# Most. Depressing. Pop or rock song. Ever. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 3, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296 "2005-11-03T15:20:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/1 "2005-11-03T15:20:22Z")
For a long time, I would’ve said it was Kansas’s “Dust in the Wind,” which goes on and on in excrutiating detail about just how brief and pointless life is. Then I heard that golden oldie, Carly Simon’s “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be,” an anthem to anomie and alienation that’s so dreary and pessimistic I wanted to slit my wrists on the spot. What gets your vote? ---
**Author:** ![John\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@John\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_F)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/2 "2005-11-03T15:22:54Z")
There are loads of them but first to pop into my head is Seasons In The Sun. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/3 "2005-11-03T15:39:30Z")
Shannon is pretty depressing, about his Irish Setter drowning… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/4 "2005-11-03T15:41:03Z")
“All by myself…don’t wanna live, all by myself…” Where’s the razor? ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/5 "2005-11-03T15:43:59Z")
Janis Ian’s [At Seventeen](http://www.janisian.com/lyric-at_seventeen.html)\ ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/6 "2005-11-03T15:47:43Z")
“Patches” by Clarence Carter ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/7 "2005-11-03T15:49:47Z")
on 2nd thought, “Ode To Billy Joe” by Bobbi Gentry ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/8 "2005-11-03T15:49:52Z")
“The band Played Waltzing Matilda” by The Pogues. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/9 "2005-11-03T15:58:17Z")
Elvis Costello’s _All This Useless Beauty_, _Allison_, and _Poor Fractured Atlas_. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/10 "2005-11-03T16:02:37Z")
The Beatles’ _Elenor Rigby_ should be on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/11 "2005-11-03T16:03:02Z")
It may not be the most depressing, but it’s in the running… Gilbert O’Sullivan’s _[Alone Again (naturally)](http://www.geocities.com/merrystar3/allysongs/AloneAgain.htm)_ ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/12 "2005-11-03T16:41:51Z")
Depends on how you define depressing, but the saddest song ever is the Cowboy Junkies version of “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/13 "2005-11-03T16:52:04Z")
Radiohead _Creep_ and the cover of _Mad World_ on the Donnie Darko soundtrack. I have learned to turn sadness into anger (it’s good emotional fuel and a quick & dirty way to avoid depression), so hearing either of those songs makes me want to break things. ---
**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/14 "2005-11-03T16:52:52Z")
I don’t know if I’d exactly classify them as rock or pop, but a couple of John Prine’s songs come to mind: **Sam Stone** : There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes. Jesus Christ died for nothing I suppose. **Hello In 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. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/15 "2005-11-03T17:13:02Z")
[The Ballad of Lucy Jordan](http://www.risa.co.uk/sla/song.php?songid=10077), by Shel Silverstein " … At the age of thirty-seven she realised she’d never Ride through Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair So she let the phone keep ringing and she sat there softly singing Little nursery rhymes she’d memorised in her daddy’s easy chair … " ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/16 "2005-11-03T17:31:26Z")
Gonna bathe and shave and dress myself and eat solo every night Unplug the phone, sleep alone Stay way out of sight Yeah, it’s kinda lonely Yeah, it’s sorta sick Being your own one and only is a dirty lowdown trick **One Man Guy** Loudon Wainwright III Cheers me up no end 🙂 If I wanted to be _made_ depressed I’d just listen to the charts. ---
**Author:** ![bradministrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@bradministrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradministrator)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/17 "2005-11-03T17:48:32Z")
> [@Who\_me?](#): > > It may not be the most depressing, but it’s in the running… > > Gilbert O’Sullivan’s _[Alone Again (naturally)](http://www.geocities.com/merrystar3/allysongs/AloneAgain.htm)_ That was going to be my suggestion. I mean, has there been a more frank look at suicide in the Top 40? ---
**Author:** ![foxymoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@foxymoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foxymoron)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/18 "2005-11-03T18:26:07Z")
The Carpenters’ _Goodbye to Love_. Not **the** most depressing song ever, but it’s certainly up (or down) there. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/19 "2005-11-03T18:31:36Z")
Ben Fold’s Five “Brick.” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296/20 "2005-11-03T19:07:21Z")
[http://www.birdsnest.com/catcrad.htm](http://www.birdsnest.com/catcrad.htm) > [@](#): > > A child arrived just the other day, > He came to the world in the usual way. > But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay. > He learned to walk while I was away. > And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew, > He’d say, “I’m gonna be like you, dad. > You know I’m gonna be like you.” > [@](#): > > I’ve long since retired and my son’s moved away. > I called him up just the other day. > I said, “I’d like to see you if you don’t mind.” > He said, “I’d love to, dad, if I could find the time. > You see, my new job’s a hassle, and the kid’s got the flu, > But it’s sure nice talking to you, dad. > It’s been sure nice talking to you.” > And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me, > He’d grown up just like me. > My boy was just like me. Fathers & sons who never quite connect comes a little too close to home to suit me. ☹ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-pop-or-rock-song-ever/329296.md?page=2)