# Songs about losers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2005, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272 "2005-10-21T16:15:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@Engineer\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Dude)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/21 "2005-10-22T00:10:48Z")
Pretty much the entire **Quadrophenia** album by The Who. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/22 "2005-10-22T00:17:30Z")
"You’re a loser, an abomination in the eyes of any sensible man. And you’re a blind alley cruiser, always headed down a losin’ street dreamin’ that you’re sceamin’ at fate You’re a dead end dead beat no where mister with a kisser like a Mississippi alligator sister" the climax song to the movie Shock Treatment ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/23 "2005-10-22T00:22:24Z")
_Sitting on a park bench eyeing ittle girls with bad intent. Snot running down his nose greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes. Drying in the cold sun Watching as the frilly panties run. Feeling like a dead duck spitting out pieces of his broken luck._ – “Jethro Tull,” _Aqualung_ ---
**Author:** ![marque\_elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@marque\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marque_elf)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/24 "2005-10-22T00:47:25Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > _At Seventeen_ I think by Joni Mitchell, although it’s more that she wasn’t with the in crowd than an actual loser. Actually,\*\* At Seventeen\*\* is a Janis Ian song. Leonard Cohen has written about losers once or twice. In **The Stranger Song** , he writes: It’s true that all the men you knew Were losers who said they were through And giving up the holy game of poker. I know it’s hard to hold the hand of anyone Who is reaching for the sky just to surrender. In **Last Year’s Man** he tells us: That everything would happen If he only gave the word And oh, the rain falls down, amen On the works of last year’s man. Ian Tyson, in **4 Strong Winds** sings about a man who decides not to invite his woman out to Alberta to join him while he works at a job he’s not even gotten yet. He tells her: But by then it would be winter Not much for you to do And the wind sure blows hard a way out there. Then there’s also the narrarator of \*\*Just Like tom Thumb’s Blues \*\* by Bob Dylan who is lost in the rain in Juarez during Easter (and then things go really bad for him.) Or the narratoe of the song \*\*Easy Times \*\* sung by Judy Collins who sings: Easy times come hard for me… Tell me how you spend your time Here there’s nothing much to do And the nights, they seem to last forever. And the summer’s been so long I was here and you were gone Been that way as long as I remember. Or the narrator of a song by the Cowboy Junkies who says: Because cheap is just the way I feel. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/25 "2005-10-22T02:20:13Z")
“Young man sitting in an old man’s bar waiting for his turn to die” That my friends, is a loser. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/26 "2005-10-22T02:25:25Z")
Morcheeba’s Everybody Loves a Loser is kind of ambiguous but it IS about a loser 😉 It’s really a backhanded compliment to say: “I think you’ll find everybody loves a loser. So you’ll be fine, you won’t be lonely long.” Great sound to the song too. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/27 "2005-10-22T03:10:18Z")
OK, the posts bring another to mind…“Fool in the Rain” (if you have to ask who this one is by, check out now). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_MuD\_PhuD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2bfe46/32.png) [@Elmer\_MuD\_PhuD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_MuD_PhuD)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/28 "2005-10-22T03:20:33Z")
**Locomotive Breath** by Jethro Tull. He’s not just a loser, but “the all time loser” ---
**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:** [October 22, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/29 "2005-10-22T13:17:01Z")
Springsteen’s “Glory Days” fits in here. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/30 "2005-10-22T13:43:16Z")
The Smiths - “How Soon is Now?” ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Loblaw\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@Bob\_Loblaw\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Loblaw_1)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/31 "2005-10-22T18:44:42Z")
Geez, I can remember when half the people I knew were Deadheads. Ummm, maybe I shouldn’t admit that. Loser, by the Grateful Dead If I had a gun for every ace I have drawn, I could arm a town the size of Abilene Don’t you push me baby, beause I’m moanin’ low And you know I’m only in it for the gold All that I am asking for is ten gold dollars And I could pay you back with one good hand You can look around about the wide world over And you’ll never find another honest man. Last fair deal in the country,Sweet Suzie, Last fair deal in the town Put your gold money where your love is baby, Before you let my deal go down are just a few lyrics, the guy gets more pathetic ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/32 "2005-10-22T18:48:36Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Springsteen’s “Glory Days” fits in here. Loads of Springsteen songs do. “Born in the USA” and “Johnny 99,” among others. And a host of country songs. How about Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” or Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried,” both songs about men with nothing to look forward to except a lifetime in prison. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/33 "2005-10-24T04:45:37Z")
_Margaritaville_ by Jimmy Buffett is about a loser, although the only thing in the song that’s explicitly lost is his shaker of salt. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/34 "2005-10-24T04:55:08Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#): > > "You’re a loser, an abomination in the eyes of any sensible man. > > And you’re a blind alley cruiser, always headed down a losin’ street > dreamin’ that you’re sceamin’ at fate > You’re a dead end dead beat no where mister > with a kisser like a Mississippi alligator sister" > > the climax song to the movie Shock Treatment WHOOP! I’m not the only Doper who’s seen Shock Treatment! 😃 That song gets bonus points, because it’s about TWO losers, though one is admittedly far more sucessful a loser than the other. Actually, a number of songs from that movie are about people being losers (mostly the ones centering on Brad) ---
**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/35 "2005-10-24T05:02:46Z")
Would the ultimate loser song be \*Green Green Grass of Home \* narrated from the point of view of watching everyong gather for his funeral? Or how about Townes Van Zandt’s _Tecumseh Valley_? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/36 "2005-10-24T05:29:35Z")
Ben Folds Five had a “rarity” called “The Secret Life of Morgan Davis” which was their own version of the Walter Mitty story. I would think most Belle & Sebastian songs are about losers. Or maybe that’s loners. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/37 "2005-10-24T06:27:19Z")
_Scrub_, by TLC, about their lack of desire to be around said losers. ---
**Author:** ![revolver\_4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9e5f3/32.png) [@revolver\_4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/revolver_4)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/38 "2005-10-24T06:34:41Z")
How about Song For The Dumped from Ben Folds Five? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/39 "2005-10-24T07:21:21Z")
Joni Mitchell’s loser song would be… wow most of them. _Big Yellow Taxi_ You don’t what you got til its gone. - You Turn me on, I’m a Radio\* You don’t like weak women, you get bored so quick, and you don’t like strong women, cause they’re hip to your tricks… _Cactus Tree_ …her heart is full and hollow like a cactus tree \*Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire \* (from her own drug days) _Woman of Heart and Mind_ …drive your bargains win your metals fuck your strangers, don’t it leave you on the empty side? _People’s parties_…and me in my frightened silence, thinkin’ I don’t understand _The Last time I saw Richard_ He sits at home most nights with the TV on and all the house lights left up bright. _Love or Money_ “Is one the moon, dear clown, tied to a string for me?” he tried but he could not get it down. For truth or mystery He tried but he could not get it down for love or money. There are more. Those are from memory. \*Lather \* by Jefferson Airplane …and I should have told him, no, you’re not old, and I should have let him go on…smiling. ---
**Author:** ![MrJackboots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MrJackboots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrJackboots)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272/40 "2005-10-24T10:02:23Z")
I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned anything by Green Day yet. I mean, c’mon, this thread was _made_ for them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-losers/327272.md?page=3)