# Most Depressing Song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 25, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014 "2008-01-25T21:01:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/1 "2008-01-25T21:01:57Z")
A CBC show called “As It Happens” recently asked listeners to name what they thought was the most depressing song of all time, ever. In honor of this depressing time of year, don’t ya know. Well they had interesting responses - “Gloomy Sunday”, “Where have all the Flowers Gone”, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”. - I’d like to read the responses from the posters on this message board. I know there have been similar threads, but the catch and the hard part is you only get to name one. No hedging by saying either “Strange Fruit” or “Streets of London” or “If you see her say hello”. Only one, the most depressingest. Have at it. ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/2 "2008-01-25T21:11:07Z")
Del Amitri - “Nothing Ever Happens” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/3 "2008-01-25T21:11:41Z")
Janice Ian’s _At Seventeen_. When I’d hear it I’d hurt all over for her. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/4 "2008-01-25T21:12:39Z")
\*\*Goodbye \*\* — Elton John and Bernie Taupin ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/5 "2008-01-25T21:18:06Z")
Just about anything off Pink Floyd’s **The Final Cut**. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/6 "2008-01-25T21:19:03Z")
**And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda** , by Eric Bogle (or whatever version you like) ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/7 "2008-01-25T21:19:30Z")
How about the **Sisters of Mercy** cover of _Gimmie Shelter_? [Lame Youtube fan video.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRyhBh9JVd4) Make you want to open up a vein in your wrist, right? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/8 "2008-01-25T21:19:55Z")
If I have to pick one…Alan Jackson - Remember When ETA: Maybe country doesn’t count, since it’s all pretty depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/9 "2008-01-25T21:20:50Z")
Elanor Rigby by the Beatles ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/10 "2008-01-25T21:22:43Z")
Shimmer- Fuel Wishing on a Star- Rolls Royce ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/11 "2008-01-25T21:24:33Z")
Cat’s in the Cradle, Harry Chapin. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/12 "2008-01-25T21:28:39Z")
**Dung Beetle** wins. ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/13 "2008-01-25T21:30:08Z")
Tank Park Salute, by Billy Bragg ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/14 "2008-01-25T21:33:50Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Nader] **Dung Beetle** wins. [/QUOTE] Oh, I think Harry’s got some more depressing songs. (Not necessarily good songs, mind you). Like, “The Shortest Story”, told from the point of view of a baby who dies of hunger at the age of 20 days. It ends with the eternal question, “Why is there nothing, now, to do but diiieeee?” As far as most depressingest, I’m not sure. Maybe “Paradise” by Bruce Springsteen, off _The Rising_ ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/15 "2008-01-25T21:35:19Z")
**Hurt**. The original NIN version is plenty depressing, but Johnny Cash’s cover is 10x more so. You could also take your pick from just about any song in Elliott Smith’s discography - though for me it’s always been **Pitseleh** (mostly because of where/when/how I first heard the song, rather than just the lyrics… which are plenty sad in and of themselves) ---
**Author:** ![fatgail](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fatgail/32/7285_2.png) [@fatgail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fatgail)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/16 "2008-01-25T21:36:43Z")
**Keep me in Your Heart For A While** by Warren Zevon is pretty f-ing depressing, but when you listen to it and know that he KNEW he was on his deathbed, and this was his last album…it’s heartwrenching. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/17 "2008-01-25T21:41:24Z")
I think Leonard Cohen still holds the [title](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/leonardcohen/dressrehearsalrag.html) as Mr. Sunshine. > [@](#): > > And you climbed the twilight mountains > and you sang about the view, > and everywhere that you wandered > love seemed to go along with you. > That’s a hard one to remember, > yes it makes you clench your fist. > And then the veins stand out like highways, > all along your wrist. > And yes it’s come to this, > it’s come to this, > and wasn’t it a long way down, > wasn’t it a strange way down? Although Crosby, Stills and Nash’s[Wasted On the Way](http://www.lyricsdepot.com/crosby-stills-and-nash/wasted-on-the-way.html) still hits me like a ton of bricks everytime I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![srand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@srand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srand)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/18 "2008-01-25T21:42:19Z")
[In the Aeroplane Over the Sea](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2jkyuT8unw) - Neutral Milk Hotel ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/19 "2008-01-25T21:51:20Z")
_Ballad of Ira Hayes_ by Johnny Cash. > [@](#): > > He died drunk one morning > Alone in the land he fought to save > Two inches of water in a lonely ditch > Was a grave for Ira Hayes. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/20 "2008-01-25T21:52:00Z")
Joy Division - [Atmosphere](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0We9d5J3BLQ). It’s more melancholic than depressing though - and the years-after video is a bit odd. [Love will tear us apart](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0dfd_L4tDk&feature=related) can be pretty depressing depending on the actual point of relationship collapse you are at. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014.md?page=2)