I’d like to add “Don’t Give Up” by Peter Gabriel, when Kate Bush sings “Please Don’t Give Up” and you know she thinks he’s given up. Another affecting line is the eponymious last line of “Love in Vain” by Robert Johnson.
“I’m sure you’d think again,
If you had a friend like Ben…”
Ouch! Ow… stop throwing rocks already! Nobody is throwing rocks untill I say so. Even if they do say Jehovah.
AAARGHGHGHHHHH!!
Teeming Thousands: Huh. Looks like our resident Decadent Dutchman is posting under the influence again.
Coldfire: Uh-oh.
"Same old song,
Just a drop of water in an endless sea.
All we do,
crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see.
Dust in the wind.
All we are is dust in the wind."
by Kansas
Here’s another one, though it’s not from a popular song:
“So I’m waiting for another time and another place,
Where all my hopes and dreams will be captured with one look at Jesus’ face.”
by Sandy Patti & Wayne Watson
“Dragons live forever
But not so little boys…”
sniff
*The sleep is still in my eyes
The dream is still in my head
I heave a smile and sadly smile
And lie a while in bed
I wish that it might come to pass
Not fade like all my dreams
Just think of what my life might be
In a world like I have seen.
I don’t think I can carry on-
Carry on this cold & empty life
My spirits are low in the depths of dispair
My lifeblood spills over…*
The greatest words I’ve never heard,
I guess I’ll never hear.
The man I’d thought could never die,
's been dead almost a year.
He was good at business,
but there was business left to do.
He never said “I love you”,
guess he thought I knew.
“Or will spring bring rain and summer burn?
Will tears at last precede the turn
From summer warmth to sudden cold
As certainly as growing old?”
-Pet Shop Boys, “To Step Aside”
“For want of the price
Of tea and a slice
The old man died…” - Pink Floyd, “Us & Them”
“The valour, the horror, the slaughter, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain
For, Willie MacBride, it was all done again
And again and again and again and again…”
-“No Man’s Land”
“Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along even though they’re laughing at you
And the stupid things you do
Because you think that poor is cool…”
-Pulp, “Common People”
“Look into his eyes and you will see /
That men are not alone on the diamond sea /
Sail into the heart of a lonely storm /
And tell her that you’ll love her eternally.”
--Sonic Youth "Diamond Sea"
A lot of SY’s lyrics, usually just a random line somewhere, really hit me in the gut, but it tends to lose something out of context and without the swirling chaos behind it.
Not really sad, per se, but bittersweet:
“But if it’s love you’re looking for,
then I can give a little more,
and if you’re somewhere drunk and passed out on the floor,
oh, Joey I’m not angry anymore.”
–Concrete Blonde, Joey
“They Call it Paradise,
I don’t know why.
Call somplace Paradise,
Kiss it goodbye.”
– The Eagles, “The Last Resort”
I’m your only friend
I’m not your only friend
But I’m a little glowing friend
But really I’m not actually your friend
But I am
The last lines in “America” by Paul Simon
“Kathy I said though I knew she was sleeping,
I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why.”
And the end of “The Boxer” also by Simon
“In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
Cut him till he cried out in his anger
And his shame
‘I am leaving, I am leaving’”
Those lyrics are exactly right, but you get the point. 
“The bitch, oh the bitch, the bitch is back…I’m a bitch cuz I’m better then you, it’s the way that I move
The things that I do…” Elton John
“People try to tell me thoughts they cannot defend…” The Moody Blues
“To start, press any key. Where’s the any key?” Homer Simpson.
Bob Dylan, to me, has the best sad lyrics. It’s Not Dark Yet is my current favorite:
Shadows are falling and I’ve been here all day
It’s too hot to sleep and time is running away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I’ve still got the scars that the sun didn’t heal
There’s not even room enough to be anywhere
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
Well my sense of humanity has gone down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing, there’s been some kind of pain
She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writin’ what was in her mind
I just don’t see why I should even care
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
Well I’ve been to London and I’ve been to gay Paree
I’ve followed the river and I got to the sea
I’ve been down on the bottom of a world full of lies
I ain’t lookin’ for nothin’ in anyone’s eyes
Sometimes my burden is more than I can bear
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
I was born here and I’ll die here, against my will
I know it looks like I’m movin’ but I’m standin’ still
Every nerve in my body is so vacant and numb
I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from
Don’t even hear a murmur of a prayer
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there.
…and a girgle arose from the suicides grave: “Tit Willow, Tit Willow, Tit Willow”.
Based on that awesome book “Johny got his gun” this song brings to life the angst felt through the book.
Just like a wartime novelty
Tied to machines that make me be
Cut this life off from me
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, Wake me Now the world is gone I’m just one
Oh God, Help me Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, Help me
Darkness Imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell
Landmine Has taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing
Taken my arms
Taken my legs
Taken my soul
Left me with life in hell
-Metallica “One”
Based on “Johnny got his gun”
Just like a wartime novelty
Tied to machines that make me be
Cut this life off from me
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, Wake me Now the world is gone I’m just one
Oh God, Help me Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, Help me
Darkness Imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell
Landmine Has taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing
Taken my arms
Taken my legs
Taken my soul
Left me with life in hell
Metallica- One
“This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you”
Vincent by Don McLean
Ignorant since 1972
The most depressing song I know is The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, by the Pogues. The song is way too long to post, but here’s a basic synopsis: He’s “living the free life of a rover” when he’s drafted for World War I. His unit is sent off “amidst all the tears, and the shouts and the cheers,” but when they come ashore at Suvla Bay, it becomes “a mad world of death, blood, and fire.” He loses both his legs to an artillery barrage. The two most poignant verses follow:
>>
They collected the cripples, the wounded, and maimed,
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
The legless, the armless, the blind, and 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 thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
To grieve, and to mourn, and to pity.
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
As they carried us down the gangway.
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
Then they turned their faces away.
Now every April, I sit on my porch,
And I watch the parade pass before me.
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
Reliving the dreams of past glory.
I see the old men, all twisted and torn:
The forgotten heroes of a forgotten war.
The young people ask me, “What are they marching for?”
And I ask myself the same question.
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda,
And the old men still answer the call.
But year after year,
Their numbers get fewer.
Someday no one will march there at all.
Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda, who’ll go waltzing matilda with me?"
<<
Gives me chills every time I hear it.
If you’re talking Pink Floyd, I really think you need to go with Wish You Were Here:
How I wish, how I wish you were here
We’re just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl
Year after year
Running over the same old ground
What have we found?
The same old fear
Wish you were here
Or, you could go with Nada -
There ain’t no moral to this story at all
Anything I tell you very well could be a lie
Been away from the living, I don’t need to be forgiven
I’m just waiting for this cold black, sun-cracked, numb inside soul of mine to come alive
This from the Refreshments release that included the hit “Banditos.” Which contains one of my all-time favourite lines:
Everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people,
I got the pistol, so I’ll keep the pesos. Yeah, that seems fair.
Doing this from memory, so cut me some slack if I’ve botched it a bit.
I also remember “With Pen in Hand,” as sung circa 1969 by Vikki Carr; the song gets sadder and sadder; from the way her voice quavers as she starts the last verse, I sense that Vikki herself shed tears here. 