the Smoking Pope’s [Pretty Pathetic](http://www.smokingpopes.net/lyricsright.htm#pathetic) pretty much says it all. Even in the title. That’s true, but you don’t realize it till you realize at the end, that while maybe true, it’s also a pick-up line. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/46 "2005-05-13T01:06:16Z")
No one has mentioned that paean to self-pity, “Creep” by Radiohead. Man, is that guy on the bitter boat! We’d _all_ like to be special. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/47 "2005-05-13T01:06:30Z")
[Goodnight Irene](http://www.roxyrama.com/lyrics/lyrics_goodnightirene.html) fits the bill I think. Or just about any folk song really. They’re all pretty depressing. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/48 "2005-05-13T03:17:20Z")
Esp the way Kevin Riley sings it! ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/49 "2005-05-13T04:52:02Z")
The Persuaders’ "Thin Line Between Love and Hate"And does it get any worse than Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen”? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/50 "2005-05-13T05:16:20Z")
How about _Sixteen Tons_ by Merle Travis? > [@](#): > > You load sixteen tons, what do ya get? > Another day older and deeper in debt, > Saint Peter don’t ya call me cos I can’t go, > I owe my soul to the company store Radiohead’s _Creep_ has already been mentioned, but I reckon quite a few songs off their first album fit the bill. For example, _Thinking About You_, which is about a guy who helped a girl he liked to become a big star, only to be abandoned for “better” guys. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/51 "2005-05-13T05:43:17Z")
The [Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me](http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/bunny.php) song/flash animation. The animation is hilarious, but eventually you just feel bad for the rabbit because he’s so torn up over not having sex. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/52 "2005-05-13T05:54:44Z")
Placebo’s **Centrefold** 'Cos that’s wrong and I’ve been waiting far too long It’s wrong I’ve been waiting far too long For you to be…be me…be…be mine All the centrefolds that you can’t afford Have long since waved their last goodbyes All the centrefolds that you can’t afford You’ve long since faded from their eyes So be…be mine" The starkness of the piano in this song really makes you feel the pathetic longing…It’s quite beautiful…very haunting. Ash’s **Girl from Mars** is a vibrant song that turns what might otherwise be something pathetic into wistful memory. To me it is borderline pathetic. After all, the guy’s in love with a girl whose name he does not know. It’s such a great song, though! It’s universally pathetic in an upbeat way. Almost every guy has known a “Girl from Mars” and reminisces bittersweet… “Today I sleep in the chair by the window It felt as if you’d returned I thought that you were standing over me When I woke there was no-one there I still love you, Girl From…MARS!” and of course The Violent Femmes’ **Please Do Not Go**. I’m kind of a junky for these kind of songs. I love the aforementioned **Missing** by Everything but the Girl- that song is just so sad and evocative of, well… there really isn’t an English word for it… the Japanese call it _sabi_- a slow rust, a patina. I guess I can just relate to being pathetically in love. Probably not a good thing to wallow in but I dig the emotion and the feeling that pours into the music and lyrics of these kind of “pathetic” songs. The musicians/lyricists who put themselves on the line and expose themselves emotionally when writing these songs oftentimes dig up some exquisite blackdiamonds. I suppose it could be worse… I could be a country fan! There’s a tear in my beer, and I’m crying for you dear… ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/53 "2005-05-13T06:15:47Z")
ooh-ooh! I have a nomination for all time most pathetic song! Mr. Big- **To Be With You** “I’m the one who wants to be with you Deep inside I hope you feel it too Waited on a line of greens and blues Just to be the next to be with you.” Nothing more pathetic than this Hair Metal ballad! Heavy Metal Pathetic…it’s almost shameful. b.t.w.- What the hell is a line of greens and blues? Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/54 "2005-05-13T10:17:23Z")
My mom nominates Air Supply’s _Without You_ - > [@](#): > > I can’t live if living is without you > I can’t give, I can’t give anymore > Can’t live if living is without you > Can’t give, I can’t give anymore and Phil Collins’ _Against All Odds_ - > [@](#): > > I wish I could just make you turn around, > turn around and see me cry > There’s so much I need to say to you, > so many reasons why > You’re the only one who really knew me at all > > So take a look at me now, well there’s just an empty space > And there’s nothing left here to remind me, just the memory of your face > Now take a look at me now, cos there’s just an empty space ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/55 "2005-05-13T10:49:06Z")
**Young Girl** — Gary Puckett & The Union Gap ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/56 "2005-05-13T23:15:36Z")
> [@Stark Raven Mad](#): > > My mom nominates Air Supply’s _Without You_ Air Supply? Bleh. [Harry Nilsson](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000159ELA/qid=1116025770/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-9888683-7981554). A great album. I’ll nominate “You’re Breakin’ My Heart” from the [followup](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002W5O/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/104-9888683-7981554?v=glance&s=music&st=*) album, wherein Harry fights back against his misery. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/57 "2005-05-14T00:09:54Z")
> [@Oslo Ostragoth](#): > > Air Supply? Bleh. > [Harry Nilsson](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000159ELA/qid=1116025770/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-9888683-7981554). A great album. > > I’ll nominate “You’re Breakin’ My Heart” from the [followup](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002W5O/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/104-9888683-7981554?v=glance&s=music&st=*) album, wherein Harry fights back against his misery. I listened to Air Supply’s version of _Without You_. Harry’s version is **much** more anguished. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487/58 "2005-05-14T01:46:02Z")
Today from some strange reason, I’ve had The Presidents of the United States’ Lump in my head. 'Cuz she’s Lump. She’s in my head. Poor dear. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-pathetic-songs/303487.md?page=2)