# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/101 "2008-01-27T03:51:21Z")
[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] For a somewhat more gruesome take on the same theme…[sad Kermit.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57ta7mkgrOU) 'Nother couple from me… Don Edwards’ _Coyotes_ (famed from _Grizzly Man_), and the Tiger Lillies’ (!) [_Graveside_](http://www.tigerlillies.com/2003/index.php?main=recordings&trackId=259). ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/102 "2008-01-27T04:55:21Z")
**If I Could Change Your Mind** by the _Alan Parsons Project_ **Forever Autumn** by _Jeff Wayne_ from _The War of the Worlds_ Pretty much anything from Lou Reed’s amazing _Magic and Loss_ ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/103 "2008-01-27T05:10:39Z")
For the Smiths, I would add “There is a Light That Never Goes Out.” Nick Cave and the Bad Seed’s “Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere.” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/104 "2008-01-27T07:51:28Z")
Stroke 9 “[Make It Last](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhXYsMGz8_w)” sorry about the video, I couldn’t find anything less odd. Just minimize the window while the song plays. There’s just something so _hopeless_ about being willing to settle for that. Either of them, really. Then there’s a much more recent song that makes me want to shake the singer and tell her “No! It’s not okay to let yourself be treated that way!” Sally Shapiro “He Keeps Me Alive” download it [here](http://stereogum.com/archives/mp3/too-over-everything-2007-too_007582.html) And there’s “[To Be Alone With You](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2M79Ga7xuI)” by Sufjan Stevens. Though part of the depressing comes from realizing via [songmeanings.com](http://songmeanings.com) that a lot of people don’t even understand who the song is about. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/105 "2008-01-27T15:12:13Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] That’s a good one, but I dislike manly men songs that never release their true angst. It still feels depressing because you can tell the character behind the singer is trying to express a heartfelt emotion, but is too shy or macho to actually let it hang out there in the open. That’s my opinion anyway. [/QUOTE] And therin lies the tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![Carm6773](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/106 "2008-01-27T15:54:00Z")
[Alyssa Lies](http://youtube.com/watch?v=RNwtjiqS7xw) ---
**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 27, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/107 "2008-01-27T16:06:55Z")
[QUOTE=Carm6773] [Alyssa Lies](http://youtube.com/watch?v=RNwtjiqS7xw) [/QUOTE] Damn. Ya got me. “Daddy, tell me why…” …and I don’t like country. But. Damn. ---
**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, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/108 "2008-01-27T17:18:39Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1UMlGWFBWo) Billy Falcon - Heaven’s Highest Hill For his story about how the song came to being, you can listen to the live version here: [http://youtube.com/watch?v=93Au3ROWt5I](http://youtube.com/watch?v=93Au3ROWt5I) ---
**Author:** ![deanc2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/53a042/32.png) [@deanc2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deanc2000)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/109 "2008-01-27T17:53:40Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] Yah, [Reel around the fountain](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rdV7p3Qudc) or [Suffer little children](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdYif7TBl64). [/QUOTE] I would tend to disagree with you. I listen to Smiths songs WHEN I’m depressed, and they tend to lift me up out of it. It’s accurate when people say these songs are song’s that saved my life. I think on the surface, from an outsider’s point of view, these songs seem to be depressing. I think it’s just because that they’re so REAL, and are about when bad/trying times happen. The point though with the Smiths music is that even during bad/trying times, and inevitably they do come in peoples lives, that beauty and love are possible. So NO. a big NO. Smiths music is NOT depressing. You are not a real Smiths fan are you? I can tell because, Smiths fans know in their hearts that the music is NOT depressing. Just the opposite, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/110 "2008-01-27T18:03:02Z")
[The Tightrope Walker](http://www.museprints.com/vysotsky.html#tightrope) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/111 "2008-01-27T18:13:37Z")
[QUOTE=deanc2000] So NO. a big NO. Smiths music is NOT depressing. You are not a real Smiths fan are you? I can tell because, Smiths fans know in their hearts that the music is NOT depressing. Just the opposite, actually. [/QUOTE] I dunno. I’m a “real” (whatever that means) Smiths fan and I think they’re depressing. Some of them are uplifting, sure, but that doesn’t mean you’re wrong to feel sad or depressed when you hear them. ---
**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 28, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/112 "2008-01-28T00:15:05Z")
[That’ll Never Be Me](http://youtube.com/watch?v=jLN51jKSeI8) (3:00 mark) from _Say Anything_? Yes, I am a Smiths fan, and while the jingly-jangly melodies of Johnny Marr can be quite uplifting, the lyrics are downright depressing (_iiiiiin my liiiife, why do I give valuable time, to people who don’t care if I, liiive or I diiiiieee_)… however, they never depress me and also have that paradoxical effect. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/113 "2008-01-28T02:02:02Z")
McCartney- **Another Day** _so sad, so sad…_ ---
**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 28, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/114 "2008-01-28T18:11:43Z")
Thanks for the interesting responses - many I really want to hear for myself. Certainly is hard to pick just one isn’t it? I’ll add another - “I’m already home” by Tim McGraw. a country song, it’s not pro-war, it’s just heartbreaking. [http://www.lyricsmagnet.com/song/TIM+MCGRAW/I’M+ALREADY+HOME\_lyrics\_yaysri.html](http://www.lyricsmagnet.com/song/TIM+MCGRAW/I'M+ALREADY+HOME_lyrics_yaysri.html) and the urban legend about the suicide song refers to “Gloomy Sunday”, I think. which reminds me of a Northern Exposure episode where the DJ got freaked because someone got so depressed over a song he played - and the song was “Pencil necked geeks”! I think. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/115 "2008-01-28T18:35:09Z")
In terms of traditional songs, by far the most depressing has got to be _Farewell Nova Scotia_. In particular this verse, where the singer is commenting, in essense, that he envies his three dead brothers because at least they are at peace: > [@](#): > > I had three brothers and they are at rest > Their arms are folded on their chests > But a poor, simple sailor just like me > Must be tossed and driven > On the deep, blue sea They played this song at my grandfather’s funeral. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/116 "2008-01-28T19:28:00Z")
I’d always heard that as a lament that even when the singer was dead his body still wouldn’t be at rest. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/117 "2008-01-28T20:06:02Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] I’d always heard that as a lament that even when the singer was dead his body still wouldn’t be at rest. [/QUOTE] Yup, never thought about it in that way (my read was always that the singer was lamenting the fact he had to keep roaming), but you could be right. In a way that is almost worse, as the singer it would seem is anticipating his own inevitable death at sea. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/118 "2008-01-28T20:08:17Z")
**Train Song** by Eliza Carthy is definitely a downer. And another vote for **Mad World**. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/119 "2008-01-28T20:16:48Z")
I can’t believe there’s three pages and only one vote for “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda”, a song that makes me pull over when it comes on the iPod sometimes because it isn’t safe for me to drive and cry at the same time. I mean, really, is it more depressing when you break up with your boyfriend, or when _So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed And they shipped us back home to Australia The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay I looked at the place where my legs used to be And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me To grieve and to mourn and to pity_ ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014/120 "2008-01-28T21:02:34Z")
[QUOTE=Malthus] Yup, never thought about it in that way (my read was always that the singer was lamenting the fact he had to keep roaming), but you could be right. In a way that is almost worse, as the singer it would seem is anticipating his own inevitable death at sea. :eek: [/QUOTE] Oh, I didn’t mean it as a more cheerful interpretation. Just an alternate one. If it weren’t for the rest of the song being more about normal sailing away from home I’d thought that verse would be great as part of a wreck song, where the sailor is anticipating his imminent death at sea, not an inevitable one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-song/435014.md?page=7)