# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/81 "2008-01-26T18:03:16Z")
Love Is Teasing (Love Is Pleasing) \*I wish, I wish, I wish in vain I wish I were a maid again But a maid again I can never be Until apples grow on an ivy tree For love is pleasing and love is teasing And love is a treasure when first it’s new But as love grows older then love grows colder And it fades away like the morning dew There is an alehouse in the town And there my love he sits him down He takes a strange girl on his knee And he tells her things that he once told me For love and porter make a young girl older And love and whiskey make her old and grey And what cannot be cured, love, must be endured, love And now I am bound for Amerikay.\* (I’m fairly sure the lyrics are out of copyright.) I want to sing this for the laugh at my friend’s wedding. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/82 "2008-01-26T18:05:43Z")
Cat Steven’s “Sad Lisa” Kenny Rogers’s “Ruby Don’t Take Your Love to Town” _And if I could move I’d get my gun and put her in the ground. Ruby, don’t take your love to town. Ruby…For God’s Sake, turn around._ ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/83 "2008-01-26T18:14:03Z")
More “hide the knives before listening” songs by Bruce Springsteen: [The River](http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs/TheRiver.html) [Johnny 99](http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs/Johnny99.html) There are plenty of others, but I don’t want to have to open a vein. ---
**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 26, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/84 "2008-01-26T18:22:43Z")
[QUOTE=Typo Knig] More “hide the knives before listening” songs by Bruce Springsteen: [The River](http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs/TheRiver.html) [Johnny 99](http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs/Johnny99.html) There are plenty of others, but I don’t want to have to open a vein. [/QUOTE] [Racing in the Street](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXwzG_4cmes) is a major favourite. I don’t know why, I’ve very few cultural connections with the song, but it’s a great song off one of Bruce’s best albums. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/85 "2008-01-26T19:12:17Z")
[QUOTE=Leechboy] [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Na-xvlYMGck/hqdefault.jpg "A Boy and His Frog") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na-xvlYMGck) That’s right, a puppet made you cry. [/QUOTE] Thank you for posting that. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/86 "2008-01-26T19:19:57Z")
[Mountain Angel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImF34Sz6xuw) by Dolly Parton. Listen to the whole thing…then let me know what you think… ☹ ---
**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 26, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/87 "2008-01-26T19:40:13Z")
[QUOTE=Leechboy] [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Na-xvlYMGck/hqdefault.jpg "A Boy and His Frog") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na-xvlYMGck) That’s right, a puppet made you cry. [/QUOTE] Well, _shit_. Thanks for posting that. Best statue ever, at the end. ---
**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 26, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/88 "2008-01-26T19:50:35Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n1y3U4FarU) Muppets - “In the Navy”, an example of the casual throwaway brilliance of the man, sadly missed, but the video isn’t depressing at all. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/89 "2008-01-26T20:22:23Z")
Tears in Heaven by Clapton. I was very sad when I was younger and found out what this song was really about. ---
**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 26, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/90 "2008-01-26T21:47:03Z")
I was trying to think of a depressing instrumental and could only come up with Fleetwood Mac’s “Albatross”. ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/91 "2008-01-26T21:55:41Z")
[Just Like Anyone](http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=18876) by Aimee Mann. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/92 "2008-01-26T22:18:30Z")
The song my mom and I boo-hoo’d to every time we listened to it: [Teen Angel, Mark Dinning](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nBVdf7neVg) and it’s cousin: [Last Kiss - J. Wilson and the Cavaliers](http://youtube.com/watch?v=gzU8f-TS_kc) Rerecorded by [Pearl Jam](http://youtube.com/watch?v=J_sEtNrYlC4). ---
**Author:** ![blackhobyah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blackhobyah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackhobyah)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/93 "2008-01-26T23:27:57Z")
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “The Carny”. \*And the carny had a horse, all skin and bone A bow-backed nag, that he named “Sorrow” How it is buried in a shallow grave In the then parched meadow. \* [Rest of the lyrics](http://www.sing365.com/music/Lyric.nsf/The-Carny-lyrics-Nick-Cave-and-The-Bad-Seeds/F1D6F61DEA1B8346482568A100326467) and [video.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhQmBQAhu54) ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/94 "2008-01-26T23:52:53Z")
Seasons in the Sun. ---
**Author:** ![MonaLizaT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@MonaLizaT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonaLizaT)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/95 "2008-01-27T02:29:57Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] Just about anything off Pink Floyd’s **The Final Cut**. [/QUOTE] This may be the all time most depressing album ever. Another song that always makes me tear up: Nothing Compares to U (Sinead O’ Connor version). Of course, my reaction likely has something to do with events in my life at the time… ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/96 "2008-01-27T02:31:00Z")
Let’s not forget [I Got Shit](http://www.theskyiscrape.com/website/wikijam/index.php/I_Got_Shit) by Pearl Jam: \*My lips are shakin’ my nails are bit off Been a month since i’ve heard myself talk All the advantage this life’s got on me Picture a cup in the middle of the sea And i fight back in my mind Never lets me be right I got memories i got shit So much it don’t show\* ---
**Author:** ![Satellite\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Satellite\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satellite_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/97 "2008-01-27T02:32:59Z")
[QUOTE=Philster] Seasons in the Sun. [/QUOTE] Good Lord, when I was young (prob’ly around 10), that one used to make me bawl, and I had no idea why, at the time. another James Blunt ‘miserable song’ is **Goodbye My Lover**. The first time I heard that one was when he was a guest on Oprah. (Satellite^Gal nominates JB’s **No Bravery** , off the same album) On a related note, I remember reading in (I think) Stranger Than Fiction, about a song that drove many people to suicide, many years ago, and they supposedly had every copy of the song destroyed. true or UL?\* S^G \*I apologize for the hijack… honest ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/98 "2008-01-27T03:19:22Z")
Nomination: _Sam Stone_ , song by John Pryne. “There’s a hole in Daddy’s Arm where all the money goes” Nomination: _Theme of Eric Satie_ by Blood Sweat and Tears on the eponymous album. No lyrics. The saddest instrumental I’ve ever heard. Beats Barber’s _Adagio for Strings_, even though it is short. Maybe even because it is short. Nomination: _Manhattan Kansas_ by Glen Campbell. Google the lyrics. Serious Full-Album Nomination, and you probably haven’t heard it: the entirety of the album _Sand and Water_ by Beth Nielsen Chapman. Once you know it was written as/after her husband died from cancer, so you know the context, this album will tear you up into little crying pieces. Seriously damn, this woman was in love and hurting. Even not knowing the story behind it it affected me pretty strongly. Nomination. [Simon & Garfunkel\* Old Friends and Bookends, the latter of which is, as with the instrumental from _Blood Sweat and Tears_ listed above, one of those short little things that sticks a sad little knife in you and then leaves, and you never forget it. Old Friends is decently sad in a different way but deserves mention. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/99 "2008-01-27T03:25:26Z")
I can’t believe I left out Melanie’s _I Really Loved Harold_. As long as I’m returning, [Sand and Water](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zaoYkCPUN8) by Beth Nielsen Chapman ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/100 "2008-01-27T03:35:45Z")
“Willing to Wait” by Sebadoh. It’s about being hung up on a girl who will sleep with anyone who isn’t you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014.md?page=6)