Anyone got any favorite songs that seem to drive you deeper into despair? Something that makes you want to just break down and rip your hair out?
I’ll start…
Billy Joel - And So It Goes
Back in my teens when I was depressed often enough nothing worked quite like The Smiths, especially Asleep and Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want.
They still can do the trick if I let 'em.
“Lili Marlene,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” and “I’ll be seeing you,” to start with.
OK Go did “Return” at their show last night. Much more depressing than on the CD.
You were supposed to grow old,
Return…
Otherwise, I listen to a lot of depressing music, some Bruce Springsteen, Nick Cave, Nick Drake, Johnny Cash (Sunday Morning Coming Down, Long Black Veil), Dylan, Sparklehorse, Dwight Yoakum (I Sang Dixie (as he died)), The Frames, Mark Lanagen, Tom Waits, etc, etc.
“My Weakness” by Moby.
It’s a little obscure, but it must be one of the most depressing songs I’ve ever heard.
Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day”. Depressing if you listen to the lyrics closely.
“Rainy Days” by Mary J. Blidge and Ja Rule. I listened to this on the plane as I was leaving my family in Milwaukee, and I bawled my eyes out. I must of looked like such a dick.
Nothing drives me into a deep, dark, black mood like listening to the Tom Waits’ album Spare Change - particularly the songs "Tom Trauberts Blues" and “The Piano Has Been Drinking.”
Lots of Tom’s ballads do that to me. He always seems to write about these flawed, self-loathing characters who can see thier own shortcomings but can never get overcome them. Add Waits’ aching melodic sensibilities and his ragged vocal style, and the result is something that I REALLY feel.
Another song that TOTALLY gets me from Waits is Train Song. One of the lyrics in the song goes:
What made my dreams so hollow
Was standing at the depot
With a steeple full of swallows
That could never ring the bell
I LOVE that metaphor, but the hopelessness it suggests really gets to me.
While we’re at it, I guess some of Pink Floyd’s stuff can ultimately make one reach for a prozac. Bill Morrisey has a song called “These Cold Fingers” that makes you want to take the whole bottle. I could think of more but these are the ones that come to mind immediately.
Songs To Aging Children Come by Joni Mitchell
Desperado by The Eagles